Gorgeous Day in Colorado

What a gorgeous day yesterday in Colorado. It was 80 degrees. I spent the day down at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center getting my stents replaced. The stents allow the bile to drain so I don't turn yellow and have pain. They said the tumor appeared improved from February. My next stent replacement is in 10 weeks. I feel okay today, but my throat hurts from the tubes. I found ice cream helps it feel better, so I think I am going to need to have ice cream for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

This is my week off of chemo. I did have bloodwork done. It showed my blood counts were low. They should be back up for next Tuesday when my next chemo is scheduled. The low counts make me feel very tired. So I have been spending alot of time in bed with my laptop.

We had a great prayer circle on Monday. I felt uplifted. I feel truly blessed by their prayers and presence. I would also like to thank all of the prayer warriors out there praying for me across the world.

Today I had a visit from my friend Maria and her almost 3 year old daughter Melina. It was fun playing Aunt Michelle. Kelly has a little doll bed and buggy that originally belonged to Bill's Mom. I had made a little mattress, pillow and blanket for the bed and the buggy when Kelly was little. Melina loved them. She put the stuffed animals to bed and then put them in the buggy. She would put the mattress, pillow and blanket on top of them and wheel the buggy around. Then take them out and put them back to bed. We also played with some blocks building a building a tower and then knocking them down. It has been a long time since I got to play like that. It made me feel young. I don't know how Maria keeps up with her.

Have a peaceful week.
Michelle

Sunny Day

Well after a week of cold, rain and snow, it is sunny here in Colorado today. Our neighborhood fox is stretched out sleeping under one of our trees. For some reason all of the birds are gone. 8^)

On Tuesday I had my 9th round of chemotherapy. Everything went well. I am feeling good, just very tired. Last night I fell asleep with my glasses on and the TV blaring. I think I am going to take it easy today. Next week is a busy week. I have an appointment with the Ear, Nose and Throat doctor about one of my sinuses that showed a complete blockage on the last PET scan. I also have an appointment to go down to the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center to have my stents replaced. It is a 2 hour procedure they do under general anethesia. The stents are tubes they have put in my bile duct and hepatic ducts in my liver to keep everything draining so I don't turn yellow again. They have to be replaced periodically so they don't get blocked. The doctors will also access the tumors in my bile duct and hepatic duct.

Please keep Bill's Mom, Nancy in your prayers. She was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease last week. She apparently has had it for a number of years, but the symptoms were masked by a medication she was taking for muscle weakness in her right arm and hand. It turns out this medication is also used to treat Parkinson's. When she tried to wean herself off the drug, she was assaulted by full-blown classic symptoms of PD. This is pretty scary for her and Bill's family as her brother died from complications associated with his 12-year battle with Parkinsons when he was 10 years younger than she is now.

We're looking forward to our prayer group meeting tomorrow evening. We had to skip the last one, so it's been 4 weeks between meetings. Please join us in prayer at 7:00 PM Mountiain time if your are so inclined.

Bill and I met with my oncologist on Monday. Things are going well. I am tolerating the 2 weeks of chemotherapy with the third week off. The doctor discussed different tests to check for cancer spread. None of the tests are perfect. The PET scan never showed my original tumors in the bile and hepatic ducts. So there can be other tumors that don't show because they don't metabolize sugar quickly. We talked about doing a bone scan in 6 weeks. I had the tumor on my spine that was found because I was having pain, but it would be good to do a full bone scan to see if there is any more metastsis to other bones.

I drove myself to my 8th round of chemotherapy yesterday. I'm feeling OK, but still tire easily. I've been able to walk around the block, but then I'm pretty much done for the day.

My Mom was accepted into the clinical trial and started a new chemotherapy drug today. It is in pill form, so she will take 2 pills every day. Wednesday she was at the cancer center for 10 hours as they tracked her blood tests and how well she is tolerating the drug. She will have to go back on Thursday, Friday and Saturday this week to have more blood tests.

(I talked to her on Thursday and she is feeling well. They said side effects will take about 2 weeks to show up. )

Thank you for the continued prayers.
Michelle