Dodged a Social Bullet

Today we had an appointment to see my oncologist on his "off" hours. The appointment was for 4:15, and as you might guess he didn't show up until 5:15... though he said he was in a meeting. And I don't think anyone on the planet can really control how long a meeting goes. (Though Lisa tells me she does it all the time... I have yet to see such a thing!)

Although he was late he spent a good thirty to forty minutes talking to us about the treatments I have had, and treatments he would like to try. He also brought us up to date a bit on the status of his research. It was good to have some time with him to focus on what was going on and see some kind of game plan.

In the research arena he says that they have gotten  strain of DSRCT that they can grow in mice. They hope to try a bunch of treatments on mice, where they haven't been able to do that before. Come March he suspects they will have some new findings.

Treatment wise he originally decided to try a new set of chemo that I had had some of before to see what would happen. The problem, as Lisa and I thought about as we were driving home, was that this plan required us to at MDA every Wednesday and Friday. Which would make going to Colorado for Christmas extremely tight. (And we'd have to get last minute airplane tickets, which on the busiest travel time of the year, I am sure would have been expensive and a pain to find.)

When I got home I made use of his telephone number though and gave him a call and asked him if he thought we could hold off the treatment for two weeks. He responded instead by saying that we should go with plan b instead of plan a, which is a pill designed to combat soft tissue sarcomas that has just been released. It's a pill so I can take it for the next month and not have to worry about being at MDA twice a week, which means Christmas plans can progress as normal, no last minute airline tickets, and trying to squeeze in time between a few days before Christmas and flying home on Christmas.

Some of the side effects of this pill are basic chemo side effects, but one of them is the lightening of the hair. (All over) While I am on this pill, and for an undetermined amount of time afterwards, I will be blonde to white haired! We'll see what that turns out to be like!

Prayer requests:

• That this chemo pill will be effective.
• Thank the Lord that we are able to progress with Christmas plans unhindered. (A rare thing for us)
• Lisa needs strength and energy as she has been running low on it lately.
• Wisdom for future treatments, wisdom for a safe driving route to Colorado.
• That I can be a positive Christian example to my oncologist.
• That I have the strength, wisdom, and foresight to write down what I have learned from cancer that I can pass onto others. (Yes, the book that so many of you have suggested I write is in the works.)

Thank you all! I wrote 67 Christmas cards today, so if you filled out my form you'll be getting one. If you donated to my medical fund you'll be getting one, and if you are a close friend or family member you'll be getting one. Thank you for the continued love and support. I hope you enjoy the card.

~B.
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