Recent Developments

Good Evening.
We have had some recent changes to Gary's care and I wanted to give you a brief overview.

After spending 2 hours at Barth's office today we went home with no real resolve. We did however make an appointment to see Dr. Arata tomorrow at 11 AM to discuss a pain pump for Gary. Gary has a new pain that is a nerve pain. It starts in his pelvis and shoots down the back of his leg to the back of his knee. It makes him jittery and very uncomfortable.

We got home and got situated and I got ready to take the kids to the Lake when the phone rang and Rick from Dr. Barth's office informed us that Dr. Barth was in the office and wanted to see us right away.

So, I dropped the kids off and back we went and this time we knew we were going to get some answers.

In a nutshell:
1. Gary needs to gain a substancial amount of weight - 20 LBS! He will need to force himself to eat 3-5 times a day with a caloric intake of at least 2500 cals. to start gaining back his weight. I think he can do this without much problem.
2. Gary's pain is out of control. Dr. Barth wants Gary to do a trial run of an epidural pain management plan. They will insert the catheter into Gary's spine and deliver electrical impulses (?) instead of narcotics. I do not know quite how to explain it and will have more info for you after our 11 AM appointment with Dr. Arata.
3. We will also discuss the chemoembolization process with Dr. Arata and move forward with that. They will fish a line to Gary's liver lesion and it will administer chemo directly to the lesion. THe chemo can stay in his liver for up to 30 days at a time!
4. We have a meeting with Dr. Kim on Thursday at 12:45 PM. He is our Radiation Oncologist at Hoag. Gary will receive radiation to his liver for 5 days straight. This radiation will target the lesion specifically unlike his last experience with radiation. (He had so many tumors in his pelvis that they were unable to target tumors specifically so they had to radiate the entire pelvic region). He will not start this round of radiation until next week.

Here is the deal. Gary's cancer is getting better and we have made significant progress in the regression of the tumors. If we can get his pain managed then I think it will make a HUGE difference for him.

Gary will not be receiving systemic chemo/Avastin as of right now. Until we win some of these other battles (weight gain, pain control, radiation) his body will need more of a break. The genetic marker that kind of identifies the cancer is showing very slow growth at this time. Therefore I think we are safe holding off a few more weeks to do the systemic stuff.

There you go! Sounds fun, huh????

BTW - Chicks is holding their tent sale starting Friday. If you go into the store right now everything that is going into the tent is in the store and priced for the tent sale! No waiting in the long lines on Friday if you go this week!
The kids went to the lake today to kayak and ride on the party boat!
Tomorrow they are off to surf anf body board at Riviera!

I am going to finish cleaning and watch a good movie!

God is my strength and my refuge. I am peaceful but Gary is not yet! Can you please pray for peace for Gary? Come on Laurie! You did it for me now make it happen for Gary!

Love and Hugs,
Lisa