"Assume the Position"

Well we are still at it! Chemo nearly daily and Avastin every other week. In my last post, I mentioned about Dr. Samuelson administering the Avastin. We are pleased that it seems to be working. The MRI in September indicated no return of the 2nd tumor that was spotted in the spring MRI. We get another MRI in December. It appears from the results that the combination of these two treatments is working to actually reverse the symptoms. The September MRI did not show any further spot --- that's right --- gone! How fortunate we feel to stay ahead of this crazy challenge. Many friends and family members are quite confused and think that since the last spot that was found several months ago has since disappeared that means I shouldn't need continued treatments. Likewise, I have also wondered how long this will continue. When I have asked Dr. Choucair and Dr. Samuelson, I receive similar responses from both of them. That response is basically, "I hope for a good long time" or "until it doesn't work any longer." That sounds like a long journey is still ahead. So I continue to enjoy cartoons that seem rather applicable. This cartoon is from the paper this week. Terri and I have laughed all week about how similar this seems to reality --- indeed it is "Close to Home".

In reality, the nurses that hook me up to my IV every other week, are wonderful, caring and competent. They do however have a system that is quite similar to this picture. Autumn and Jan do a great job caring for the old guy. We have a fun phrase that we begin with everytime we get together --- Autumn will say, "OK, Jeff, great to see you - now Assume the Position." That phrase means its time for my I.V. once again and they need to access my port. Amazingly, the little package of Avastin is incredibly expensive and the Temodar is also very expensive. While we have insurance premiums and deductibles, without the medical insurance our financial resources would have been exhausted long ago. We are grateful for all the concern, prayers and wonderful service we have received from so many of you since this challenge began. We intend to conquer this challenge successfully.