Time to Catch Up!

I know that it has been a while since I last posted and many of you are wondering if Matt was able to have his 3rd round of chemo. The answer is YES!!!

We arrived at the Cancer Center in Goodyear on Tuesday morning and Matt had his blood work done. We waited anxiously for the doctor to give us the news, yes or no, to chemo for the week. He came in and told us that while Matt's platelets were still down, they had come up enough to get the chemo. They also told us that Matt's white blood cell numbers were down and that he would need to have a shot after chemo to help boost them back up. Unfortunately this shot has some side effects that cause pain in the long bones of the body as they are being convinced by the medicine to produce more white blood cells. If the platelets and white blood cells do not come up then Matt may have to have treatments every three weeks instead of every other week. We just have to wait and see.

We were very relieved to have been told that Matt could go ahead with treatment, but the best news of all came a few minutes later when the nurse came busting through the door to give us his CEA number which is called the tumor marker number. The tumor marker number, which is from the blood, tells you if the chemo is working. When Matt had his first tumor marker done the first day we were at the cancer center, before the first treatment, it was at 85. The next time he had it done after the first treatment it went down to 49 and this time it was 15!!!!!!!!!! Matt was so excited that he kept telling me that I had to get onto the blog and thank everyone. He strongly believes that it is your prayers that have helped him and he wanted more than anything to let you all know just how much those prayers mean to him. Please know that we love you all and we can feel the power of your prayers!!!

As you can see I didn't get onto the blog right away and post.....my bad!! I kept getting busy doing other things like retail therapy with a friend and my daughter Brittani! :)

I also went to lunch with a co worker of Brittani's whose husband has cancer as well. This is the second time we have gone to lunch and I LOVE to meet with her because she is so positive. She very strongly believes in positive thinking and she always helps to put me back on the right track. She doesn't even like to use the word cancer because it puts such a negative thought into your mind. So when we are together we try to call it the "situation"! I think I am going to try and find the book or videos of "The Secret".

Since we have been home Matt has been experiencing some new side effects. He is still nauseous and extremely tired, but he is also experiencing bad headaches. He hates to take any medicines like Tylenol or Advil but the headaches have been so bad that he has taken some. They really don't seem to help though. I try to rub his head and forehead so he can relax and he says that it helps.

So, while at the hospital....the night before going to lunch with my very positive friend....I began to have some really negative thoughts about Matt's chances for survival. I was reading in a colon cancer book about stage IV colon cancer and although I had already read the prognosis on the Internet, it still hit me hard and I started going down that dark path that will only lead me to depression and unhappiness.

When I got up the next morning I decided that I needed someone to talk to, someone who has been down this same road and has had positive results. I went downstairs of the hospital and asked to speak with the Cancer Fighters Representative. Cancer Fighters is an organization that cancer patients and their caregivers can join to get help and information as well as an opportunity to meet and speak with others who have gone or are going through the same thing you are. I asked the representative if she would please find some stage IV colon cancer survivors for Matt and I to speak with. Of course I broke down AGAIN!! She must have felt really bad for me because she has emailed me twice and has hooked me up with two survivors. I have spoken to one of them and we are going to meet the next time we are at the cancer hospital, and I am waiting for the second survivor to give me a call.

My next step towards getting off that dark dark path was to brainstorm with Matt what types of family activities that he most enjoys. He said that he most enjoys camping. I started thinking about it and camping is a great activity because it forces you to be in close quarters with your family without a tv, cell phone and other distractions. So we have decided that we are going to make a very concerted effort to go up to Mt. Graham on as many weekends as possible with as many members of our family as we can convince, cajole, bribe, etc. to go with us!! :)

Right now we are scheduled to go back to the hospital on May 31 for 3 days. We plan to take Gabriela, Helen, Logan and maybe Tom with us. Bethany will be working and Gabe and Rodrigo have basketball camp. Matt will have a blood test this coming Friday to see where his platelets and white blood cells are at before we make the trip. This time when we go to the cancer hospital, Matt will be meeting with the gastrointestinal doctor to set up his next colonoscopy. They want to see if his colon tumor has shrunk enough to add another medicine to his chemo. Matt wants me to take some pictures of his port in his chest and put it onto the blog!!! Maybe....................................
Keep praying for him............it really works!!

Love to you all!!!