Thankful That We Are Moving Forward

Well Thanksgiving has come and gone and I realized I haven't posted in several weeks!!

Matt was at the cancer center last Monday - Wednesday and so he was pretty sick for Thanksgiving Day on Thursday. Our visit to the cancer center was pretty much uneventful.....just how I like it to be!!! :) We go back again on Dec. 6 and Matt will be switching medicines. Instead of taking one of his medicines by infusion, he will now be able to take it in pill form. This will allow him to only have to be at the hospital for 1 day instead of 3. We will still go over the night before, see the doctor and then have his infusion for 6 hours and then instead of going on a pump for two more days we will get to come home instead. Matt is really looking forward to trying this new medicine as he really hates having to be connected to a pump for 48 hours straight. He is just a little nervous as to how he will react to the medicine.

Matt's oncologist also said that at the beginning of the new year Matt will have another ct scan and if the tumors are stable or shrinking then he might stop one of his chemo medicines and see if we can trick them into thinking that they are still getting poisoned. The medicine that the dr wants to drop is the one that causes most of the side effects. Right now it is causing Matt to have neuropathy in his hands and feet. The nerves to his hands and feet are getting damaged and this causes him pain and as well as loss of feeling. This can become a permanent condition that could really effect Matt's ability to work. If it gets bad enough it could keep him from being able to use the computer and even the ability to walk. This recommendation is a mixed bag.....excited that Matt will not be so sick and have so many side effects, but scared that it won't trick the cancer and it will spread. Time will tell!

This Thanksgiving weekend was really nice. After Matt began to feel better we were able to have some fun with our family and to fulfill one item on Matt's bucket list. He wanted to take his boys out shooting and we girls wanted to come along as well. It was so much fun! Of course the boys thought it was totally amazing....us girls thought it was kinda cool as well. I have always resisted Matt's desire to go out shooting guns since I don't care for them...but I think this excursion has changed my mind!! :)

In two weeks we will knock another item off the bucket list....we are going to Disney Land!!!!! Yeah!!! I am taking the kids out of school and the older college kids are taking their finals early. We are hoping to be there when there are no crowds....wish us luck!

Sembra che sarà una buona settimana!

Siamo ritornati all’ospedale e per il momento è stato un buon giorno. La settimana scorsa abbiamo scoperto cheil nostro oncologo ha trovato un altro lavoro più prestigioso e quindi ha lasciato l’ospedale e noi abbiamo dovuto scegliere un altro dottore. Abbiamo incontrato il nuovo dottore questa mattina e ci piace molto. È bello avere un nuovo paio d’occhi che veda la situazione di Matt. Mi è piaciuto moltissimo il fatto che continuamente diceva che Matt è giovane e che ha bisogno di una buona qualità di vita dove può lavorare. Lui vuole fare tutto ciò che è nel suo potere per farsi che Matt abbia un buon cocktail di chemio che ci aiuterà a raggiungere questo obiettivo. Lui fa le cose in maniera differente dal nostro vecchio oncologo e ha opinion diverse sul sentiero da prendere e forse è una buona cosa. Mi sono sentito molto bene mentre parlavamo con lui!

Un altro punto positivo è che il marker tumorale di Matt è sceso da 9.5 a 5.5! Anche se l’oncologo ha detto che entrambi i numeri sono nella sfera normale e quindi non sono molto affidabili da quando il timore è cresciuto, a me piace vederlo scendere!!

Siamo molto emozionati di andare a Disneyland alla metà del mese di dicembre. Tutti i nostril figli verranno e questa è veramente una vacanza della quale ne avevamo bisogno. Attenzione Mickey…stiamo arrivando!!!!

Lo scorso weekend ho avuto la possibilità di partecipare ad una meravigliosa conferenza delle donne con mia mamma, sorelle e figlie. Sono stata sollevata da molti oratori che hanno parlato di difficoltà e avversità. Hillary Weeks ha cantato e ha parlato e ha una nuova canzone che la si può trovare su youtube. Vi lacio qui il link, perché mi piace moltissimo. La canzone si chiama “Beautiful Heartbreak”. Parla di come si può prendere il proprio cuore rotto e farlo diventare bellissimo tramite l’apprendimento e la crescita dale difficoltà che abbiamo nella nostra vita. Non posso dire che ci sono riuscita….probabilmente perché ci sono moltissime alter cosec he devo imparare da questa sfida, ma ci sto lavorando….parsimoniosamente…ma ci sto ancora provando! J http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyX-I-um5Kk ( probabilmente dovrete copiarlo e incollarlo nel vostro url)

Buona settimana a tutti! Saremo qui fino a tardi mercoledi e poi ritorneremo la settimana di Thanksgiving.

Looking Like it Will Be A Good Week!

We are back at the hospital and so far it has been a good day. We found out last week that our oncologist had left for a more prestigious job and so we had to choose another dr here. We met him this morning and we really like him. It is nice to have a new set of eyes looking at Matt's information. Specifically I liked that he kept mentioning over and over that Matt is young and needs to have a good quality of life where he can work. He wants to do everything in his power to get Matt on a good chemo cocktail that will help us to achieve this goal. He does things differently than our old oncologist and has some differing opinions about the path to take, but maybe that is a good thing. Anyways, I felt really good as we were talking to him!

Another positive is that Matt's tumor markers went down from 9.5 to 5.5! Although the oncologist said both numbers are in the normal range and are not really reliable since he had tumor growth, I still like to see them go down!!

We are excited to be going to Disneyland in the middle of December. All of our children will be coming and this is a much needed vacation! Look out Mickey.....here we come!!!!

This past weekend I was able to attend a wonderful Women's conference with my mom, sisters, and daughters. I was really lifted up as many of the speakers spoke about trials and adversity. Hilary Weeks sang and spoke and she has a new song out that is on you tube. I am posting the link here because I loved it so much. It is called "Beautiful Heartbreak." It is all about taking your heartbreak and making it beautiful by learning and growing from the trials that are placed in our lives. I can't say that I am there yet.....maybe because there is still so much I need to learn from this trial, but I am working on it.....grudgingly....but still trying! :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyX-I-um5Kk (you might have to copy and paste it into your url.)

Have a wonderful week! We will be here until late Wednesday and then we will be back the week of Thanksgiving.