A LITTLE COMPLICATION:
O.K., so I don’t want to make a big deal out of this, but I always get in trouble with people when they find out something happened that I didn’t tell them about. So in the interest of full disclosure, we had a little scare yesterday.
Evan woke up with a very sore arm and a painful lump on the inside of his right arm, just below the crease of his elbow. The lump was about an inch and a half long and seemed to follow the path of the most prominent vein on his arm.
We got in to see Evan’s primary care doctor around 11:00 am. Dr. Riessen was quite sure that it was either a blood clot or some kind of infection. They tested Evan’s blood and sure enough, it was really thick. Evan’s blood has been very stable for the last several months, so this just came out of nowhere. Evan’s INR (which measures the viscosity of the blood) has been hovering between 2.4 and 2.7 for months, which is perfect! But yesterday it had dropped to 1.2 - way too thick!
So they sent us over to the hospital for an ultrasound, which took forever!!! Finally, around 3:00 pm, they confirmed that Evan did indeed have a blood clot in his arm. They decided it wasn’t bad enough to require hospitalization (which Evan was happy about), but I’ll be giving him shots twice a day for the next four days in addition to the blood thinner he takes orally. We’ll go back in on Monday to make sure Evan’s INR is back up where it needs to be, and hopefully that will be it.
I have to admit, I was pretty rattled yesterday! It seems like every time I start to think life is going to calm down a little bit, something happens to remind me how fast life can change. It’s a good thing to remember, but a little disturbing at the same time. I’m doing much better today, and Evan was as calm as can be through the whole thing. “No big deal,” he says.
Thanks for listening!
Margot
GREAT NEWS!Dear Friends and Family,
We got great news today! First of all, the tumor actually shrunk a little bit. Three months ago, the tumor measured 2.0 x 1.1 x 0.9 cm. Today it measured 1.9 x 1.0 x 0.7 cm. That probably doesn’t sound like much, but when you realize how resistant to treatment this type of cancer normally is, it really is a miracle that the tumor has been reduced as much as it has and is still shrinking after more than a year on the same chemo drug. The doctor was amazed!
Also, the tumor was not nearly as bright and white on the MRI image today as it was three months ago. This would suggest that the drug (Avastin) which Evan receives with his chemo is working to cut off the blood supply to the tumor. In other words, the cancer cells are less active and unable to reproduce as easily. Again, the doctor was impressed!
And finally - the best news of all is that starting next week Evan will have three weeks between treatments instead of two. The dose will stay the same, but Evan will have an extra week to recover. I’m really hoping that will go a long way to improve his quality of life.
So that’s the plan for the next three months. We’ll go back for another MRI at the end of June and see how the tumor reacts to the reduction in treatment. Thanks again for all your prayers and support! We appreciate you all so much!
With love and gratitude,
Margot
MRI Next Week!Dear Friends & Family,
I know it’s been ages since I wrote last - sorry about that! We haven’t had anything noteworthy to report though, so you haven’t missed anything. I guess we’ve been operating under the “no news is good news” rule.
Evan has continued receiving chemo treatments every other week, with the usual crummy side-effects. Unfortunately, the nausea has been hitting him harder and faster these days. He starts feeling sick as soon as they start the I.V. now, and he rarely makes it through the treatment without getting sick. It was a little better when he could at least make it home before it got really bad, but those days are over.
Evan has one more chemo treatment tomorrow (Wednesday), before his MRI which is scheduled for next Monday (March 23rd). Unless Dr. Choucair voices strong objections on Monday, we’ve decided it’s time for a break. Depending on what the doctor recommends, we are planning to either stop treatment for a few months or, at the very least, move to some type of once-a-month maintenance chemo.
Hopefully, all the chemo Evan has received up to this point will have been enough to put the tumor into a dormant stage and keep it there. Our biggest hope is that Evan will be able to live with little or no chemo, and that the tumor will not start growing again for a very long time!
We are so grateful for all your prayers and support. We can never adequately express how much your love and friendship means to us. We feel so blessed! Thanks again, and we’ll let you know how things go next week.
Love,
Margot
