November 30, 2009

Sorry to be such a fuddy duddy, but you know how it is around the holidays. Bryon is doing well since his last round of treatment. He has a week off and it's a good thing. He needs time to get over another head cold. They seem to hit him harder than they used to, but he is such a trooper. He has done the dishes voluntarily the last tow days and was able to muster up the energy to enjoy an Aggie b-ball game. We have become home a little more home bound since starting a few projects on the house, but we don't mind. The projects keep us busy and it makes Bryon feel like his electrical knowledge has not gone to waste.

Bryon will be completing his speech and occupational therapy this week. After speaking with the therapists, Bryon is very pleased to announce he has achieved and even exceeded his goals set at the beginning of his therapy almost 8 weeks ago. He has improved in most areas by 80% or more and is so close to be considered 'independent' by hospital standards he can taste it with a tooth pick. Congratulations Bryon!

Bryon will start another round of chemo on Monday and have his last MRI of the year on December 29th. If all goes well, he should be able to continue on the clinical trial in 2010. Bryon wants to thank everyone for keeping in touch and sharing your thoughts with him. Believe it or not he does read the blog and is so glad to have this convenient connection with family and friends.

November 17, 2009

Treatment went great this week. We had good driving weather and it got done early in the afternoon. Bryon was able to go to the Point Restaurant and get his own lunch for a change, and then we headed out well before rush hour. We kept a steady pace all the way to Preston which gave us a total return travel time of two hours. We will not disclose how fast we were going, but we made it to the Health Department just as the H1N1 vaccines were starting. Bryon and I got through the line and headed to Dayton to pick up Anna. Then we drove to Weston to pick up Audrey. Both parents and children made the return trip to the Health Dept. to travel through the vaccination line a few more times. You can never be too safe when it comes to the flu.

Everything seems to be running as smoothly as possible. The only hiccup we have now is that both of the girl's are getting sick of staying at the same house for sleepovers when mom and dad leave. Anna is going to try a night at her friend Brinlee's house(thanks Jill!), and Audrey's sleep over location is yet to be decided. I am glad that is the only thing I have to worry about when I take Bryon to SLC.

Thanks for reading and for all of your continued support.

Apron for Auction

This darling apron is handmade and comes with two oven mits! Bidding starts at $15.
Thanks, Ashley M. for the donation.

November 10, 2009

Here is a quick update on Bryon since last week. He has started a new cycle of chemotherapy and is feeling the side effects as we speak. He is tired and worn out, but happy to take his antinausea medications. We are looking forward to the next treatment since it is much shorter and not near as difficult to endure.
Bryon wants to attempt some pheasant hunting this week if we get some snow, we will have to wait and see. He has also mentioned how neat it would be to see Tran Siberian Orchestra in concert, but it might just be easier to hear it all in the comfort of our home on CD. The sounds of the season have begun and we are looking forward to decorating with tacky colored ribbons and gaudy figurines. Feel the joy.

and the survey says...

I love that line from Family Feud. I don't know why but it is kind of catchy...to me any way.

So, to make short of a long story this is what happened after the MRI. Dr. Jensen and Dr. Yuko as well as Travis the trial coordinator all met with us in the exam room. There was some complicated debate about whether or not Bryon was still eligible for the trial. However, thanks to our super hero Dr. Jensen, Bryon will be able to continue treatment on Monday. The scan showed a small decrease in the tumor size, about 2 mm to be exact. This is extremely good news considering we saw growth in the previous scan. Dr. Jensen is going to meet with the drug company on Friday and fight for Bryon to stay in the trial. He strongly opposes the method being used to calculate the tumor growth. He says it is counter productive and not medically relevant to what is really going on. Thank you Dr. Jensen for fighting for Bryon.

Treatment begins again on Monday and the next MRI is scheduled for December 29th. Kind of like deja vu really, since the last time we got bad news it was the same date one year ago. Things are looking good and we'll keep on truck'in.

MRI Day!

Not that we are super excited to have another MRI, it is actually quite stressful, but at least we will know what's been going on. Bryon suffers silently most of the time since he has a hard time describing things in words. He has manged to tell me about his headaches the last few weeks. It may be nothing, but it is not like this man to have pain between the ears. I firmly believe that steel head fishing was good therapy for him, even though we all came home tired and ornery. We will go to Salt Lake on Tuesday, November 3 to have a scan and shortly after we will review the scan with Dr. Jensen.

Just a re-cap: If the tumor has grown 20% or more he is no longer eligible for the trial and will have to be referred to other methods of treatment. If the tumor is significantly larger (whatever size significant means.) surgery is always the best medicine. Thank heaven and prayers that we have seen little to no growth on the scans since surgery in January.

An update will be posted as soon as Bryon gets home from his appointments.