Home again, for a while

Sorry I haven't been very timely with this blog. We got home Tuesday night (4/20) and I went to work on Wednesday. I've been a little worn out since then and just didn't spend the time writing this.

It was good news again; I continue to defy the odds for a pancreatic cancer patient. The scans had not officially been read by the radiologist, but Dr. Abbruzzese had looked them over and said things looked good. I asked about spots left on the liver so he showed me the scans and only pointed out 1 small area that he said might be scar tissue.

Dr. Abbruzzese says we are now in uncharted waters. There are no studies of pancreatic cancer patients in remission on which to base my treatment. He said we could do nothing, but he favored putting me on Tarceva (Chemo pill I took with my regular chemo treatments) for 6 months to a year, depending on how I tolerate the treatment. There are studies of lung cancer patients indicating this type of treatment is beneficial. So, I'm back on a chemo treatment, but no infusions, just a daily pill.

We will head back to Houston for new scans on June 21.

Time to head south again ...

Wow! Tuesday will already be 4 weeks since I finished radiation! Each day I've felt a little better, so now I feel good except not quite as much energy as I'd like. Sunday (4/18) we head back to Houston for scans and a doctor visit.

I've been working full time since April 1, and it seems like we've had something to do almost every weekend, so time has flown by. There was also that time I spent getting taxes done. There has been lots of yard work, which has been done mostly by Vicki. Spring really did arrive while we were gone in March. The weather has been beautiful.

I will post again next Tuesday night or Wednesday. It depends on how late we get home on Tuesday. I plan to work on Wednesday.

Joe