After a wonderful holiday we were ready to say goodbye to 2009 and look forward to what 2010 has to bring for all of us...health, happiness, a more positive outlook on life, a very special family wedding and hopefully a medical MIRACLE!
My mom just finished up her 3rd week of chemotherapy and radiation treatment. Because she started in the middle of the holiday season, her first couple weeks of treatment were only 2-4 days instead of the full 5 days. I think this worked out in her favor to allow her body to start out more slowly. She sent me a text this Friday telling me she had just finished her first 5 day treatment week and put a big "WOOHOO" at the end. She said she feels tired by the end of her full week of treatment, but she still had enough energy to kick my butt at the gym today! She is learning ways to relax during her radiation treatment and now refers to it as going on vacation into her "hut." Her first blood counts this week came back perfect and the doctors say that her body appears to be handling the treatments extremely well. My mom specifically asked her doctor how he thought she was doing so far and he said "great"! I'm soooooooo incredibly relieved to see her feeling so good, but also made her promise me that when she's having a bad day, its ok to tell us about it.
The doctor's plan is to continue chemo and radiation for 3 more weeks. She starts a clinical trial on January 18th that I am still currently finding out more about. I will share with you real briefly what we know about the trial. This clinical trial is a type of double blind research study being done on patients with glioblastoma brain tumors. The point of the study is to prove that when you combine chemotherapy with radiation therapy and follow it up with a drug called Avastin, patients have improved tumor control compared with chemo and radiation alone. Avastin is not a NEW cancer fighting drug, it has been used successfully for many other types of cancer treatments but this study is for doctors to see whether this drug will work for glioblastomas. Avastin is an antiangiogenic agent, which means that it can interrupt the body's ability to grow new blood vessels, causing tumors to shrink. There is also information that shows that Avastin may eliminate poorly formed blood vessels in tumors, resulting in improved blood flow. Improved blood flow may result in better delivery of chemotherapy agents too. So all in all it sounds like a very promising study. Unfortunately because it is a double blind study, a certain percentage of patients will be receiving a "placebo" instead of the actual drug. But my mom has a very STRONG feeling that she will be getting the "good juice" so she calls it. And you know, some patients that receive placebos can even have amazing results because they believed all along that whatever they were receiving it was helping them heal. So the way I'm choosing to look at it is either way, my mom has such a positive attitude that no matter what they give her she will benefit from it. And if the doctors are learning something, even one tiny thing, that will help someone else with a glioblastoma down the road, then its all worth it!
And now on a little different note, for those of you that didn't know, my younger sister Taryn got engaged this summer to her long time boyfriend Mac. Recently Taryn and Mac have decided to move up the date of their wedding from late August to May 29th, which happens to be my mom's 55th birthday and keep the celebration small and intimate. The venue they were looking at changing the wedding to just happened to have that date available and the fact that her birthday even falls on a Saturday this year...well it couldn't be more perfect! So we are jumping into the wedding planning to make everything come together for them. Mom is looking forward to dancing all night long at the wedding!
Again I want to say thank you thank you thank you to all the wonderful people who have rearranged their lives to drive my mom to her treatments when my dad and sister are working. I feel like the day that I move back up to Whatcom county just can't come soon enough. My amazing boyfriend has spent every weekend making the 2.5 hour drive up from Lakewood with me so that we can spend time with my family. And as I realized today at the automotive shop, my poor car has taken a beating and I had to buy some much needed new tires. But it eases my mind knowing that my mom has great friends and family to fill in for us when we need it.
So many people continue to ask us what they can do to help?? And honestly right now, as a family we are managing very well, but we promise to ask for help when we need it. The one thing I do want to say is this...Anyone that knows my mom knows that family means EVERYTHING to her. Even when Taryn and I were little, we picked up on all the love and dedication she made to keeping our family close. From time to time every family faces situations that bring up disagreements that could possibly end in some hurt feelings. But its those times that you pull together and should work to put differences aside to get through it as a family. What I'm trying to say is, if anyone reading this blog has some unresolved family issues weighing on their hearts, please take a minute to step back and ask if its really worth growing apart from the people that should matter most in your life-your family! My mom has always said and lived by the advice of "when it comes to family, let the small stuff slide." Now more than ever I realize that we are never guaranteed another day to apologize, make things a little better, or spend another day with the people we love.
My mom continues to be such a positive and bright spirit to be around. Like right now at this very moment she's cooking pasta dinner with Il Divo cranked up in the kitchen, singing away :) She swears that Il Divo is very stimulating to her brain and listens to it all the time, much to my dad's dismay ha ha! One of her very kind and knowledgable doctors told her that people learn to really LIVE with cancer and a lot of people live a much better life with it than they did without it. God Bless and love to you all, more to come soon!
