More Good News!

Well, we are here again... at CTCA, Zion Illinois.  It is Friday and cold outside - there is some snow on the ground and life is good!!  We got news that is very close to the best news we could get!!  The CEA is down again.  This time it is 3.2 -- remember that 3 is normal.  Four weeks ago that reading was 3.9 so we are approaching normal!!

We saw Dr. Neelam today and she was encouraging to us as we talked about how things are and what the future looks like.  If everything continues to progress as it has, we are looking at a normal CEA in 4 weeks, which is when we see her again. Future chemo treatments are based on what we see on the scans which will be done in 4 weeks.  We have chemo today and again in 2 weeks.  Then 2 weeks later, we have the scans; and chemo - depending on those scan results.

We had been under the impression that there would be a "maintenance program" that would include a reduced amount of chemo therapy for a certain period of time after it was determined that the cancer was gone or at least totally controlled.  Well that would have been true if we were still using Avastin, which is what was prescribed when treatment began back in April, but since we changed to Erbitux, the protocol is that we would go completely off any chemo treatments and come back here for scans and blood work every 3 months.  The reasoning is that going off the drug completely allows the body to recover from having received chemo treatments.  Receiving a reduced amount of Erbitux over a period of time allows the body to build up an immunity to the drug and therefore in the event the cancer were to return, Erbitux would not be as effective against the disease.  Going off it completely allows the body to recover and if needed again, it would attack the cancer cells as it did originally. 

We are very encouraged by the progress we are seeing - but there is a part of me that fears that we may never get to the point of going off chemo and enjoying a cancer - free life again.  I know that is Satan trying to get those doubts to infiltrate my thought process and nothing makes Satan happier than for us to doubt God's promises and the good things He has for us. 

Please continue to keep us in your prayers and pray that God will be glorified and that healing will continue to take place.  We are always so aware of the presence of God in our lives and answers to the prayers of God's people.  Thank you for being there for us.