The Next Mountain to Climb

After considering all of my recent scans, my team at Stanford has decided to adjust my treatment plan again. I will be doing a four-week regimen of a monoclonal antibody drug called Rituximab to address my lymphoma, which appears to be rearing its head a little. I will also be starting a different chemo (pill form) to continue to treat the sarcoma. I am going to take a short treatment break to enjoy the month of June. Jim and I will get to have some fun adventures before the treatments start in early July. Before all these most recent treatments, we planned a trip to Portugal. We weren’t sure we were going to be able to go, but made the final decision last week based on what my doctors want to do. We are going! In the meantime, if you’re wondering how I am feeling, I have been riding my bike to work for the past week. I feel great minus the back pain that I always deal with and some fatigue. I tend to nap at lunchtime but that’s OK! Thank you for all the prayers and everyone who checks...

After a scan to focus on the L1 vertebrae and then consultation with a neurosurgeon … his evaluation was that it is very unlikely that the tumor on the spine is causing the pain.  Therefore, surgery is not recommended.  While disappointed that we didn’t figure out the cause of the pain, we are happy about no surgery.  We are waiting to talk with Dr Ganjoo, the oncologist. We think she is meeting with the team of doctors who reviews cases before deciding on next steps.  Tonight we had Valentino’s pizza at home to celebrate Kristi’s birthday … all the kids, grandkids, Tio Carlos, and the college kid renting our Mother-in-laws quarters, Danial. It was so loud, boisterous, and crazy … so nice. 

We just want to give a quick update, with more to follow in a few days.  Kristi’s scan last week showed some mixed results.  While the lungs seemed to be somewhat stable (not growing), some other tumors in other areas did show some growth.  Of paramount importance at this moment is her pain.  While the new meds do help, they are not helping enough.  From the scan, it appears that a tumor on a lower vertebrae could be the culprit.  We are heading to Stanford again tomorrow for a focused scan on that vertebrae and have a consultation with a neurosurgeon on Wednesday.  We (oncologist included) think and hope the surgeon will recommend surgery to remove that tumor and hopefully the source of the pain.  If surgery is recommended, we hope it can be done as soon as possible.