No Treatment Today...

Because of the stents being put in on Monday we were going to skip the avastin. We talked to the Doctor and he said why not just skip it all. But because he hasn't been feeling real great this past week. He suggested some fluids, they gave him a liter and he seems to be perking up. We thought his blood counts would be down but amazingly they were actually up at 38.9 40 is normal. But the Doc did say because he is a little dehydrated it may inflate his numbers a little. Because the RBC are not floating in a lot of water. So he gets to take off the time from treatment and get himself strong again. We go back in two weeks again and get the results of the break. (to see if the cea levels stayed the same or which direction they went.) Pray for Down!!

On a Happy Note....Samantha turned 14 the other day. She went to the beach for her Birthday and had lunch at the purple cow. (thats a 50's style diner) It was pretty good. Ohh and the shakes (vanilla flavored) where more purple than Barney. Talk to you all soon.

If you have a myspace you can visit us there at http://myspace.com/karenandted4ever
I have some pictures up and it's just something I started to keep an eye on the children and to share pics with the family. Have a great weekend. Love to all......

Semi Normal Week......

Ok so this week definatly went much better then the other weeks that we had after chemo. Man they sucked. Ted wasn't totally himself but definately was better then after chemo. We think he got a little dehydrated because of the heat and the nephrostomy. Sometimes when he doesn't use it forawhile and then turn it on. It drains more fluid then it should. (We just learned this from the urologist) So that kinda explained that and I think he just needed to get some needed rest. On July 2 Ted is going in to have the stent changed out and they are going to try a bigger one. This one is going to be done by the doctor instead of radiology. So it's general to put him out and it takes them longer in recovery and blah blah...just more crap. But keeping our fingers crossed he will have bette luck with this stent. If this doesn't work we might try just taking the stent out. But I think we want to wait to see if we can get a pet scan and see how much cancer is left compared with the last scan. We will talk to the Doctor on July 13th. Well got to run. I'll update you when I get more information. Love ya.....Karen

AND the Doctor Said.....

At first i think they were gonna suggest more chemo, at least the PA was. But we reminded her that they said 8 treatments. So we discussed this plan. Ted gets the next two treatments of eribitux and avasitin. We come in for the cea levels to see where they are after not having chemo for two treatments. Then we should be able to make an informed decision. OHH yeah....Did I mention.... The CEA levels are 4.1 yeah down from 7.8. Cut in half almost again. YEAH!!!:) So our new baseline is 4.1 (Oh and under 4 is considered normal range) Ted was 4.8 about a year ago in April 06. We will have to see what happens with no chemo treatment and just the other drugs. So far he is doing well. A little tired probably from the benedryl that they give him and just nerves. So we are more then hopeful that we will have a great week coming up and not a yucky one. They tell us he shouldn't have any real side effects with these drugs.
His blood counts were up a little so ( i think it was 30 something) hopefully now that he won't be too nausea he will be able to take his vitamins and that should help get his numbers up.

We see the urologist next friday and see what the plan is about the kidney and stents. They stents work good sometimes and other we have to turn on the nephrostomy. It's and up and down battle with that and we just hope that we can come up with a new solution.

If you have any questions just post and i'll try to answer them. I don't think it will effect anyone but I have the comment option so that I have to approve them before posting. We link this blog with Myspace and I just don't want spam stuck on here. *hugs* to all and Ted says thanks for all the love and comments. Karen

The week is over

Well we had a rough week following this chemo but Ted is doing much better now. We got fluids on Thursday and that seemed to perk him up and make him feel much better. We actually went to Busch Gardens on Sunday. Samantha got to ride the Griffen. She said it wasn't that bad but from the looks of it. Yup it's that Bad.!!! But she also said it was the best ride ever. Now dropping 205ft 90 degrees face down. Doesn't sound like much fun too me.

Ted has blood work today so we will have cea level results on Friday when we see the doctor. Keeping fingers crossed that everything is still going in the right directions and that was the last chemo for a long time. Because Chemo Sucks really bad.

Last Chemo Treatment`

Ted had his last chemo treatment on Friday. Now we still have to go and get the erbitux and the avastin ever other week or quite awhile. Otherwise things are going well right now. Ted is feeling good. Hoping it stays that way and being so warm and humid here and to try and stay hydrated and rested. Sometimes he doesn't really get hit till monday. His blood counts were up a little not much. If he doesn't get them up he will probably have to have an iron infusion. That takes about 5 hours to do that too. So we are hoping not to have to do that. Well I'm gonna go. Jodie and Leo and Johnny are down for a visit this weekend. I'll update you more soon.