1114to1230

December 30
Sorry for the long delay in updating this site, but I have been enjoying having this month off of treatments so much that I haven't had a chance to get on here. I hope you all had as great a Christmas as we did. I wish everyone could be as blessed as we are with family and friends.

Healthwise, I am climbing back into shape. As you know, it has been ten steps back and five steps forward with each treatment, so the cumulative effect is backwards, including losing more than 25 pounds (which I gained back 15 during the holidays).

The family is doing great. Everybody seems to be happy and healthy. Kyle and I are still trying to get out surfing when we can. Cameron is leading scorer for his basketball team. Liz and I are trying to squeeze in date nights as often as possible ( I even went xmas shopping with her a few times ... to the malls, even).

I have been working part-time and trying to keep my stress level down there as much as possible. I am fortunate to work with some great people who have really picked up for my slacking off.

I have been fortunate to be included in many people's prayers and many prayer chains across the country. I'd like to share with you one special prayer that a college roommate and fellow former rugby teammate, Steve Wiley, wrote and placed in the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem. Dear Lord: I offer this prayer for Dan and his family, beseeching you to restore his health and care for him and his loved ones. Give him strength in his fight against illness and bless him and keep him in the name of your son, Jesus Christ, our savior. Thanks again Steve.

My next treatment is scheduled for January 11. I get scans done a week earlier that will tell us a lot about the progress of this treatment and what our strategy will be in the future.

Happy New Year. See you in the next millenium.

Dec 1
Friday afternoon ... the best part of the week when you work 4 and 1/2 day work weeks.

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. We gathered at Liz's cousin Connie's for the traditional feat. Usually, I have no interest in eating for a week after I come home, but this time I just loaded up like usual and went for it. Can't we do this more often, like once a month?

I am back to working part time and working out when I can. At one point last week, I actually hit my old high school playing weight of 175 for the first time since college ( blame rugby and beer), but I'm sure I'll be back up to a healthy 185 after the holidays. (see this pic for the 202 pound version)

(click on pic ... I'm
behind guy catching
ball)

_
As far as prognosis goes, we are optimistic that this chemoembolization will wipe out the big tumor on the left and that the right side guys will continue to disappear. For what it's worth I have been having necrotic fevers (like cold sweats) every night, similar to after the first treatment, where the big tumor took the biggest hit so far. The immune system has to react to tumor death by cleaning up the dead cells, gobbling them up like deranged pacmen. The increased immune system response can cause fever like symptoms.

Another good thing is that we get to take this month off (do to good behavior) and don't have to go back until mid-January, where the good doctor will read scans and decide what the next step is. We feel exceptionally blessed to be able to enjoy the holidays with our family and friends.

Nov 21 (see message 67 on message board)

Nov 20, am
I am in the education center and they have a more recent version of netscape and hence I can update this website. Like a lot of other websites, they keep upgrading their capabilites making older versions of browsers obsolete (to update) ... those of you from the alumni website know what I mean.

I continue to do well, relatively speaking. NG tube and pain meds are keeping me comfortable. Doctor will visit later and listen to my stomach for gas (it's never there when you need it and the contrary), which is a prerequisite to getting this NG tube out. If it comes out today, Wednesday homecoming is rated as 'likely'. If not, it will be more touch and go. Trying to change our flights from Wednesday to any other day during the holiday may be problematic.

Last night, I watched the replay of the TCU/UTEP game in a pain med haze from 2:30 to 4:00. My 24 hour clock is a little messed up but it's all good. From what I saw, LaDainian Tomlinson should get the Heisman. Speaking of the Heisman, very loosely, Cameron made all league for football.

Have a great day!

Nov 19
See my message #46 posted in the message board, lower left side of this page.

Nov 16
Just met with Dr. Mavligit and am waiting to be admitted to hospital room. As usual, there was good news and so-so news. Good news is that after only one treatment to right side, it appears the several smaller tumors there are on the run or have disappeared. He does not think we need to hit that side again ... yet. Unfortunately, there has been little progress on the large tumor on the left side after the first treatment killed about half of it. The last treatment did not appear to make much progress. So he has recommended that we step up to the next level of treatment, i.e., chemoembolization, on the left side. He gave us the choice of waiting until after the holidays as it is not an emergency situation. Believe me, I was tempted big time to take a break. But we decided to go for it now and get it over with. (Besides, Cameron would not like to hear of any postponement of treatment). I asked the Lord to give Dr. Mavligit wisdom in determining my treatment options and he was very persuasive that this was the way to go. Originally, we came here to hit this as hard as we can ... well, here we go.

The recovery will be much more intense than the previous three treatments, including about four days with an NG tube down my throat. We were hoping that if we just did the right side treatment again, we'd be home early next week, but it looks like it will be touch and go whether or not we will make it home in time for Thanksgiving.

Tomorrow, I go in for angiogram and catheter and they will administer the cisplatin mixed with tiny plastic particles at that time. Later on, I will
receive the vinblastine.

Gotta go check in now, so chat with you later.

Nov 14
Well, we're off to lovely Houston and the lush accommodations of the MD Anderson Cancer Center. We leave tomorrow afternoon and should be receiving the delightfully dry, but robust cisplatin/vinblastin cocktail sometime Friday night.

We received preliminary review of scans last week and it remains good news, so-so news. Good news is there is no evidence of spread to other parts of the body, including brain. So-so news is that the liver tumors have not yet disappeared, but they don't appear to be any worse. We will have to wait until we meet with Dr. Mavligit on Thursday to decide what the next step will be, but it appears we will get at leat this one more treatment to the right lobe of the liver (where there are several smaller tumors). Hopefully, this treatment will be similar to treatment number two to the same lobe, which I tolerated much better than the first and third treatments.

Someone asked me if i was ready to go to Houston and I said, " I don't know, I'll have to check with Liz". She does an incredible job project managing me and the doctors and the insurance companies and our family and everything else, helping to keep my stress down, but tripling hers. I would ask that for every prayer and positive vibe you send my way, send three towards her.

By the way, the last couple of weeks, I've felt pretty good. Started taking yoga classes, which is another humbling experience (in addition to recent attempts to start surfing), given the fact I am so un-limber I can barely cross my legs indian style, let alone some of the more exotic positions. oh well, you have to start somewhere. At least I can do down dog and up dog pretty well.

Sunday was another great day ... law street surf club with kyle and wilding and huffman ... then church ... then kyle's baseball game (ended in 4-4 tie, partly 'cause the suicide squeeze I called backfired ... no guts no glory, right?), then prayer/meditation (read nap), then out to see Dawn for her (36th) birthday party. Always fun to see her get verklempt reading birthday cards.

Cameron's football season came to a merciful end. Team sort of spiraled downhill after starting out 3 and 1. He had a pretty good year, setting a school record for season and career tackles (120 and 194, respectively) and he still has another season to go. He has been getting some interest already from colleges such as Washington, Colorado, ASU, and others. But we are quickly on to basketball season now as they have already begun to practice.

Next update should be from the hospital in a couple of days. Hope all is well with you and yours.