Doing Well!

We had a great time up at Sylvan Lake. Ruth is doing well on the all Vegan diet. She has been enjoying the great weather and going on some good walks and bike rides. She is helping sort various items at the rummage sale (the big one every fall in Minturn) today. Thanks for checking in. Thanks for your prayers!

CA 125 up but so are spirits!

Ruth is doing well and maintaining her strict vegan diet. The refrigerator has transformed from a typical American fridge to all organic and is filled to the brim with fruits, vegetables and many different things that will hopefully help get healthy again. The freezer is filled with frozen fruits and veggies too- we are all excited to be eating healthier!
We are celebrating Father's Day up at Sylvan Lake State Park- which is only 15 miles from our front door.
The CA 125 (indicator of cancer activity) count was up from 160 to 291 (higher numbers are bad) which we are discouraged about, but she has only been on the diet and the alkaline water for a week so hopefully things will start to improve.
We are so blessed to visit with family and friends this summer, we appreciate your prayers, support and advice. We remain optimistic in this battle and are overwhelmed the outpouring of love and concern that is demonstrated over and over again.

It's amazing how much better I feel now that I am finished with my last chemo treatment and am on summer break - a healthy combination that even the doctors couldn't have ordered! After Bob and I met with my surgeon on Monday, I have decided not to participate in any clinical trials and will not have any more elective surgery to remove the growing tumors. Instead, I will remain under the care of my oncologist at the Shaw Regional Cancer Center in Edwards, CO, who will continue to monitor my condition with weekly blood tests and to administer any medications I may need. I am also consulting with Dr. Bamberger at the Center for Longevity and Lifestyle Changes in Edwards to bring my ph level into balance and to detoxify my body so that my immune system may have a fighting chance to slow down the growth of the cancer cells. I am on a strict vegan diet with whey protein added, and am drinking lots and lots of alkaline water. After only a few days, I really do feel more energetic and am experiencing less pain than I was a week ago. Praise God! I am optimistic that my quality of life will improve, and I feel a lot better about putting good things in my body instead of poison! Bob and Sarah support me in these decisions. They have been so dedicated to caring for me over the past 6 months and are thrilled to see me doing some of the things that I used to be able to do before surgery and chemo. I got the results of my blood draw today and learned that my red blood cell count is improving, platelets are up, and my white blood cell count is normal. I am looking forward to visiting with family and friends over the next several weeks and finally being able to plant some flowers now that the probability of another freeze is unlikely. I enjoy "sleeping in" until 6 A.M., having a leisurely cup of tea, relaxing in our comfortable home, and receiving all the cards, e-mails, phone messages, and prayers that people near and far are sending my way. I feel so blessed to have this wonderful support. God is so faithful to answer our prayers with the thoughtful generosity of others. It is truly amazing.

CT scan results

CT scan results back-
We got the results back- not horrible but not good either.
The cancer has not spread to any other places/ organs that we know of. The cancer that is in there is growing. Ruth has a lot of discomfort in her abdomen; the fluid is starting to accumulate again as it had before her surgery in January. Her belly is very distended (enlarged). They talked about going in and removing the fluid however it is in 3 different places and it would only giver her temporary relief, it is not out of the question but now a question of benefit vs. risk. The chemo that her doctor here wants to try is one that was tested with the chemo sensitivity tests after the surgery and it was not effective so that is still a possibility, another possibility is doing clinical trial chemo but that would probably need to be done down in Denver. Ruth has an appointment down in Denver on Monday with her surgeon and will discuss further options with him. She mentioned to me this week that she feels like she has cancer- with that being said we are thankful for how relatively good she has felt and how much she has been able to do till this point and hope for better days ahead.

Thanks for your prayers!!

No chemo yesterday- CT instead

Ruth was supposed to have her last treatment of chemo before her PET scan in a few weeks, it did not happen she had a CT scan instead. She has not been feeling well since Sunday. She is noticing that her belly is getting bigger again, she is tired, achy, and in pain. When she walked in the nurses asked how she was doing, not that it was horrible but she mentioned that she was not doing well. After talking with the doctor and getting a consult from him they decided to withhold chemo for that day and do a CT scan (they did do it yesterday) and see what the results were. There is no sense in putting chemo in her body if it is not effective. We should have the results sometime today. Last time she had a CT scan it showed that it had spread to her liver so hopefully if we need to know anything we should be able to see it on the scan results. As soon as we have the results we will post info- hopefully at the latest by the end of the week. Please be praying for a miracle that all the discomfort is the chemo and God’s work working!

Thanks for your prayers!