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!

Rough week- better now

Ruth had a rough week. She and Bob came back from Boulder on Monday. Bob had a great race and they had a good weekend. She had a chemo treatment on Tuesday along with an iron transfusion. She started not feeling well on Tuesday, stayed home from work on Wednesday and Thursday and will go back to school today- Friday. She went in to get some IV fluids on Thursday along with some medicine to help her not feel as nausious. Other than that you can't really tell that she was not feeling bad earlier this week. She has another treatment on Tuesday. Her blood results are fluctuating which is normal, one week it looks good and another week it brings back results that are not great but not terrible either. After her next treatment- next week- they will wait 2-3 weeks before she has a PET scan and we will go from there.

Thanks for all your prayers- will try to update this often.

Update on Ruth

Ruth had chemo on Tuesday this week and is doing ok, she is really tired and not feeling great but still went to school on Wednesday, much to our relief decided to take off today- Thursday. Hopefully with some rest she will be ready for the holiday weekend. She is hoping the reason why she is tired and in pain means that the chemo is effectively working and her body is fighting this disease. Her iron levels are a little low so she will need to get iron treatments for a bit through an IV between her chemo treatments. Her blood results came back looking good for the most part. Much to her disappointment she will not be participating in this years Bolder Boulder 10K run this year, however Bob still will and she plans on cheering him on. So if any female 62 years of age that is reading this you should enter the race this year as it will be your only chance to win the age group- good luck, she will be back for revenge next year!

Happy Memorial Day weekend- stay safe out there-to all the Men and Women in our Military that are serving, have served or will serve thank you for your service from the bottom of our hearts.

As always thanks for your prayers!

Doing Well!

Hi to all. Ruth is doing well. This was her off week from chemo. She will have another 3 weeks of treatments once a week then we will go in for a PET scan and determine what is next. She has been eating well and getting some deep sleep at night so that is great. Thanks for all your prayers!

One Day at a Time

Every day brings something new, it can either be a great day for Ruth or not such a great day. Last weekend she was able to go to Moab with Bob and meet me down there. We had a great weekend and did some biking. She felt well enough to join us on a ride or two, and some walking around town. This past week has had it's share of ups and downs. She has been very tired this week and in a fair amount of pain. Some days are better than others. She has continued to go to school and do a lot however it is a great relief for her to come home and get some rest. This morning has been tough for her but hoping she will be able to talk with her doctor and get on a good pain management plan. We'll keep you all posted. She did have her chemo during lunch on Thursday and tolerated it fairly well considering. I think all of us are learning to live more in the moment- not necessarliy in the past or future but to take every moment as it comes, whether good or bad and truly appreciate what we do have. As I keep on reminding her we have had a lot of good days and not that we want a bad day but it makes us appreciate those good days that much more!!!

I appologize for not updating the blog for a long time and there is no excuse, however I will try to be better about posting on a more regular basis- probably once a week unless there is news to be shared.

Thanks for your prayers.

Update on Ruth

Ruth was supposed to have her 4th chemo treatment yesterday (Wednesday) however plans have changed. Ruth has been having severe pain for a few days- since last week. She went in for her chemo treatment and the doctor ordered a CT scan instead. The results of the CT scan came back very quickly however they did not bring great news. The scan showed spots on the liver. Unfortunately all of her recent blood tests came back looking good and she has been feeling great until recently so there was really no indication that this was a problem. Needless to say we are all very discouraged, however we remain to put our faith and trust in God.
Ruth will have her 4th chemo treatment on Friday- tomorrow with a new drug- Gemzar as they will try something different. They will order another CT scan after 2 treatments of Gemzar to see if it is working.

Thanks for your prayers.