September 29, 2016

REMISSION!  Steve is in remission!  Happy day.  His PET scan showed  NO cancer.  Yay!!

September 15, 2016

We met with the surgeon, Dr. Gill, this morning.  It was a very enlightening visit.  He showed us Steve's MRI.  His insides look like a hand grenade blew up in there.  The surgeon doesn't want to go in there...his organs (spleen, stomach, pancreas, etc) are all fused together with scar tissue.  He likened it to plaster of paris hardening and keeping them together.  They've scheduled a procedure with interventional radiology to drain the abscess on October 4th.  The abscess is about the size of an irregularly shaped ping pong ball.  Interventional radiology will use CT scanning to guide themselves in from the back.  They most likely will have to go through his lung.  Hopefully they'll be able to drain it, and the tissue will remain in there.  Steve's pancreas looks horrible and there's only about 20% of it left.  He's taken a beating, that's for sure.  However, it's still producing enzymes and insulin...that's a huge blessing.

Thanks as always for checking on us.  We're hanging in there.

September 14, 2016

All good news from the oncologist today.  Blood work looks good (a little anemic, but everything else is normal).  He's pleased that Steve is off of the heavy pain meds, and he's happy with how good Steve's coloring is.  He's not convinced the fluid Steve gets every day is necessary, but he's supportive.

A fun photo from August

This was after a game during a soccer tournament in August.  Steve is happiest when he's coaching.

September 13, 2016

Steve still gets fluids every weekday to help with his blood pressure and stamina.  He's been off of his heavy pain meds for 4 days.  This is the 2nd time he's tapered off...the first time was in April, before the cancer.  He's not putting on weight, but he's not losing either.  His appetite is better, but he still has pain when he eats.

September 8, 2016

Interventional Radiology is nervous about the location of the pocket that needs to be drained/removed.  It's between the pancreas and spleen and not too far from the lung.  They want us to consult with a surgeon.  We have an appointment for Sept 15th with Dr. Gill, the surgeon we saw a couple of times in the spring.

September 7, 2016

Dr Kawa called me this afternoon. He said the scarring in the pancreas wasn't as bad as he thought, so he doesn't want to mess with it, but he's reaching out to interventional radiology tomorrow to find out if it's feasible to drain the little pocket of fluid near the spleen.  He wants to get that drained and see if it helps Steve's pain before he sends Steve to a pulmonologist.