Another Round of Chemo

Angela had another round of chemo today. She seems to be tolerating it well and her motor abilities continue to improve. Let's pray this is a positve sign. Angela and I enjoyed a movie today, Wild Hawgs, while the chemo IV was administered. It was nice to laugh given the circumstances. Angela is requesting a "Chick Flick" for next round. I welcome any chick flick movie recommendations, keeping in mind that I'll have to sit there and watch it too. Please no Hugh Grant movies!

A Nice Evening

It has been quite sometime since Angela has felt like putting on something other than cute atheletic outfits and going somewhere. Yesterday evening she put on a fashionable pair of jeans and got all "dolled up". If I have to say so myself she looked rather stunning. Life almost seemed "normal". We met some friends at one of our old haunts, CC's Coffee House on Perkins; and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. As the coffee chatter grew to a close, Angela and I decided to end the night at another one of our pre-kid hangouts, George's on Perkins. We shared a delicious plate of thin cut catfish and a large order of onion rings. No calorie counting! It was a wonderful night.

Angela seems to be feeling better. Her motor skills have improved and mentally she seems to be in a better place. She is scheduled for another round of chemo on Wednesday.

Prayer Service

I would like to thank Angela's cousin, Father John Carville, for leading a prayer service Sunday for Angela's family and a few close friends. We held the service outside in the yard and the weather was absolutely beautiful. Father Carville gave Angela the "Anointing of the Sick" and Communion. This was just the spiritual and emotional boost she needed. His words and the service gave us all great comfort. Again thanks for your posts, prayers and support .... it what keeps her going!

Very Tough Week

It has been a very hard week since our return from Duke, both mentally and physically for Angela. Without going into lots of details, unfortunately the MRI from the 18th was misread by the local radiologist reviewing it. There was new tumor growth, the tumor was not stable as reported. To make matters worse, when Duke did their own analysis of the MRI they did see new growth. However the report was put on the wrong desk; and there it sat over the holidays. The bombshell was delivered during our Jan 7th visit to Duke. Angela should have began "Phase II" of her protocol December 20th. This information was never relayed to us or our local oncologist. The double snafu cost us three valuables weeks of time without treating her tumor and an immersurable toll on her spirit. Needless to say it has been a very tough week. To our local Oncologist's credit, Patt Stagg, he acted quickly to get Phase II started this past Wednesday.

Angela does read every post. Her mental state right now is very fragile to say the least. Thanks for all the posts and prayers. Keep'um Coming!

David

Visit to Duke

I wish I could tell you the news was better ... but it wasn't what we wanted to hear. The tumor is back. The tumor apparently did not respond well to the chemo and radiation treatments. It is very hard to write this right now. We're both pretty upset. Thanks and please continue with your thoughts and prayers.

Christmas & More

Kid's Rules Apply (no time to worry about grammar, punctuation or run on sentences, etc.)

Angela has traditionally cooked a seafood gumbo for her family for Christmas. She would make her usual run to Tony's Seafood and buy enough crab meat and shrimp to where you could almost eat the gumbo with a fork.... talk about good. Well this year our friends at Tony's Seafood provided Christmas Eve dinner for us. They loaded us down with fried fish, fried shrimp, boiled crabs (do you know how hard it is to eat boiled crabs when you have two little boys who also eat boiled crabs...anyway), all the sides and two pies. It was a feast. Sebastian, Angela's brother-in-law, kept the gumbo tradition going by bringing a pot to add to all the delicious food from Tony's. The kids opened their gifts from the family and we eventually got them to bed for Santa's visit.

Christmas morning my sister and her family came over to cook us brunch and play with the kids. The boys got motorized jeeps from Santa. They put on their firemen outfits and road around in their jeeps all day putting out fires and helping people. Karlie and Vance, my niece and nephew, did a great job keeping them entertained. Kat got a baby doll with a stroller. When she wasn't riding with her big brother Alex in his jeep, she was holding her baby doll and strolling her like a big girl. Angela really enjoyed herself watching the kids play and open toys.

My B-Day (the 26th) my sister came over after work to give us a night. The night out turned into a much needed nap at home and an opportunity to soak in the tub. It was great!

Overall Angela has been really tired lately. She is finally feeling the effects of the radiation treatments. She has had quite a few headaches because of some mild swelling of the brain.... again the radiation's side effects. Christmas has been a little bittersweet for her given her lack of mobility, fatigue and the uncertainty of what lies ahead. She plan's on having on better Christmas next year ..... THANKS and PLEASE keep up the prayers!

Time to get back with kids ... they want to play on their "computers" Santa brought them.

1st MRI - GOOD NEWS!

This will be short ....we're about to be on our way to see Santa at Tammy and Joey's house. The results of Angela's MRI yesterday were good. There were still no signs of the tumor. Thanks for your prayers! I'll post more later when I get a moment.