Flying the Friendly Skies

We flew out yesterday from our airport with a connection in Dallas to Chicago. The flight was a little rough. We flew first class from Dallas to Chicago which was a nice experience. We had warmed nuts, and a fresh warm chocolate chip cookie. Our drinks were served in glass instead of plastic. So we are here waiting for the appointed time.

"The Lord's Will be done" This is really an orientation and or evaluation to see if they will accept me in the trial. They have said that I am the kind of patient they are looking for, but I guess they need to see me in person. I talked with one lady who has been a friend for many, many years and she was confused as to the condition of my disease. So here it is....and this is just the doctors reports, not the Lord's.

The tumors have all progressed significantly. There are so many of them now and they have grown so much they are not measuring and numbering them like they did. I do have some they are worried about and that would be the one major one between the colon and the bladder. The doctor in Wichita told me that if any of the tumors block my colon or digestive system I will go downhill fast. This is when I told him I have a wedding to be a part of in July. He said he could not promise me anything.

MDAnderson had said all the chemos have been tried and the tumors are smarter and stronger from them. They suggested now trying a clinical trial. Something different. I have been on a chemo pill since then because I was thinking, along with the doctor, that if we go at them a different way we may surprise them, trick them, whatever. My CA125, the drastic ovarian cancer blood test, was up to 101 before starting the pill. Last month it went to 105. The doctor seems to be happy because he said this is stable. I, of course, want it to go down.

The blood test, from what I understand, measures the protein in your blood that this cancer produces. So if it is going down, they are shrinking. If it goes up they are growing and producing more protein. Staying the same makes me happier than going up, but of course going down makes me happier.

So now that more of you know more than you probably care to know, I will be "at rest" also until I get near a computer. The brochure from the CTCA shows they have an area on the fourth floor with computers and everything for the patients to use. They also have a website where you can post information on to your friends and family. Since I am here and just using the resources I guess I will not need to be "at rest". That is unless they get me so busy with tests and all that I can't get up here to the fourth floor again,.

Will miss you all, but I am hoping we will find time to enjoy the experience of going to Chicago. We are a lot further from Chicago than I thought we would be. It took about an hour and a half to get to the hotel from the airport. There was traffic problems some and that was on a Sunday night. I hate large city traffic.