Merry Christmas!!

We just want to say thanks to everyone and Merry Christmas to all! This has been a rough year but such a love-filled and special time for all of us at the Doutré household. We appreciate everyone's support and love. We hope you're all having a wonderful Christmas with your families...that's all that really is important. What the Grinch said is so true...

Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before.

"Maybe Christmas," he thought, "doesn't come from a store.

Maybe Christmas," he thought, "means a little bit more."

-- Dr. Seuss

A special thank you to the nice elf that left a surprise at our door this afternoon. We watched an episode of "Pushing Daisies" and when I walked upstairs there was a long package on our front step. It was beautifully wrapped in green and red polka dot paper with cute matching ribbon. I picked it up and opened it and inside I found a wooden board painted white with black letters and the saying "Prepare for the worst...Hope for the BEST" written on it. This is our blog theme and we would like to thank the person(s)? who did this for us. It was such a sweet surprise. Here's a picture of the sign.We're always hoping and praying. Craig has suffered from gout in his knee the last week but it's getting a little better and the best part is he's here and enjoying being with the family and his quality of life is good. We are so very blessed and thankful for all we have together.

Scanned and Static

Craig had a CT scan today. He "loved" drinking the contrast (a different "gastro" formula this time he flavored with Crystal Light...yum!) as usual before the scan. We ate lunch after at the Bistro (I resisted the sweet potato fries for once) and then headed home. During the afternoon we got an unexpected phone call from Dr. Jones. She said the scans look good and there's no new tumor growth. The pancreas tumor is the same as the last scan which is expected since it hasn't been hit with chemo. The left side of the liver has two large tumors of which one has reduced by about 1 cm and the other is about the same size as before or "static". This is great news. The few months off treatment have not shown any ill effects and this gives Craig even more time to feel good for awhile. Dr. Jones said we wouldn't need to see her this week and suggested meeting with her in January and then scanning again in February. She felt this was reasonable and reiterated that these are slow growing tumors and as long as they are static (even after 3 months since the last chemo) then Craig should be fine. She assured me this was not reckless behavior and as long as we scan him every 2 months we'll be on top of whatever is happening in his liver. Craig is very happy and relieved to not be receiving a chemo treatment 4 days after Christmas. Everyone enjoy the holiday season and thank you for your prayers and thoughts on our behalf.