Christmas 2011

Thanksgiving

Maddie made 3 pies for Thanksgiving!

She is the next Martha Stewart!

We had a lovely dinner at Lisa and Scott McDermott's.

Chase is 21!!

Sad news and good news

One of our good friends, Faye Kotter, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer two years ago. It was 6 months after Craig's diagnosis and we have felt a real kinship with Faye and Wayne over the past two years. Unfortunately, Faye's time ran out last Saturday, Nov. 5. Way too soon. We never would have thought Craig would outlast Faye. It makes no sense and cancer never will. Faye and Craig are feisty and unique individuals. I thought that alone would give them both more time. We're so sad for the Kotter family and love them all. We will miss Faye so very much.

Craig had a 3 month checkup and follow-up to the CT scan last Friday on Monday 11/7. Dr. Weis, our new doctor, came in and said, "sorry I'm late but it's ok because I have good news". Once again the tumors are stable and some have even decreased in size slightly since the last scan. The tumors are "multiple" and large (the largest being 7.0 cm in maximum diameter and measured 7.8 cm on a prior scan). The report says: "Some lesions are unchanged in size, however, some lesions show interval decrease in size when compared to prior exam. This may represent treatment response." It's almost unbelievable that one person loses their fight and we keep winning the fight. We thank Pfizer for Sutent and all of you for your prayers in Craig's behalf. We will continue living and enjoying every day we have. Today is Chase's 21st birthday...so glad we're all here to celebrate together. Chase makes us proud and is a wonderful son to both Craig and I.

Chromogranin A

Here are the latest results on Craig's tumor marker, Chromogranin A. The date where the chart starts on the left lower corner is 9-1-2009. This was taken the day of his second chemoembolization. He had his first treatment on 7-8-09. After that second treatment his numbers shot up to over 500,000, then jumped up and down for the next almost year. On Aug. 12, 2010 he started the Sutent chemo pill. That's where the chart stays down around the 5,000 level and has since 8-31-10. It's just so amazing to see what a difference the right kind of treatment makes. It was obvious to us by the way Craig felt that the chemoembolizations were awful and not a bearable method of treatment. They were literally weakening him to the point if he had another one in 2009 when the doctors wanted him to, he could have died. Now, with the correct treatment, a brand new drug that was first approved for kidney cancer and has just recently been approved for pancreatic cancer, the results are amazing. The tumors aren't necessarily dying, we're hoping they are, but they are stable. He'll have another scan in November and we'll see the state of the tumors but for now we are very happy with the effects of Sutent.

Summer Catch-Up

Craig built a stable in our backyard...it's a barrier between the two sheds to create privacy between us and the neighbor. Our new neighbors built a deck at the back of their lot and it was right by where we hang out by the pool. Being the jack-of-all-trades he is, Craig took it upon himself to create a covered area so we can store stuff behind the pool house during the winter too. You can always depend on Craig to create storage for stuff rather than getting rid of it. He's such a great handy man!

Scout loves it when everyone's out at the pool...more people to throw the ball for him. Here he is placing 3 tennis balls on the floating island hoping someone will throw a ball to him.

Ellie & Lexi McDermott and Maddie and Chase tried to do a

4 man tower. They almost made it all the way up!

Maddie's Graduation

Maddie graduated from Skyline High School on June 2, 2011. Top 10% of her class, Honors at Entrance scholarship at the University of Utah just like Chase. We're pretty lucky to have 2 great kids and I can't help but say I'm very proud of them both. Craig's goal was to be here for this and he definitely was. He's doing very well and we feel so very lucky.

Shelby, Maddie and Emilie at the Huntsman Center

Faces in the crowd of graduates

Graduating friends

Best buds

Our high school graduate, Maddie!

Megan, Shelby, Maddie, Jane and Emilie

The family

Best friends

Cute dad and mad

Cousins!

Hawaii

To celebrate Maddie's graduation, our 28th Anniversary, my birthday and Craig's birthday, we spent the last week of May on Oahu, Hawaii. 4 days in a condo on Waikiki and 3 days in a beach house on the North Shore. I celebrated my 51st birthday snorkeling in Hanauma Bay.

We ate dinner at the Hula Grill in Honolulu

Visited Pearl Harbor and the Arizona Memorial

Chase celebrated his 1st birthday! (or some kid named Chase)

Father and son on the North Shore by the McDermott's house

Cute Maddie on the beach at sunset

Here's Craig boogie boarding on his almost 56th birthday! We spent the early morning hours of his birthday sleeping on benches in Portland's airport and the rest of it recovering from our night sleeping on benches! Oh what we do for cheaper flights!

Zions + Me

Chase and his friend Mason Brewer entered a contest by Zions Bank to create a 1 minute video with the title "Zions + Me".

He just found out he won 2nd place, $1,500!! The first place video was the pirate one (in case you looked at them before). That guy must have a lot of friends on Facebook.

Way to go Chase!

Maddie's Last Assembly at Skyline

Maddie had her last big assembly yesterday at Skyline. She created the Skyline Officer Winners (SOW) video based on the movie Jumanji. It was amazing and she did a great job on an enormous project. The auditorium was decorated in a jungle theme. This year's officers were celebrated as they walked down the aisle. Maddie's escort was her dad, Craig. Here's video of their "walk down the aisle". It brought tears to my eyes and Maddie's!

A few more pictures from the day. Can't believe we're almost done with high school. On Monday we're heading to Hawaii for a family trip. Back on June 1 for yearbook day and the next day is Maddie's graduation. Craig's goal was to make it here and he has and we're so grateful and happy.

Happy 28th Wedding Anniversary to Craig and I today!

The Tumors Are Stable!

Wow, I had such a foreboding feeling that today’s doctor visit would not be good….but it was great!! The tumors are stable and there is really no progression of the cancer!

They scanned his chest also to see if there is something obstructing or pushing on the esophagus and there is no evidence of metastatic disease. Dr. Jones said his digestive problems are typical for pancreatic cancer and she made some suggestions to try and help with that. The tumors, for some reason, like to make it hard for the small bowel to do its job so food gets stalled there and comes back up. For now he just has to eat small meals more often. He also has an allergic condition in his esophagus called eosinophilic esophagitis for which he'll see an allergist. This condition also contributes to the problem with food motility. He started experiencing these symptoms the end of last year and they've just gotten worse. We'll do all we can to figure out solutions but we're relieved it's not because of new tumor growth pushing on the esophagus or stomach.

Craig has really been blessed and the treatment they are giving him is working. Cancer is not winning this battle so far. Thanks for everyone’s support. We couldn't do it without you. That sounds trite, but it’s true! We have such great friends and family surrounding us. We feel very loved and very blessed today.

This was our last visit with Dr. Jones. She is moving to Oregon which is sad for us. Craig gave her a big goodbye hug. She has helped us so much through the last 2 years. We will really miss her!

Scanning tomorrow

Craig will have a CT scan tomorrow. It's been since last October so we're a little anxious to see what it looks like in there and if the Sutent is still working. He's been experiencing a lot of digestion problems and the food is not going down too easily and likes to come up quite often. Let's hope everything is static and the tumors are stable. We'll find out on Thursday at our last visit with Dr. Jones before she moves. Anyone know a good pancreatic cancer doc?

Senior Prom

Maddie's last dance at Skyline with Walter Hoggan. She'll be graduating in one month! Cousins!
Darling Heather helped with hair and makeup.
They drove in style!

It's Been 2 Years...

It's been two years since the diagnosis. Wow. It seems like we've been living this cancer life for a long time and we really are thankful for every day that have together.

We left town and the lousy SLC spring and headed to Arizona from A

pril 17-29. Maddie came with us since it was her spring break. We stayed at a house in Wickenburg AZ on a dude ranch thanks to Carolyn Caine, my second mom. Chase couldn't come because of almost being finals at the U and someone had to stay home with Scout.

This is a beautiful cactus blooming in the front yard. It only bloomed for one day then it was gone. Amazing to see.

The view out the front window of the house.The view out the back of the house at the "blue hour".Maddie and I finished a puzzle.A road sign reminding us not to drown!Craig and Maddie.Amazingly huge cactus. Maddie then flew home to go to school and Craig and I stayed another 5 days in the beautiful weather. It was snowing in SLC.The entrance to the dude ranch.Hoover Dam on the drive on our way down.On our drive home we stopped at the Grand Canyon. It was a little chilly but very awesome to see. There were so many foreign visitors it reminds us how lucky we are to have this so close!