2/3 dose

Well, he's up to 2/3 dose by last Thursday, August 12 and it didn't make much difference. In fact, I think it's giving him renewed energy. He's pulled out the dead bushes in front of the house with the help of a truck, chain and his good friend, Jason Thomas...eaten at Cafe Rio and Cheesecake Factory...chipped out the tile in the basement (with Jason's help again) for new carpeting...all since taking the chemo pill! He wasn't wanting to do much of that stuff, manual labor or eating out over the past year and a half. If it wasn't Cowboy Grub's roast beef sandwich smothered in gravy, he wasn't interested in going anywhere else. He's thinking of going to the full dose this week sometime. We are just so thankful that this pill hasn't been too rough on him. Hopefully it's doing what it's supposed to which is keeping tumors from growing.

Maddie is 17!

It's true, she's seventeen today! What a woman! Hard at work on her Hello Day assembly video for the first day of school next week. She has been filming for weeks and is now editing for hours and hours. We celebrated at Cheesecake Factory and then some friends came over for cake and an outdoor movie. We had a surprise visit from the McDermott cousins. It was a great day for Maddie. We gave her a trip to San Francisco in October over UEA - just Maddie and mom! Love this girl lots! We're so proud of her!

Backed Against A Wall

Last Wednesday, Dr. Jones called, after reading the last CT scan taken at IMC when Craig broke his rib. She wasn't her usual light and cheery self but wanted to talk to both of us. She said the tumors have once again grown, especially the pancreas tumor which had not increased in size since the diagnosis. This is just from two months ago and Craig has been feeling so good. We talked about options and the words that stayed with us are "you don't have a lot of liver left". She said you need to take the chemo pill now. Craig felt "backed against a wall" and knew it was time to try the pill. He said he'd start on Sunday (today). The last thing she said was "don't drink any grapefruit juice". You would think that wouldn't be a problem for most people but for Craig that is his favorite drink...seriously! The sour, yellow, yucky stuff you buy in frozen cans...he loves it! Everything else is too sweet for him. We had already read that he would have to stop his grapefruit juice habit and I swear that was one of the things holding him back from starting the chemo pill. Now that he didn't have an option he willingly took himself off of it by Saturday and today when I came home from church he took his first Sutent at 12:30 pm. We sat there looking at each other and nothing immediately happened. Within about 20 minutes he started to feel a little upset in his stomach. Nothing drastic but just an unsettled feeling that he has many days. That was about it for the day, no drastic changes, no need for anti-nausea medicine so that was good. This is just 1/3 of the full dose he took today so he'll slowly build up to the full dose if he can over the next few weeks.

We had a Doutré family party tonight and he was able to go to that. His sister Greta-Ann and her daughter Caylie are in town so it was wonderful to see them and spend time together for the first time in a few years. Greta-Ann is the amazing bionic woman with her new leg which she actually stood and walked on. Here is a picture of her standing all by herself...totally great to see her progress. We love them both and wish they lived closer so we could help them out more.

Cough Cough Cough Crack!

During the recent trips, I caught a cold, then Chase did, then Craig did which was what we dreaded all winter that he would get sick. Well, now it's summer and he's had a cold since Yellowstone and it's settled in his lungs as usual. He's struggling to breathe at times and is coughing constantly. We went in yesterday to Dr. Craig and he had a chest x-ray and an Echo cardiogram. Craig's ankles have swollen up this past week and we're afraid maybe the heart isn't pumping as well as it should. The x-ray showed no pneumonia in the lungs and some excess fluid around the lungs and heart. This is common in cancer patients and can be helped with diuretics but we have to be careful not to dehydrate him. The heart looks good otherwise but we haven't had the final diagnosis from the cardiologist. So later last night Craig was watching TV and I was in my office and I heard him almost scream out in pain. Chase yelled for me to come up and Craig was doubled over and said he coughed and then felt a sharp pain in his back and felt like he'd broken a rib. (He's broken 3 before on a fall through a deck at our old house so he knew the feeling.) I called Dr. Craig and he said to get him to the ER fast as it could be something to do with his liver. We helped Craig to the car and carefully drove to IMC in Murray (trying not to hit bumps which created more pain) and luckily were ushered in fairly quickly to a room when we mentioned cancer and a possible liver rupture. They got him on pain meds intravenously and he relaxed a little. His vitals were good. They did a chest x-ray (2nd one for the day!) and then a CT scan. The results came back about 2 am and showed he has a broken 8th rib on the right. It is amazing a cough can do that! All we can do is wrap him in a stretch wrap around his middle to support him and give him some pain meds. It takes about 4-6 weeks to heal and he can't do much lifting or twisting (not that he wants to!). He still has the cough which we'll try to help with some steroids. Poor guy had a tough night getting comfortable and not coughing.

He did receive the Sutent (oral chemo) from Pfizer through their patient assistance program. Once he's through the cold (and now the rib fracture) he'll start on a smaller dose to see how he feels with it. Dr. Jones said 3 other patients are on it and have mainly been more fatigued but not really nauseous. They have stabilized their tumors and one patient even had some reduction in tumor size which is incredible. Hopefully this will be a possibility for Craig soon.

Yellowstone with the Doutrés

We were home for 3 days then headed to Yellowstone with the Doutre’ side of the family. Saw a bear, a bald eagle, buffalo, elk and a mama moose and baby moose. Feeding the chipmunk at Firehole River was a highlight as was being sworn at by a construction worker while we stopped to take a picture of a buffalo coming down the road! Hiked Uncle Tom’s Trail by the Upper Falls and ate the requisite ice cream cone while waiting for Old Faithful to blow. Rafted down the Snake River twice and had the ride of our lives the second time (sorry Craig). Thanks to everyone for a memorable and fun trip.

Huntington Beach

In June we traveled to Huntington Beach CA with my brother Craig's family and spent a week at a beach house. Chase, Craig and Maddie were all great boogie boarders. Craig wore a wet suit to retain body heat in the ocean. He said he felt like he was carrying around a basketball in his stomach as the waves hit and things inside slid around. Craig H. got to be rescued once in a riptide by a lifeguard and topped that by dislocating his shoulder in a wave and taking a ride in an ambulance to the hospital for relocation! He was back at the beach in no time to not waste a good beach day. We ventured to Disneyland one day for fun. Roasted marshmallows on the beach, rode bikes everywhere and perfected our tans and body/boogie boarding skills. Thanks Harmons for an exciting trip. We hope you aren't getting too old for this HCH?

Here we are in San Francisco...
Muir Woods...

Visiting with Carolyn Caine, my second mom who just turned 88!! We love you Carolyn!

Columbia CA...a mining town in the Sierras...Visiting Kim and Nick Hatch's apartment... Lake Tahoe...