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!

Grandpa Dave

Craig's dad, David Lamar Doutré, passed away this morning while sleeping in his favorite chair. What a wonderful father, grandpa, husband, friend and neighbor. He was a fun, crazy, loving, caring guy that we will all miss immensely. He truly was the best grandpa and showed his love to our kids on a daily basis. When they were young, they spent one day a week with Grandpa and Grandma and it was the highlight of their week!

As you can see...Craig emulates his dad in looks and behavior. They are both one of a kind!
Chase at his Eagle Court 5 years ago with Grandpa Dave and Craig. Grandpa was so proud of Chase! He always wore the Eagle pin Chase gave him with pride. Grandpa came to Chase's basketball games and every event in his life.
Maddie and Grandpa had a very special relationship. Here she is at 3 years old, all dressed up as a bride, ready to "marry" Grandpa. They loved their visits to McDonalds and Souper Salad, coloring and reading together and especially riding bikes on the Dearborn sidewalks.
We will miss you Grandpa. We imagine you are having a joyous reunion in heaven with your parents, siblings, pets and everyone you've ever known. Heaven has just gained a wonderful and amusing character and a devoted follower of Christ.

Pfizer: We Love Thee

Pfizer came through for us again! I guess IHC did too by refusing to pay for Craig's Sutent chemo pill. By their denial (twice) Pfizer will give us one year more of Sutent for free! That's $6000 per month of medicine! It happened on Feb. 16. I was in New Orleans on business and Craig got a call that he was approved until February 2012. The next Monday, Feb. 21, the one month of pills was dropped on the porch by the UPS guy. Little did he know that what was inside is literally keeping Craig alive and in relatively good shape. It really is incredible that something so small is so powerful.

We met with Dr. Jones on Feb. 24 which is the first time we've seen her since she had baby Mallory last Nov. She first informed us that she is leaving Huntsman and moving to Corvallis OR because of the lousy weather and air here and she wants to cut back on work a little now that she's a mom. I understand but it made me cry...like we're losing one of the wheels on our car that was driving along pretty well right now. She gave us a few names of other GI Oncologists we can see at Huntsman or at IHC. We love Huntsman and will probably stay up there. They did blood work on Craig and the labs looked good. His Chromogranin A is 8443 which is lower than last month's 9161. That's the tumor marker we like when it's low but don't pay attention to when it jumps up to 400,000. Liver function is good too. Amazing with the load of tumors in there. The Sutent is holding those babies back...they're too scared of this drug to grow! He'll have a scan in April.

Life is good and Craig says that a lot. Maddie just got offered an Honors At Entrance Scholarship to the U of U which we're thrilled about. Chase has had the same scholarship and has kept it going for 2 years. Maddie is an amazing girl. There's a 5K Run for Huntsman Cancer tomorrow at Skyline High that Maddie's SBO group is putting on. Maddie also spoke about her personal experience with her Dad's cancer at an assembly a month ago to kick off their fundraiser. It's great to see the kids grow through this experience. We're really grateful for everything we have. Thanks to all of you who read this for your love and support. We couldn't do it without you.

January update

Not too much to say but Craig did have blood work this month and it looked pretty good. It actually looked better than last month. In November we decided to lower the dose of Sutent to 25 mg vs. the 37.5 mg full dose because he had a lot of edema (excess fluid) along with his blood not looking as good in the Nov. and Dec. blood work. Now it's improving slightly. His liver function is still normal and we're very thankful for that. His main complaint now is heartburn. Some days it's really bad. He's taking everything he can for it but it's going to be trial and error to figure out what foods are bothering him the most. He did have an endoscopy in Dec. and that showed reflux and an allergic condition in his esophagus that probably contributes to the heartburn. He has 4 different acid reducers he takes depending on what one works the best. One works better one day and another one another day. He's figuring it out little by little. Still, the mild diet of cheese, bread, potatoes, ice cream are feeling the best! The funny thing is we went to Orlando for a meeting last week and Craig loves Dunkin' Donuts which are prevalent on the east coast. He ate 6 Boston creams and drank diet cherry Pepsi every day and felt better there than he has at home for months. So forget the healthy diet...it's all about junk food!