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!