Taking a Break from Cancer

We're taking a break from cancer. After this week's meeting with Dr. Jones, Craig's oncologist, we decided that he's in a good place right now to enjoy the fall weather, feel good and enjoy life. The tumors aren't growing like crazy and we've done some good damage to them, his liver is working just fine and he's got the diabetes under control. Craig presented his "case" to Dr. Jones and she agreed that he should enjoy the good quality of life he's experiencing right now. He was scheduled for the next chemoembolization on Nov. 3, next Tuesday. But now he'll have a CT scan in Dec. to check everything and some lab work too but barring any unforeseen problems, he won't be having another chemoembolization until after Christmas. Craig was thrilled with this news and we knew this is the right thing for him right now. He's feeling better and looking better now than since he was diagnosed.

We went out to dinner last night with our friends, past Bishop Dave and Julie O'Leary. It was one of the first times in a long time that we've had a normal "go out to dinner" night and we absolutely loved it. Craig was able to eat and it felt good and he wasn't wiped out from the day. When we came home Craig said, "do you realize that was the first normal night we've had in a long time?" We so appreciate and love the O'Leary's...they are so generous and caring. Thanks for dinner, next time it's our treat.

We hope everyone has a great Halloween! Thanks for caring about us. Enjoy the next two months with friends and family and we will too. It's the people in your lives that count. We are learning that more every day.

10 days + insulin = 3 lbs!

Craig is really getting the hang of this diabetes thing. He should, having lived with 2 diabetic sisters most of his life but he never really appreciated what they've gone through until now. Craig has commented many times the past 10 days about how much he sympathizes with the challenges of diabetes. The struggle to eat what is right and keep his levels even with the insulin all at the same time is tough. After the first week his numbers started coming down and he actually went low a few times and experienced insulin reaction. He has learned to keep something sugary with him and to carry his test kit and insulin. But the good news is he is feeling so much better now. He has energy and has been out and around this past week. I even escaped for a few days to St. George and Craig took care of himself all weekend with the help of Chase and Maddie. I'm so glad to see him feeling more like himself and he's even gained 3 lbs! He's been a great low-carb eater and getting a lot of protein to help his body build up some strength. His face looked a little more filled in when I came back. One thing that's been weird is his voice...it was very weak and quiet when he wasn't feeling good and now that he's stronger it's come back too! 2 weeks from tomorrow is supposed to be the next chemo...he's talking about pushing it back, he wants to continue to feel good for a little while longer but we'll see what the doctors say next week. There is the option of the chemo pill which would keep the tumors static they say but then there's other side effects. We'll need to weigh all the options but for now he's really enjoying the fall weather and some normal days.

The highs and lows of blood sugar...

New issue...high blood sugar. Here we thought we were skating along just trying to get Craig to gain some weight and low and behold his blood sugar skyrockets to 495 today! To be honest...we hadn't been checking it every day because we ran out of test strips but it had been pretty normal for over 2 weeks since the last chemo. We needed a prescription for test strips since we'd been using Lisa's leftovers. Dr. Jones gave us a prescription last week and finally yesterday I went to the Diabetic Supply Center and got more test strips after they figured out how to code it for insurance since we wasn't classified as a diabetic. With the test strips now in hand, Craig tested his blood sugar this morning and we were shocked! Tried it again and it was still in the 400s. Called Dr. Craig and he nicely said come up and we'll get him some insulin. We did and Dr. Craig gave Craig some long acting and short acting insulin and pills to get it under control. No wonder Craig had been so tired this week and peeing every hour and his eyes were suddenly going bad! Last week his blood sugar at Huntsman was 197 but it wasn't a fasting sugar so we didn't worry too much. Now his poor body can start to put on some weight as weight loss is also a sign of high blood sugar. Dr. Craig says we just need to get it under control and then he'll probably be able to regulate it with the pill alone. The tumors most likely were producing insulin and maybe we've killed enough of them to make his body out of whack right now. But now he'll have to add insulin shots to his repertoire. It's never a dull moment!

Have to mention the wonderful wedding and reception of our darling nephew Christopher Harmon and his new bride Britnie Pendleton yesterday. This is Dr. Craig and Marianne's son. They are the absolute cutest couple and we love them dearly. Best wishes and travel safely on your Cancun honeymoon! Here's a few pictures from the wedding.

First of all...this is the couple in one of their many gorgeous engagement photos.

This is at the dinner the night before the wedding.
Chris and Britnie in the middle, us on the outsides.

This is at the temple on Oct. 8, 2009 after they were married.
Beautiful Britnie Pendleton Harmon!!
We thought she could be the new "Feather Princess" at Disneyland!

Cute Matthew Harmon and Maddie - aren't cousins the best?

Snowbird with the Thomas family

Thanks to Jason and Sherrie, we spent a few days at Snowbird's Cliff Lodge for some rest, relaxation and eating! Here's Craig looking rather svelte in his swimsuit. We tried hard to fatten him up at the restaurants and with all the fattening food we brought up to the condo. Here's the crew in the hot tub with a little too much steam but it was nice!! (Sherrie and Jake were missing from the photo because Jake's too young to be at the roof top pool...sorry!) Thanks Thomas family, we love you guys! You do so much to help us out and keep us entertained.

Grandpa Dave

Cute Grandpa is in the Woodland Park rehab center right now as he tries to get stronger after an extended hospital stay. Craig and I went to visit him last Sunday and he is doing very well and getting stronger all the time. He's probably the healthiest out of the ailing Doutres right now! We love you Grandpa!

And the scan is in...

Dr. Carlisle was very proud of himself today declaring: "there is dead tissue" in your liver vs. living, growing tumors. We saw for ourselves on the screen the black areas that used to be tumors in the left side of the liver were now gray and absorbing contrast which is what we want them to do. The last chemo was an aggressive treatment and it has been deemed a success and Dr. Carlisle is ready to go in there again. The problem is...Craig isn't ready and still is recovering from the last one. He does not have the energy physically or psychologically to do it yet. The other issue is he is basically malnourished according to Dr. Carlisle and needs to start taking in food "like a linebacker" to make his body strong again. He said you need to take in up to 3500 calories a day to keep up with what the tumors are taking from you and not lose weight. They call it a "hypercatabolic state" or an excessive metabolic breakdown of body tissue in general, leading to weight loss and wasting. Craig does not have an appetite right now at all and struggles to eat food each day. The dr. wants to put a feeding tube into his stomach and inject a liquid food into him many times a day to up his calorie and nutrition level. Craig needs to do this to help him gain the strength he needs to endure another chemo treatment in Nov. So we're thinking about that idea plus he was given an appetite stimulant medicine to try this weekend and see what it does. I'm kind of getting a complex...it must be my cooking (or lack of cooking) that's doing it. But really I'm trying to feed him!

The other news is that there is a new chemo pill for pancreatic cancer called Sutent. It has shown promise in "progression-free" survival for patients with pancreatic islet cell tumors. Patients in the trials did not show tumor growth for up to 11 months vs. 5 months in patients who got the placebo. This could be an option for Craig if he just isn't strong enough to continue the chemo embolization right now. It's nice to have another option available.

Getting Out

Today Craig and I "got out" and we drove up Big Cottonwood Canyon. It was beautiful with the fall colors and we walked around Silver Lake and took this picture. He's still fighting to keep his 160 lbs. on. He's not feeling like any food sounds too good but after this outing he actually ate 2 Arby's roast beef sandwiches smothered in lots of Arby's sauce and half a chocolate shake. I was happy to see him actually hungry! This week is a CT scan on Tuesday where he gets to drink the yucky contrast for 2 hours before the scan and get blood work that same day. On Thursday we meet with Dr. Carlisle and Dr. Jones to see what the scan and blood work showed. Pray for decimated tumors and low chromogranin-A numbers!