Chromogranin up? and Summer catchup

Craig's regular checkup was pretty uneventful, same old blood tests and physical exam. A few days later we got the results of the blood test and his Chromogranin A (tumor marker) has more than doubled.  9,140 on 5/14/13 to 25,360 on 9/18/13.  It was as high as 500,000+ when he was first diagnosed but the trend has been under 10,000 since he's been on Sutent.  He will have a scan in December and a blood test again which will tell us if the trend is up or it's just a fluke. Keep your fingers crossed.

Craig has said that this summer he has felt better than he's felt since he's had cancer. It's was a good summer with not a lot of vacationing but just enjoying life and friends and family.  Here's a few photos...

Craig's Birthday - June 1

Craig cutting trees on the canal behind the house so we can throw balls down for Scout to retrieve.

Suzy's birthday dinner at Market Street Grill Cottonwood

Taylor Doutré leaving for his Albuquerque NM mission (same area as Grandpa Dave)

Bulls Only Rodeo in Francis with Thomases, Gardners and McDermotts

 

Craig and Dave going bowling before Craig's 40 year Highland High reunion

 

Scout on one of many hikes up Millcreek Canyon

And when anyone asks me how Craig is doing...I say "he's roofing our house!"  What an amazing guy!

Lucky us! Good news again!

It's happened again!  We had a doctor appointment today to see the results of Craig's scans yesterday and the news is good!  No new growth!  Those tumors are basically scared to grow now.  I think they've given up and that's fine with us.  They're still there but basically the same size they were 2 years ago.  Sutent has really been the miracle drug for Craig. We did hear today that Sutent only works in pancreatic cancer patients with neuroendocrine tumors like Craig has.  We really did win the cancer lottery in having this rare form of pancreatic cancer.  We wish it was as good for others with cancer.  We know we are totally blessed.  Thanks for everyone's prayers and good thoughts.

Four years

It's been four years since Craig was diagnosed on April 29, 2009.  Chase was just going to graduate from Skyline and Maddie was finishing her sophomore year.  In a few days, Chase will be graduating from the University of Utah and Maddie is finishing her 2nd year at the U.  Wow, I wasn't sure Craig would be here to see this and he is and he's doing well!  We are one lucky family!

May 2, 2013 Chase graduates summa cum laude from the University of Utah with a degree in Economics.

Latest Lab Results

Amazingly, from all Craig's been through lately, the latest lab results are pretty good.  His liver and kidney function is normal and his Chromogranin A (tumor marker) has actually dropped!  It went from 7,900 in Aug. 2012 to 13,800 in Oct. 2012 to 8,300 in March 2013. We were afraid it was trending up but it doesn't seem to be this time.  The only negative thing in his blood work is his protein level or just nutrition level is low.  He has had no appetite since the c diff so that's probably the reason.  He does have a hard time finding protein to eat that stays down and doesn't make him sick.  We were thinking that the c diff had solved the throwing up but it's come back this last week.  He's still on antibiotics until the first of April for the c diff.  Keep your finger crossed that once he's off the antibiotics the c diff won't come back.  The spores in the colon need to "blossom" to be killed by the drugs.  We want them all dead before he's off the antibiotics.

Craig's energy level is still rather low.  He is hoping it comes back more after he's finished the antibiotics.  The better weather this past week has made him feel better as he's been able to get outside a little.  He's been in charge of walking Scout the last week as Maddie and I were in New York for her spring break.  Talk about bad weather!  New York was freezing but we still managed to have fun, see a few shows and do some serious shopping and eating!  Love mother/daughter trips! Chase stayed home and "watched" Craig for me.  Such a great son!

We got tickets to Letterman!

 Enjoying Waffles and Bruges.

 Brooklyn Bridge

 Times Square (it was chilly)

 Madison on Madison Avenue

 Down in the subway

Doing Pretty Well

Just a quick update to let you know that Craig is doing pretty well right now.  He's a little low on energy and is slowly getting himself back to his "normal".  It's going to take a few weeks. As the doctor told us for every day he's in the hospital he needs 3-4 days to recover at home.  So we're looking at about a month.  If the weather would get a little nicer and less wintery it would help. He's looking forward to sunshine and maybe riding his bike a little bit pretty soon.  We did go on a long walk around the neighborhood this weekend and it was nice for him to get out. Although it did wipe him out for the evening!

He's coming home today!

Craig is coming home! He has enough control over his bowels and he's staying hydrated so he'll be coming home this afternoon. He'll be on antibiotics for 2 months to keep the c diff at bay. He's so relieved to get to sleep uninterrupted and in his own bed. Hurray!

It's Thursday and he's still in the hospital

Poor Craig!  He's still in the hospital.  Still spending way too much time in the bathroom.  They doubled his antibiotics yesterday hoping to see some reduction in the diarrhea but so far not a lot of success.  He'll have a few hours when it slows down but as soon as he eats something it goes right through him.  We've had his Dr. at Huntsman talk to the Drs. at IMC and they've come up with nothing.  They talk about taking him off the Sutent to see if that will help the c.diff.  Craig feels that Sutent helps the diarrhea and has tried a night without it and it wasn't any better.

We spoke with the GI doctor in the afternoon and he felt Craig is making progress and it will take some time to feel better. He wants Craig to stay on the higher dose of both antibiotics for 2 weeks. Craig does feel he's having more control so that's good. Tonight he ate a little more and even is thinking about food he'd like to eat. He hasn't had an appetite for quite awhile which is a good sign. He also has been drinking enough to go off the IV drip today. His kidney function is very close to normal. And to top it all off, we took a stroll around the whole 9th floor! Some pretty good progress today!