Well,
there is more than one reason to be jolly this Christmas Season. It has been a while since I have posted,
because I have really not had much to report on the medical front. I thought that I would wait until after my 14
month follow up with the doctor on December 16th. All of my blood numbers continue to improve
or remain stable. My physical exam
showed nothing remarkable.
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| Sarah & Kevin |
In
my last report our daughter Sarah had just gotten engaged. As of December 6th, she is now officially
married. In 3 short months Sarah basically
planned an entire wedding. It was really
a magical affair, and she did an outstanding job.
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| Lois Genevieve |
Also in my last report our son Jeff, and his wife Kristen
had just had a baby girl. Even though
she was born 5 weeks early, she is now in the 75th percentile and has caught up
nicely and is doing great.
I continue to respond well to my drug, Imbruvica. Several months ago I had a slight blip where
my blood numbers had started going the wrong way, but that has seemed to
correct itself and my white blood count is now the lowest it has been since I
began this treatment. Most of the side
effects have gone away and I am now experiencing only very minor irritations. Based on my prognostic markers I am not
supposed to do that well on this drug, but it appears that I am an exception to
the rule. A fairly high percentage of
people that have been heavily pre-treated and have some of my markers relapse in
less than a year. But as my blood numbers show, I continue to improve even
after 14 months. It is unclear how long
I will continue to receive the drug as a part of the RESONATE trial, but it appears that
they want to make sure they are capturing LONG TERM data, so it seems like I
will continue on the trial for at least another year.
On a sadder note, Donna's Dad had a minor stroke 2 days
before the wedding. He has passed thru
the rehab facility and is now home with a full time caregiver, who has been a
great addition to the family. Donna's Dad is still weak on the left side, but
we are lucky that it didn't affect his
speech or cognitive abilities. Then last
week, my Aunt Lois (my Dad's sister) fell and broke her shoulder and her wrist.
So my sister Rebecca, and her partner Cherese have gone to Fresno to try to
provide support. Latest reports on Lois
is that she is getting better day by day, but it will be a long recovery. My Dad and his Lois were planning on going
there for Christmas, so they are there now.
After a change in my Aunt Evelyn's medicine she seems to be getting back
to her old self and is even planning on helping to take care of Lois. Please pray for all of them that these issues
can be quickly resolved.
Being on a treatment that has put me into remission has
given us the ability to do some traveling.
We helped our son Matt and his wife Randi move from Seattle to Berkeley
in August. Randi is in a PhD program at
Berkeley and Matt was able to transfer to Trader Joe's down there. We then moved a load of stuff to Sarah's new
home in Livingston, Montana (where she went directly from her honeymoon). It was an exciting trip because we got to
visit our friends Tall Tom and Holly, and their daughters Ashley and Megan in
Marysvale, Utah. 5 days later we got to
go to Oahu for 10 days with friends of ours who had access to a house on the North
Shore. We had never been to Oahu and it
turned out to be a wonderful trip full of beautiful scenery, golf, and a trip
to the Pearl Harbor Memorial. If things
settle down a bit, we plan on making a visit to Berkeley in January, maybe to
Seattle and Fresno in February or March, and then to Montana in April. But we have to be back home in May for the
birth of our 4th Grandchild. Yes, our
daughter Aimee and husband Bryan are expecting a baby girl in May.
May the joy of Christmas bless you and yours this holiday
season.
Terry
