New Chemo

Hi, Family and Friends.  It has been some time since I provided a status report on Suzi's struggles with Cancer.  And, they are struggles.  The struggles are not just with the disease itself but the side affects of both the disease and the treatment.  She is a great lady and I appreciate all of your prayers, thoughts, letters, phone calls, etc.  The treatments that they give her, as they try to find ways of controlling the cancer can have positive affects on her physical health.  But the prayers and conversations that she has with family and friends have such a healing affect on her attitude and emotions.  Thank you everyone.

We went in during the first week of January after a doctor-suggested "chemo vacation" of about two months.  Suzi had had her blood tests taken but not all of them were in.  Based on the blood tests that she had, her doctor said that she could extend her "chemo vacation" another month as all of the results that she had looked very good.  That sounded good.  She did say,however, that if things looked different when she got the rest of the test results, she would call.

In just a day or so she called, having received the test results.  These were the results of the tests for the actual cancer indicators (light chains and light chain ratios).  She seems to think that the light chain ratios are more important than the actual light chain levels.  Anyway, she said that the ratios had increased more rapidly than she had anticipated and that she would like to get her back on chemo and get things back under control.  She also said that she wants her to start on a new chemo.  It is actually in the same family as what she has been taking but is the latest version of it.  Also, previously, she got her chemo by a simple injection in the abdomen but the new chemo would require an infusion using an i.v. and would take about an hour.  It would also be given two days in a row each week for three weeks.  The cycle would be repeated each 28 days, so she would have one week per cycle without an infusion.

She starts the process this next Wednesday (January 20th).  Suzi is nervous about getting on a new medication as she does not know what the side-affects will be.  They will monitor her closely, particularly during the first several treatments to see how she responds and to identify any troublesome effects.

She would like to ask for your continued, perhaps intensified, prayers on her behalf.  She is grateful for the blessings that she has received, with minimal pain and very infrequent nausea, and she hopes that will remain the case.

Thank you again for being such a great family and true friends.  That means more to her than you can possibly know.

I will keep you posted as to her progress and how well she accommodates the new treatment.

Love, Vaughn