Wise Words from The Cancer Ninja and Chemo #7

Yesterday marked chemotherapy treatment #7 for Allen--we are officially over halfway finished! Woo hoo! And, we might just be able to say that after seven attempts, the port is finally conquered! We have figured out that if Allen does certain stretches right before we start, and then hangs his right arm completely straight down with his back supported on the right side with his "magical" blanket, it WORKS! (Maybe, the truth is the port has conquered us!) Trust us, a working port is so nice--it eliminates some of the gut clinching stress of chemo, and it makes treatment go so much faster!

Before heading into the treatment room yesterday, we had a great meeting with The Ninja.  We were able to look back at Allen's scans from before Christmas and see from the CT how much his chest mass has shrunk. And, it was amazing! After only 4 treatments, it shrunk over 50%! The Ninja explained that as the mass shrinks, the chemo will be able to better penetrate and travel through the blood vessels to make sure that all areas are eradicated from any CANcer cells. This is also why it is important for Allen to finish all 12 treatments and not stop now. We also looked back at Allen's PET. The Ninja confirmed that the dull brightness in Allen's scan was muscle activity, and he is confident that Allen is in remission. We really can't hear that word--REMISSION--enough! Remission, remission, REMISSION!  Allen will have another PET after his next treatment to re-look at everything.  We are hoping for continued improvement!

We also started the discussion surrounding radiation. Should Allen radiate his chest? Well, the overwhelming answer is yes. The next big decision comes with where we will have that done, here or in Houston at MD Anderson. We are hoping to meet with the Radiation Oncologists here in the next two weeks to start figuring out a plan. After all, we also have a baby to deliver in the coming weeks, and we have to plan for that as well.

Allen's counts are back down to critical, which of course isn't good--especially with all the junk going around. So, if you don't feel well, please keep your distance from him, me, and the kiddos. We have to keep Allen healthy so he can keep to his treatment schedule! With that said, The Ninja cleared Allen for some business travel by car. With his new role at Sam's he will be doing some short car trips to Texas and Oklahoma. Of course, he will take every precaution we can dream up (and I promise I can dream up all kinds of ways to clean and sanitize)!

We also wanted to share a couple AWESOME Team ALL-EN pictures we received:

Kent State is ALL-EN! A BIG thanks to Emily's cousin AJ for sending this picture!

Look! Our favorite Pug, Pugola, is ALL-EN! Such a handsome guy!

Thank you again for all of your continued support! Please keep your pictures coming, and if you would like to send Allen a letter of encouragement (mentioned in the previous post) please email me at leahbates1212@yahoo.com!  We are ALL-EN!