Memorial Day, Hair Day

Nice shot of Sarah and Sam at the Memorial Day parade today. Sarah's hair has been falling out over the past five days - big handfuls in the shower strainer and she gets a bunch when she runs her hand through her hair. Today it also got thin enough that you really see a lot of scalp, so off it came... You can see the obligatory before and after pics - with a gag mohawk pic in the middle. I also think Sarah was glad to get this over with - she's been anticipating it for weeks and now it's done.
Overall, Sarah's feeling fine. The numbness in her finger tips and feet seems to be receding a bit. Still got a few weeks before the next scan, so that hasn't been on our mind too much yet.

Big Boy Bed for Sam

Well, we finally made the transition from crib to bed for Sam. He has been refusing to use a pillow and won't let us cover him up... but that all ceased completely on the first night in his big boy bed! Thank God he made the switch with no issues - slept through the night fine on the first night and all has been fine since then.

Silly Kids

Sam, Ben and friend Maddie couldn't resist breaking out the pool last weekend. I told them it was too cold but if they could blow up the pool themselves, then they could fill it. I can't believe they figured it it! Used a pump and everything. I had to reward that kind of determination... But everyone was still shivering in about 20min.
Ben recently decided it would be fun to be Sam's "horsey" and gave Sam a few rides before it turned in to more of a rodeo event. :) Sam's not so good at riding a bucking horse-brother just yet.

MRI Results - Not Bad, But Not Good Either

Here's Sarah in the 'hot seat' getting her weekly chemo today and enjoying a Panera salad (nice to have hubby along go get yummy lunch!).
Well, we just got home from the oncologist where we got Sarah's liver MRI results. The good news is that her liver lesions did not get bigger (only one of the larger ones got slightly bigger and is 1.8cm) but overall the Taxotere continued to hold the liver mets at bay (The other organs and spine lesions visible in the MRI were also clear/stable). The bad news, of course, is that we were hoping to hear that they'd gotten another 30% smaller like last time! So, because Taxotere's side effects are likely to get more pronounced over time and it's effectiveness for Sarah has reached a plateau, she switched to a different chemo drug in the Taxane family. Recent studies have shown that Abraxane together with Herceptin is often even more effective & usually has less side effects. Sarah got her first treatment of Abraxane together with Herceptin today - we'll do this for 8 weekly treatments and then do another MRI to assess effectiveness.
Overall, I think we're ok for now - Sarah's cancer is not getting any worse and she's actually happy that Abraxane doesn't require taking the steroid Decadron, which has been causing her sleep problems, water retention & head-aches. So the next hurdle we are aware of is deciding if she needs to take something to treat her Pituitary macro-adenoma & that decision will come when she gets another test of her prolactin level in a few weeks. After that, the next liver MRI will be the big nail-biter.

12th Anniversary

We celebrated our 12 year wedding anniversary this past weekend and got to go out for a romantic dinner by ourselves. Sarah also got her MRI done on Monday as planned, so Thursday I'll be going with her to treatment so we can get the results together. At this point, we expect to hear that the liver mets have gotten smaller again. However, these things have been so unpredictable in the past year that we both still have nagging doubts and will be relieved when we find out the results tomorrow.

Cancer Sucks

Sarah and I have been more heavy-hearted lately because several people we know of with cancer have taken a turn for the worse. One person in our parish has gone in to hospice -- we feel deep empathy for that family and also are reminded that we may be making that journey together at some point in the future. Sometimes it feels like cancer is breaking our hearts, but one tiny bit at a time...
It helps us in times like this to stay focused on appreciating each 'today' and reminding ourselves that the future is still unknown & Sarah has plenty of treatment options still available. Hope! The support of family and friends is also a huge blessing and has helped us make it through this past year since Sarah was diagnosed.
Sarah's next MRI is coming up after her next chemo treatment - it will be a relief for now to see a continuing reduction in her liver mets...