New Toy

Last year on vacation we watched other people taking pictures with selfie sticks, and realized those things could actually come in handy. So with warmer weather moving in, we’re now armed and ready. So here it is……

1st pic with the new selfie stick

Anyway, it’s definitely been an insane week with back-to-back doctor appointments…but I guess that’s life, eh?  That is something that I continually realize as we chart this path through cancer.  Everyone has their battles to face, demons, tragedies and difficult situations to contend with and we are no different.  We’re embracing this change and redefining ourselves and our new reality.

On Monday, Johnny had an early morning appointment with Dr. Kanodia.  He’s really happy with how well Johnny is doing.  His tumor markers have dropped from 64 to 18.  A level of under 5 indicates no cancer, but the direction is far, far more important than the numbers.  Dr. Kanodia made some minor changes to Johnny’s treatment protocol and will see him again in a couple of months.

Tuesday was my six month check-up with my Oncologist “the Princess”.  She showed up over an hour late for an 8:30 am appointment – I was extremely pissed off at that point.  Freezing my ass off in that little paper gown.  But the bottom line is that for the first time since I started chemotherapy my WBC count was in the normal range.  In other words, this is the first time since chemotherapy that my immune system is fully functional. WOW!

And so with the week finally behind us, we’re looking forward to this weekend.  Mary Jo and Brian are coming to spend Easter with us. Our goal is to have as many good times as possible.  We want to surround ourselves with everything and everyone that bring us joy.  Here’s to enjoying the moment and creating beautiful memories.  Happy Easter!

 

Happy St. Patrick’s Weekend!

Rose ready for St. Paddy's Day

Johnny made it through round 5 of his chemotherapy treatments, Yeah!  Monday through Wednesday are always a little rough but once he is disconnected from the 5-FU pump on Wednesday morning his appetite and energy come back pretty quickly.

In my continuing efforts to support our health I’m reading Travis Christofferson’s book Tripping Over the Truth: The Metabolic Theory of Cancer.  I’m about half way through, but I’ve found the book to be both well-written and eye-opening.  It’s inspired me to look into some works and writings by the researchers featured within.

Some of the most promising work is by Young Hee Ko, PhD, she’s a former Johns Hopkins researcher who has started her own company KoDiscovery, exclusively to bring her drug 3-Bromopyruvate (3BP) to market.  Her mentor, Dr. Peter Pedersen is still at Johns Hopkins working on the drug.  These researchers working together discovered that the 3BP molecule when added to cancer cells can inhibit the two mechanisms cancer cells have of converting glucose into fuel.  Dr. David Sabatini at the Whitehead Institute of MIT substantiates the observations that 3BP is toxic only to cancer cells, and spares its effects on normal cells.  Unfortunately, turf wars and pissing matches have held up some valuable human trials.  Please pray that open minds will prevail and development of treatment protocols that minimize the harm caused to cancer patients while accurately targeting cancer cells will move forward.

As I read on I’ll let you know what else I find out.  If anyone out there knows anything more about 3BP please let us know what you think.  And have a great weekend!