Round 9

Hi everyone- I am writing to you as I am getting my chemo today. Doug came with me today and brought his laptop. They finally got wireless here so I can do a little email/blogging as I sit here. Other than this I am reading up on my "trash", specifically "What happened to Lindsay Lohan?" hehe. I will probably rest a bit today as well, take advantage of a day without Ella.
I met with my oncologist this morning after my bloodwork. He said everything looks as good as it can right now. So that is positive. They really don't have a protocol on how long I should do chemo, so we are going to continue on for atleast another couple months, then do another PET/CT scan and reevaluate. I don't know if we will ever truly know if the cancer is gone or not. My kind of cancer is very hard to detect and monitor. I would like them to go in during a procedure and look, but so far the doctors haven't been for that plan. I no longer have the pulmonary emboli but I will continue on Coumadin for awhile, atleast 6 months because there is an increased risk of getting another one if I stop the Coumadin now. My CEA level (tumor marker) is 7.3, about the same as last time but that is good. The lower the better. So this is all good news. I will just be continuing on and praying that the treatment continues to work and that someday I will be able to stop the chemo and the cancer won't come back. That's one thing that sucks is I will always have that in the back of my head that it can come back. I'm not going to worry about it now.
This weekend was great, Doug and I got a few things done we have been wanting to do around the house and then we had a barbeque last night with some neighbors. It was a lot of fun, we got to meet some more neighbors who have reached out to us. This also gave me a good reason to clean house a little before the party, then I had help cleaning up, Thank you so much Pam and Brandi!!! Thanks to all who got to come, it was so much fun. Those who couldn't make it, we will do it again sometime! I really like having people over. Just being with great people is therapy for me!
Oh, we took Ella to the pool this weekend, she had a blast. At first she was a bit apprehensive, she had to gradually get in, one step then get out, two steps, then get out and so on. She got so comfortable she was eventually putting her face in the water. Doug got in with her and swam around. It is so fun to see her doing all these things. I took a great picture of her yesterday, I will get Doug to post it soon.
Well, I feel like I am rambling again. Doug is out getting us lunch, when he gets back he will be on the computer, back to work. Everyone have a great week! Thanks for all your prayers, they are definitely working! love, shawndra