Hey kids, I thought I'd give you the update since we got the tumor marker numbers yesterday. If you recall, the original markers were at 1480 or so. The last time they were taken, the number went down to about 950. That was after two or three rounds of chemo. Remember that last week the CT scan showed that the large tumor had shrunk, but there was growth in to small lesions, so Dr. Riley wanted to hold judgement on what the new tumor markers showed. Well, she called yesterday and the number is down to 548, so that is definately good news. The markers are down by almost two-thirds of their original number and the tumor has shrunk. As for the two small lesions, Dr. Riley wants to go another round of chemo and take another CT scan to keep an eye on them and to confirm that the large tumor continues to shrink. Also, while this is good news, remember that a heatlhy tumor marker number is below 30. So, she's still got a long way to go, but it's moving in the right direction.
In other news, we had a nice Thanksgiving. Marye's steroids were in full swing the day before and she did a bunch of pre-cooking. On Thursday, the steroids wore off, but I did the turkey and it came out great. Then I gave her the Neulasta shot and everything went to hell after that. The same complaints as before: bone pain and fatigue, although it's starting to wear off now, slowly. Also, she had an ERCP on Monday and Dr. Vitale removed the two stents and replaced them with one. He said her bile duct looks much more open than it's been, and he considered leaving them out. But he figured, it doesn't hurt to have it in there, and with the progress from the chemo, he decided to leave it in through the holidays so she doesn't get sick. He'll reevaluate in January.
Other than that, things are quiet with her. She is moving around some, but still has a lot of pain. I actually got her to take an Oxycodone yesterday. I think she's taken less than five since this whole thing started. She has an amzaing tolerance for pain. Her next chemo is Dec. 15th, then we'll have a better idea of when the CT scan will be. I'll keep you all posted, but it will probably be fairly quiet until then.
-Chris
