Great writing, Mom:
Onward and Upward & Trust in the Lord
Before Dennis' parents passed away, Bob in 1989 and Barbara in 2007, they had a family motto... mission statement - not sure - but I remember Barbara often saying:
Here we are in September of 2016, pushing forward - onward and upward
The news from Dr. Haslem at Erik's appointment on Wednesday wasn't the greatest. He said the PET scan didn't look any better. So no more chemo... it's not working.
BUT, lets get going on Immunotherapy.
It will take a week to get things set up with paperwork and approvals... because insurances aren't recognizing it yet for Erik's type of cancer. It has been approved for certain types of cancer... just not Erik's, yet. It's a trial. We don't know if it will work. You never know until you try!
Next Wednesday is set up to start. It is an IV infusion, taking about 30-60 minutes. Every 3 weeks. This can be done in the Cedar Cancer center. After a few cycles (about 6 weeks) he will be re-evaluated. Hopefully this is the ticket!
Read about Immunology.
Watch a video about it.
The genomics testing is taking awhile, too. Some of the sample they got for one of the labs wasn't sufficient. Erik, was like... ahhhh, "do they need to do another biopsy?" The answer was no... they have more cancer tissue to use from the main source. So that's good!
In the meantime, Erik is thrilled to not have the fanny pack chemo pump for a 96 hour stretch with all the side affects that go with it!
He has been feeling better to do a few things and go a few places.
The cancer in various spots is getting more painful, but is manageable... Lortab is his friend.
He had a pleural effusion on Wednesday, too. (lung fluid drained) The appointment for a consult to have it fixed... a Pleurodesis...is next Tuesday in St. George. It might take a few weeks to get on the surgery schedule. Erik will continue to have it drained until then... about once a week or so. It is the cancer on his lungs that causes it to fill.
I am so glad Erik had the chance and took the chance to go up north and see friends last week. His plans were on, then off, then on again. He just didn't feel the greatest physically. His heart wanted to go so bad and have fun hanging with friends and doing something other than being at home. It was good for him to finally feel good enough and just go do it! He continues to say YOLO!
He got the chance to go the Mt Timp Temple... and he saw DeAnn, my sister, who works there. And was able to go the new Provo City Center Temple. He had lots of family history names to do. He hung out with various groups of friends and family from Friday to Monday. He was too tired to come home Sunday. He played it safe and got a hotel and came home Monday. He slept a lot the next two days!
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Keep running.
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