The Battle Continues!

Well the battle continues. Lynn finished radiation for the second time and unfortunately it did not reduce the pain like it did the first time and as we were hoping for. She got scanned on Monday and it looks like he radiation is beginning to shrink the 3 tumors and lymph nodes which were targeted but the other tumors have grown somewhat in size.
The second reason for the scans was to get a “baseline” now that Lynn has started another round of chemo last Thursday. She will receive a drug commonly called “gemzar” (http://www.gemzar.com/Pages/index.aspx) . It will be given as a single agent. Lynn’s red count is quite low so Dr. Choong wants to keep a very close watch on all her blood counts. He said she will most probably need transfusions during this round to keep the red counts up (and we are hopeful the transfusions will help with her energy level). Gemzar is infused but it will go pretty quickly. The “cycle” includes receiving the chemotherapy during the first and second week and then a week off. She will be rescanned after the second “cycle”. She is also getting a shot to help with bone growth in the thought that this will help with the pain.
Her two major issues now are her pain and her fatigue. As to the pain issue, she will be seeing Dr. Marks, a pain specialist to explore options next Tuesday. Hopefully the chemo will also knock down some of the pain. As indicated, the transfusions will increase her red blood count which should help.
Life continues. Lynn continues to work as much as she can to keep her life "normal" and has just returned from Houston from a national SEBS conference where she got to spend time with her long time friends in the business. We are looking forward to our first spring visit to the Lake House and spending time with friends. The kitchen and first floor remodel is essentially done and we are enjoying the “beverage center” on MORE than a regular basis. The kids are doing well. Abbey finished her second year at St. Mary’s and is home for the summer. Danny’s gig at Marquette High is coming to a close so he is searching for opportunities. Jake continues with UNUM in Chicago and he is enjoying life in the big city.
As always, thanks to God and to all of you for the continued thoughts and prayers. Our love to all!