Wednesday, January 09, 2008
Lookin Good Man!!
Every doctor, nurse, or friend that Mark has encountered in the past few months has remarked on how great he looks! Despite what he has gone through in the past year and a half and the turbulance he has encountered since discovering the last tumor on his back in December, he actually even feels pretty good and has continued to socialize and even played golf twice in the past week!
He was on a two week regimen of xeloda, the chemo pill, which ended last week. It was difficult to differentiate the side effects because he also had a bad cold at the same time. However, the side effects seemed to be very mild, mainly loss of appetite but no nausea. This past Monday, he started radiation which is going to be his most superficial and quickest period of radiation to date. He will finish that on the 28th of January.
Today, he saw a new specialist that we had put off seeing for a year. This one specializes in MOHs surgery and will remove two skin cancers from his face in the next few months. One is squamous cell and one basal which is not as immediate of a concern. Like every doctor we have seen in the past 18 months, this one was befuddled about how Mark's cancer started along with the route it has traveled. If they don't say "Weird", they are more professional and say "highly unusual"!
Later this afternoon, Mark returned to the oncologist, Dr. Aviles, and got superb results from his blood tests showing that the xeloda is not doing any damage to his organs. So, he will start back on the xeloda tomorrow for another two weeks while simultaneously having daily radiation. The combination of the two may slow him down more than he has experienced in the past month.
He will stop all treatments by the end of the month and have a month off, then a scan and blood testing and Dr. Aviles will reevaluate the next course of treatment in early March. Our window of opportunity to go to Puerto Rico seems to be shrinking due to the abundance of tests and appointments but, if all goes well, we are still hoping to get away for three weeks in February. We have a family ski vacation planned in early March when Kevin will be racing at Sunday River and it sounds like we will be able to fit that in before the next regimen of chemo pills.
Family Update: Gary has been fine since finishing treatments and he and Kristina are on their honeymoon in the British Virgin Islands this week. It is a much needed vacation and we hope they are having a blast! Mike and Steph are going to Puerto Rico for M.L. King weekend and then moving to a spacious apartment, Avalon's Faxon, in Quincy. Kevin has been inundated with snow in the Lake Tahoe area. He skied at Squaw Valley on Sunday in five feet of fresh powder! He's slowly beginning the race season because so many events have been cancelled due to too much snow! He returns to classes next week. Mark has been out and about moreso on his own than he has in the past year and I have started attending a writers' group which is exactly what I needed in my life at this time!
If nothing unexpected happens, there will be no update again until mid-March.
Hope you are all recovered from the busy Christmas season and are enjoying a healthy and fulfilling New Year. As always, the best way to reach us whether we are home or traveling is my (Nancy's) e-mail address: sheehan@cape.com. Thanks for your continuing interest and for caring so much throughout Mark's many battles. Those who have seen him know that he truly is lookin good!!
He was on a two week regimen of xeloda, the chemo pill, which ended last week. It was difficult to differentiate the side effects because he also had a bad cold at the same time. However, the side effects seemed to be very mild, mainly loss of appetite but no nausea. This past Monday, he started radiation which is going to be his most superficial and quickest period of radiation to date. He will finish that on the 28th of January.
Today, he saw a new specialist that we had put off seeing for a year. This one specializes in MOHs surgery and will remove two skin cancers from his face in the next few months. One is squamous cell and one basal which is not as immediate of a concern. Like every doctor we have seen in the past 18 months, this one was befuddled about how Mark's cancer started along with the route it has traveled. If they don't say "Weird", they are more professional and say "highly unusual"!
Later this afternoon, Mark returned to the oncologist, Dr. Aviles, and got superb results from his blood tests showing that the xeloda is not doing any damage to his organs. So, he will start back on the xeloda tomorrow for another two weeks while simultaneously having daily radiation. The combination of the two may slow him down more than he has experienced in the past month.
He will stop all treatments by the end of the month and have a month off, then a scan and blood testing and Dr. Aviles will reevaluate the next course of treatment in early March. Our window of opportunity to go to Puerto Rico seems to be shrinking due to the abundance of tests and appointments but, if all goes well, we are still hoping to get away for three weeks in February. We have a family ski vacation planned in early March when Kevin will be racing at Sunday River and it sounds like we will be able to fit that in before the next regimen of chemo pills.
Family Update: Gary has been fine since finishing treatments and he and Kristina are on their honeymoon in the British Virgin Islands this week. It is a much needed vacation and we hope they are having a blast! Mike and Steph are going to Puerto Rico for M.L. King weekend and then moving to a spacious apartment, Avalon's Faxon, in Quincy. Kevin has been inundated with snow in the Lake Tahoe area. He skied at Squaw Valley on Sunday in five feet of fresh powder! He's slowly beginning the race season because so many events have been cancelled due to too much snow! He returns to classes next week. Mark has been out and about moreso on his own than he has in the past year and I have started attending a writers' group which is exactly what I needed in my life at this time!
If nothing unexpected happens, there will be no update again until mid-March.
Hope you are all recovered from the busy Christmas season and are enjoying a healthy and fulfilling New Year. As always, the best way to reach us whether we are home or traveling is my (Nancy's) e-mail address: sheehan@cape.com. Thanks for your continuing interest and for caring so much throughout Mark's many battles. Those who have seen him know that he truly is lookin good!!
