REMISSION

Melanie had her 7th chemo treatment yesterday. As always, she sees the doctor first, then goes to the chemo room. We were anxiously waiting for the doctor to give us the results of her PET scan. He comes in and sits down and starts talking about how nice it was to meet Aaron, how was the holidays, how's everything going, etc. Melanie tells him about her itchy palms and feet...a side effect to one of the chemo drugs....she can try an antihistamine. She tells him about how it feels like she can't take a deep breath...another side effect to one of the chemo drugs...he wants her to do a pulmonary test to see if there is a decrease in her lung capacity. He also said its time to get another ECHO done...one of the chemo drugs can cause heart problems. Then he tells her to sit on the table so he can examine her. I finally ask "do you have the results of Melanie's PET scan?" He said, he didn't know, they usually put that in the folder, and he didn't see it... so he'd have to go check. He checked the chart one more time, and found the report...

Finally after waiting the whole doctor's visit...we hear the news our hearts have been waiting to hear (already believing it to be so)...Melanie's in remission. He said this was very good news. The earlier you go into remission, the greater the chance of the cancer NOT reoccurring. What joy! She still has to finish her chemo treatments, but she only has to have a total of 12 treatments instead of 16...so she has 5 left.

The actual chemo treatment went well, we were out in about 3 hours, which I think is a record. It was also very crowed in there...I finally saw another young person getting chemo. Usually the patients are 30-40 years older than Melanie. It's really sad to see a room that holds about 50 "recliners" filled with cancer patients, with their loved one sitting next to them.

I am very thankful that Melanie is in remission...although I was beginning to think it was bad news when the doctor started talking about everything else but her results.

Our God is an AWESOME God!

Update: Jennifer is finally home after spending about 2 1/2 months in the hospital. She has a lot of rehab to do, but everything has pretty much healed....she just has to get it back in working order.

Prayer needed: As most of you know, almost 2 weeks ago, Jim fell while jogging and fractured his right shoulder in 2 places, which also tore his rotator cuff and another muscle. He had to have surgery. He's in pain, can't go to work, can't drive, hates being in the house all day, and has to be in an sling that pretty much keeps his arm in one place. He starts physical therapy in about 2 weeks, while it will be a good thing, it will also be a painful. To answer the number one question on how it happened... No, he did not have a seizure. He has not had any signs of symptoms of a seizure since before the (brain) surgery...and may begin the process of reducing those meds as soon as next week.