Blessed~~~~~~

Greetings friends;

Last Sunday morning we set out for Houston, Texas as most of you already know. It had only been two months since my last visit but since I receive no treatment of any kind.....I wasn't complaining too much!  I got my blood work done on Sunday evening as soon as we got to Houston at The Rotary House (where they have a lab from like...3 to 8 pm.)....this saved me from being at MD Anderson at 6:45 Monday morning for blood work. Then I just had to be there at 8 a.m. the next morning. Kind of spoils a person....and it also meant after my scan, I could go to medical records and get a copy of my blood work. Kind of like cheating a little because it gives you a peek at your blood work and what you hope your scans will be the next day when you see the Dr. So....when I saw My CA 19-9 dropped to 9.2......I felt a sigh of relief!!  The rest of my blood work was good...even better than two months ago!
Dr. Javle stated I was just doing amazing and that I was doing great. He stated someone sent my Relay For Life speech to him and he got to see my speech!  He was impressed but who has his e-mail?? Not I!  I approached Dr. Javle about Immunotherapy and if he thought it would be approved for CC. AND, if it was, could I be one of the first lab rats (he laughed when I said that) when it was approved. He said I was stable and my cancer is not active. You would have to have an active tumor to be eligible. He stated he knew it didn't really make sense .....you would think it would be like the Measles shot....you get it before you get the measles.....but with Immunotherapy, you have to have an active tumor to get the therapy.....WHEN it gets approved. He states it has already been approved for melanomas and I think lung cancer. He thinks it will hopefully be no more than a year before it is approved and able to be used for CC. Dr. Javle totally agrees he thinks Immunotherapy WILL work for cholangiocarcinoma tumors. This is some of the most positive news I have heard in a long time. And to think the cure to cancer just might be right inside your own body!! Who'da thought!!

The "Feeding for Healing" Food Program that I played a key role in getting started (along with Eric Tolliver and Jennifer Emmons from RMH) at Richland Memorial Hospital that helps make it a little more easier for our chemo patients is going really good as far as I know. I wanted to be the first to take food (along with my mom's chocolate chip cookies). Roll With It Bakery was there for the next week of chemo. Right now, I am filling up August. I always went to Effingham for my chemo but it doesn't mean I can't do something right here in my own hometown!!  Some days...after you get home, you start losing your appetite for a few days so some mostly healthy food the day of chemo really means a lot!! Any one who wants to donate food, even if it's just muffins, cookies, fresh fruit....we can add it to a day that is little short on food...... You can even be a prayer group, 4-H group, a group of close friends, or maybe you had a family member who had cancer and want to give back. Donations go to buy food for a day and we post whoever donates money/food that day on the wall in the chemo room for everyone to give thanks to that person/group/business.  It may not seem like much....but it is a lot to a chemo patient!!  Feel free to call me at 618-843-5367 if you would like to Pay It Forward!!

Pat has some hunting trips planned throughout this summer/fall, I have planned a girls beach vacation with friends, we have Samantha (my daughter) and her fiancé getting married in August. A family beach trip in late July....just three weeks before the wedding. And then there's the wedding planning!!!!!  I am not using my kayak as much as I would like but it IS getting used some and the kids got us a spiffy NICE lifejacket for Pats' Father's Day present. 

In closing, I  just ask that you breathe in this summer air, you enjoy the splashing of a grandchild in a pool, sip your coffee ever so slowly as you enjoy a morning cup with a friend. Life is so precious, so unpredictable, so underappreciated. Slow down and enjoy the special people in your life....and for the ones you might not know.....smile...!  Pay It Forward!! God is good...ALL the time!   


All the time.....God is good!!!!  


Hugs!
Patty