Belated report is better than nothing, I hope?

I haven't really felt like posting, but some of you may still be waiting to hear about our visit this week. I am still recovering from the surgery, and we are in between appointments and are still in San Antonio. My appointment on Monday the 1st is still necessary. The protocol for clinical trials is pretty stiff, with little waggle room, so they need us to be here for that.

I started back on the cancer drug, LDE225, at a 400 mg dose, the same level I was taking when I stopped for a few days before and after surgery. The desire was to begin back at a 200 dose and work up to 400, but the study protocol would not allow it. If the dose is ever lowered because of a problem, it cannot be raised back up. So we decided to go ahead with the higher dose. I had to have an infusion of magnesium for an hour, as my blood work showed a deficiency of that.

In our visit with the surgeon, the pathology report on the tumors removed during the surgery showed five of the six had active sarcoma (cancer) cells. The other was either dead cancer cells or a benign mass. This was no surprise. Dr. DeArmond also explained why I am having burning sensation in my chest, attributing it to nerve endings that sustained damage during the surgery. He said that, having talked to Dr. Mita about it, he would be ready to operate on my right lung if and when we decided to do so in the future. We feel it is a good possibility, but are not ready to do so until I am mostly recovered from this one. Of course, if scans reveal a need to do so more quickly, we would likely do it.

I have not been feeling very well the past several days. Part of it is the pain in my chest, which actually feels like a chemical burn. The pain medicine takes the edge off, but I have been getting nauseous from the pain medicine, so I am reluctant to take it. The bigger problem I am having right now is with eating. It's not that food doesn't taste good; it is tasting bad and I have been unable to find hardly anything that I can eat without making me feel sick. I've lost at least another ten pounds since surgery. Helen is frustrated because she feels like it is her responsibility to keep my weight up, but she hasn't found anything that will work. We bought some Ensure to try; maybe that will do the job. Anyway, y'all please pray for us in these areas.

Again, many thanks to Sammy, Allen, and Tim for seeing to it that our Sunday School class has a teacher. It is a tremendous blessing to have so many who can do such a good job (I have heard how good it has been.). Thanks to all of you for your encouragement.

Love you all...