A Definitive No

What a week its been. Although I've taken no additional trial meds since Saturday morning the effects continue to wreak havoc on my body. It is as if the poison has to exit through my pores. Its been very difficult to have such a sore head and face, but I think it looks worse than it feels at this point. My blood counts continue to decline keeping me pretty low energy, but the muscular/bone deep type of fatigue and nausea has all left. Anyway, I'm on the mend and trying to be patient about the slow progress rate!

Before meeting with my doctor yesterday I was a bit nervous to hear what he would say. I felt at peace about stopping the trial, but realized it would leave me questioning that decision if he felt we should treat the symptoms and push through a bit longer.  I was praying about this when my doctor came into the room.  He didn't look at me very long when he confirmed we needed to stop the trial because of too many harsh side effects.  I was thankful and relieved that we agreed.  He explained that the trial side effects should not be harder on me that doing the maintenance chemo, and this certainly has been worse. I've had to do another round of blood work, an EKG and Echo Ultrasound of the heart to show if any damage was done during my 12 days on the trial.  I'll have a weekly appointment to make sure that everything goes back to normal physically and document the progress.

Something that was overshadowed by the starting of this last trial was the fact that my July 14th scans showed NO NEW GROWTH. We are so grateful for this gift! It also helps make it easier for us to walk away from this trial knowing we have some time to search for the "next thing".

Thank you for your prayers for a clinical trial.  Please keep praying for another trial and pray that God will lead us, preserve life and glorify himself in the process.  May we continue to live faithful in spite of this long lingering disease.

With love. XOXO