Remains of the day.

It's 10:30 pm and we are finally home. Remember yesterday. It was like 10 years ago. But we finished all the appointments about 2 hours early. We more than paid that back today.

It started out innocently enough. David had an EKG first thing. Got there early, finished early. Went on over to the next appointment, which was the bone scan. He got called back early. Things are looking good. But then he came back out too soon. Seems they scheduled the bone scan too close to the heart scan yesterday. They were concerned the contrast dyes would conflict with each other. So he had to go back at 1 to get the dye and then go back at 3 for the scan. In the middle we had the appointment with the oncologist.

Here's all the news from Dr. T.
The brain scan was clear. Yea. The heart scan was good. Yea. The CAP CT showed no new cancer. Yea. But the lung nodules are still there. Boo. The news is all basically good. We are right where we were before surgery except minus a tumor and a kidney.

Depending on the results of some lab work which they should get back tomorrow, David is eligible for the clinical trial.  If all is good they will do the random draw and let us know tomorrow.

Regardless of if he gets in the vaccine group,  we go back on Tuesday to begin the other drug, Sutent. Here is the bad part. These drugs are expensive. Outrageous. Our cost, after insurance is almost $2400. A month. Who can do that? So now I have to call these co pay places and see if we qualify for assistance.  I don't know what happens if not. So pray we qualify!

I learned about this while David went for the bone scan.

We left the hospital about 5 o'clock. Downtown Houston. 5:00 pm. Not the best plan. Thankfully when it was raining it wasn't freezing and when it was freezing it was dry. And we made it home safely. Just a quick 5 hours later.

The rest of the story is this. These drugs will hopefully shrink the tumors. They will not cure this cancer. They told us from now on, no progression is considered good news. They will use this drug as long as it works. It might be months, it might be years. If/when there is progression, they will switch to another drug. Currently there are, I think, 4 they can use. At some point they can also switch back to the Sutent. We just hang on. Maybe down the road they have more options. I wish it was different, but it could be worse. This is reality. I had a 'this really sucks' cry on the way home. Tomorrow we will get up and move forward. We don't have any other choices.

Please pray for:
1. All clear to be in the study
2. Vaccine group
3. Major funding for the drug
4. Mild to ZERO side effects from the drug

Finally, I am not brave, strong or optimistic. But I must be an excellent actress. I have faith, hope and joy. Please keep us in your prayers. We are trying to hold it all together. And if Jesus comes in the morning, I am really good with that!

Thank you for praying and for loving us.