Rick a little better each day!

[Guest guest]

Well, you just never know what my updates are going to be anymore,

do you? ) Seems the group could use some more encouragement, so

I'll give you another progress report on Rick! The " miracle man "

continues to blow our minds ......... as you know, his reports on

Thursday the 13th of April were great .......... minimal shrinkage

to the brain tumor, the swelling around it, and the liver

tumors......and most importantly that HUGE drop in CEA from 360 to

61!! OK ....... well, because of that, we have dropped the Decadron

to 2 mgs/day (the steroid that causes so many of his problems, yet

keeps the swelling in the brain down). We've also all but

eliminated one of the two antiseizure meds he was on. With all that

and the fact we're further and further away from the effects of his

whole brain radiation that ended on March 15th ............. he is

FINALLY beginning to come to life again!! Although he is still

very, very tired ............. he is able to work up to 6 hours a

day, and when home he isn't just laying on the couch

anymore ....he's able to sit in the chair or in the floor (one of

his favorite places to sit!) and was even playing with the dog in

the floor last night. He's laughing a little more now ........ and

has generally regained a bit of his old personality .....not much,

but every little bit is an improvement!! Needless to say, with the

great test results, the discussion the Onc and I had about changing

Rick's chemo to every other week was changed ;-) ...... he gave him

three weeks on and one week off ..... and just kind of looked at me

and grinned like " hey .... it's working too well, we can't drop him

back right now! " ........ and I agree completely. Besides, last

week he only felt bad for a day and a half this time!

Now, all that said ....... I realize things could change over night

(and have for several on this group) ....... but right now, this

sure doesn't look like a man that only has less than three months

left!!! Nothing would surprise me anymore about this

guy ........... guess it's just all up to God! But he just may be

throwing a little surprise at the Docs once more!! ;O) So,.......

just remember ........... things don't always stay as BAD as they

appear at the time ........ and ANYTHING is possible!! Think I'm

gonna buy Rick a big Cape for Father's Day ..... maybe even the cute

little leotard/tights set with the big " S " on the chest!!! ;-)

Making the Most of Every Day!!!!!

Donna Sisco

S/O Rick, 50, Arkansas

09/19/02 - Diag. Stage IV Colon Cancer with 6 of 6 Pos. Nodes and

60%+ Tumor Burden in Liver

09/24/02 - 10cm Tumor removed from Colon

10/22/02 - Began CPT-11/5FU/LV Chemo - Had some shrinkage in 7

months

06/11/03 - Appt at MD - Suggested changing chemo – failing

current treatment

07/25/03 - Began Oxaliplatin/Xeloda Chemo

10/20/03 - Increased Xeloda – Still failing treatment

11/12/03 - Added Celebrex - continued failure

01/15/04 - Switched to FOLFOX4 chemo

02/23/04 - CEA drops 80 points

02/25/04 - First Symptoms of Brain Problem

03/01/04 - Brain Scan (MRI/CT) 1 " Brain Tumor - Junction of Left

Frontal and Parietal Lobe

03/02/04 - Began 10 Whole Brain Radiation Treatments and Decadron

03/15/04 - Last WBR Treatment

03/18/04 – Took last Decadron - extremely fast weaning process

03/22/04 - First Grand Mal Seizure (5 day hospital stay)

03/22/04 - Back on Decadron, added Dilantin & Insulin

04/06/04 - Resumed Folfox4 Chemo with added drug Erbitux

04/13/04 – Not metabolizing Dilantin – adding Keppra

04/20/04 - Switched to CPT-11 with Erbitux

05/04/04 – Weaning from Dilantin, staying on Keppra

05/13/04 – CT Scans showed minimal shrinkage in brain tumor & liver

tumors, CEA dropped from 360 to 61, also some reduction of swelling

around BT

05/17/04 – Reduced Decadron to 2mgs/day

[Guest guest]

Donna..you do wonders for everybody. Your Rick is one super guy,as a pair

you

have set records. We took a leaf from several peoples pages and now we are

goin

to have a chest x-ray tomorrow and a sincere discussion with the onc on how

to

manage pain. The weight loss statrted again,but today he ate fairly well,

painted a bench,and groughed a little,so things look better here,too. We got an

ok through july 21 for chemo and after discussing with customer service we are

sticking to the

coverage we have since the two out of 8 meds they offer on their card are

more ex-

pensive than we pay now. We learn so much after each of you posts and we

always

fell better afterwards,even though sometimes I run three/four days behind.

hugs and

prayers Nick & Jane

[Guest guest]

I am so very happy to hear that Rick is doing better. I agree with

Barry. You two are all round Super!

Barry it is so good to hear about how well you are doing also. Last

year when I was in trouble, my oncologist said if I could hang on

with some sort of treatment for a year, that was a long time in the

oncology world- long enough for new developments to come into use for

clinical practice. So here I am, now with the possibility of using

Avastin or Erbitux to keep going.

Best wishes for continued sucess for all of you.

Kris

> > Well, you just never know what my updates are going to be

anymore,

> > do you? ) Seems the group could use some more encouragement,

so

> > I'll give you another progress report on Rick! The " miracle man "

> > continues to blow our minds ......... as you know, his reports on

> > Thursday the 13th of April were great .......... minimal

shrinkage

> > to the brain tumor, the swelling around it, and the liver

> > tumors......and most importantly that HUGE drop in CEA from 360

to

> > 61!! OK ....... well, because of that, we have dropped the

> Decadron

> > to 2 mgs/day (the steroid that causes so many of his problems,

yet

> > keeps the swelling in the brain down). We've also all but

> > eliminated one of the two antiseizure meds he was on. With all

> that

> > and the fact we're further and further away from the effects of

> his

> > whole brain radiation that ended on March 15th ............. he

is

> > FINALLY beginning to come to life again!! Although he is still

> > very, very tired ............. he is able to work up to 6 hours a

> > day, and when home he isn't just laying on the couch

> > anymore ....he's able to sit in the chair or in the floor (one of

> > his favorite places to sit!) and was even playing with the dog in

> > the floor last night. He's laughing a little more now ........

> and

> > has generally regained a bit of his old personality .....not

much,

> > but every little bit is an improvement!! Needless to say, with

the

> > great test results, the discussion the Onc and I had about

> changing

> > Rick's chemo to every other week was changed ;-) ...... he gave

> him

> > three weeks on and one week off ..... and just kind of looked at

> me

> > and grinned like " hey .... it's working too well, we can't drop

> him

> > back right now! " ........ and I agree completely. Besides, last

> > week he only felt bad for a day and a half this time!

> >

> > Now, all that said ....... I realize things could change over

> night

> > (and have for several on this group) ....... but right now, this

> > sure doesn't look like a man that only has less than three months

> > left!!! Nothing would surprise me anymore about this

> > guy ........... guess it's just all up to God! But he just may

be

> > throwing a little surprise at the Docs once more!! ;O)

So,.......

> > just remember ........... things don't always stay as BAD as they

> > appear at the time ........ and ANYTHING is possible!! Think I'm

> > gonna buy Rick a big Cape for Father's Day ..... maybe even the

> cute

> > little leotard/tights set with the big " S " on the chest!!! ;-)

> >

> > Making the Most of Every Day!!!!!

> > Donna Sisco

> > S/O Rick, 50, Arkansas

> > 09/19/02 - Diag. Stage IV Colon Cancer with 6 of 6 Pos. Nodes

> and

> > 60%+ Tumor Burden in Liver

> > 09/24/02 - 10cm Tumor removed from Colon

> > 10/22/02 - Began CPT-11/5FU/LV Chemo - Had some shrinkage in 7

> > months

> > 06/11/03 - Appt at MD - Suggested changing chemo –

> failing

> > current treatment

> > 07/25/03 - Began Oxaliplatin/Xeloda Chemo

> > 10/20/03 - Increased Xeloda – Still failing treatment

> > 11/12/03 - Added Celebrex - continued failure

> > 01/15/04 - Switched to FOLFOX4 chemo

> > 02/23/04 - CEA drops 80 points

> > 02/25/04 - First Symptoms of Brain Problem

> > 03/01/04 - Brain Scan (MRI/CT) 1 " Brain Tumor - Junction of Left

> > Frontal and Parietal Lobe

> > 03/02/04 - Began 10 Whole Brain Radiation Treatments and Decadron

> > 03/15/04 - Last WBR Treatment

> > 03/18/04 – Took last Decadron - extremely fast weaning process

> > 03/22/04 - First Grand Mal Seizure (5 day hospital stay)

> > 03/22/04 - Back on Decadron, added Dilantin & Insulin

> > 04/06/04 - Resumed Folfox4 Chemo with added drug Erbitux

> > 04/13/04 – Not metabolizing Dilantin – adding Keppra

> > 04/20/04 - Switched to CPT-11 with Erbitux

> > 05/04/04 – Weaning from Dilantin, staying on Keppra

> > 05/13/04 – CT Scans showed minimal shrinkage in brain tumor &

> liver

> > tumors, CEA dropped from 360 to 61, also some reduction of

> swelling

> > around BT

> > 05/17/04 – Reduced Decadron to 2mgs/day