Monika & A Rick Update :o)

[Guest guest]

Monika .......... I'm sooo glad you and Bert had a great time!!

What a blessing that is. Thanks for the sweet comments about Rick's

improvement. He continues to amaze me and everyone else around

him. He has been feeling MUCH better physically over the last two

weeks. We went to Hot Springs (about 2 1/2 hours away) for a big

Festival (related to his work) .......... the trip was provided by

the company and was the first " fun " thing we've done since his brain

tumor diagnosis. Believe it or not ....... he played 14 holes of

golf on Thursday, and 18 holes on Friday!!!!! He was a bit tired in

the evenings, but that was just fine ....... we just hung out in the

hotel room and relaxed. We both needed that.

So ....... he's still improving .... physically. Still having some

mental issues ...... but so far we're dealing with those. I've

kind of adjusted to his personality changes .... and I'm just

thankful he is doing as well as he is. If Rick can do this well,

there is certainly HOPE for those with less tumor burden than him.

You just have to keep fighting, keep believing, and cherish each and

every day. )

Best Wishes to All of You!!

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