Ready for chemo

The past couple of weeks have been fairly stable for Susan. We saw her infectious disease physician last week and learned she has no infection. This is good news; but we also learned her July lab tests most likely produced false-positive results and led to a couple of unnecessary rounds of antibiotics. It's a minor frustration in the big scheme that showed me how to prevent such results in the future. Since infection ruled out for now, it's likely that Susan's modestly increased burden is due to brain tumor and swelling. She continues to be in good spirits but has been weighed down more often with fatigue, weakness, and slight disorientation. As usual, it gets worse when she's tired, so she's been resting more. Some days are better and find her more energetic and alert – but the down days require lots of rest and limit her to a low activity level.

Susan's limited improvement makes the need for her next round of chemotherapy more clear. She will see her neuro-oncologist and begin treatment with CCNU (Lomustine) within two weeks. The limited research I've done on the drug shows the side effects are relatively mild, so it might be similar to when Susan was on Temodar in 2007. The best thing I've learned about CCNU is that it's easy to spell. Aside from that, it's effective at crossing the blood-brain barrier, and as an alkylating agent, it's most active in the resting phase of a cell (as opposed to the dividing phase). Apparently, it affects the cell's DNA so it can no longer divide – a good thing. Unfortunately, it's also toxic to normal cells like those found in the blood, mouth, bones, hair, and gastro-intestinal tract, so it can lead to low blood counts & infection, mouth sores, bone loss, hair loss, and nausea. Even so, this drug appears to be both effective and well-tolerated by most patients. We hope that's true for Susan.

We're thankful for:

• Each day, a gift from God.
• Each other.
• Our children, who are champions.
• Our family, our friends, and our church, who love and give amazingly and will do anything to help.
• The physicians and staff at UCLA, the best of the best who demonstrate their care with excellence and responsiveness.
• Our loving, compassionate, and powerful God, whose faithfulness protects us in every way. Knowing him infuses us with hope. Heaven is but a breath away – but he gives us its resources right now to handle the hardest earthly challenges. Nothing can separate us from the love of God!