This is a great article/journal entry written by John Piper and David Powlison. You can read the details of who wrote which on the heading of the article. I encourage you to read this and pray that the Gospel would penetrate your life as you pray for my father and others with cancer.

http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/TasteAndSee/ByDate/2006/1776_Dont_Waste_Your_Cancer/

The appointment this past week went well. Dad’s tumor markers are down from 3,735 to 1,750. That is a drop of more than 50% which is good news. At some point we should see this number level out but until then, we like it going down.

Dad is experiencing more side effects from the Tarceva than he did/does from the Gemzar. There are quite a few side effects listed on Tarceva’s website and so we are keeping our eyes on what is happening. The most obvious is the rash that is on his torso and face. He has been given something for that rash and it is expected to dissipate within 2-3 weeks.

His next appointment in next Wed morning, a little over 12 hours from when the Hong Kong contingent of the family arrives. Hopefully we see improvement. He has also been experiencing greater fatigue and wait to see if that will dissipate as well or is this typical of 12 weeks of chemo.

Once again, thank you for your prayers. We’ll keep you in the loop.

On November 15th the people of Hollis Center Baptist Church showed their support for Pancreatic Cancer Awareness. Here’s proof!

After being given the week of Thanksgiving off, Dad started round 2 of chemo this past week. We pray that the results of this next round will have the same outcome or better than the 1st.

Dad also started on the drug Tarceva in addition to Gemzar and Dr. Dugan will be monitoring al of Dad’s numbers as we look to see whether Tarceva will lend a hand or not. Tarceva is a chemotherapy pill that is taken daily so Dad’s ’social calendar’ is not interrupted any more than necessary.

Once again we thank ou for your prayers and thoughts. This blog will be boring for a while until our Hong Kong family comes home the 15th. We hope to update with pictures and updates.

Great news. The Robertson Clan will be here on the 15th of December to enjoy Christmas in Maine.

The planned stay is for 3 weeks and we all look forward to spending the Advent and Christmas season with them.

Round one goes to Gemzar!

The second scan shows an incredible improvement in every aspect. His tumor marker plummeted (147,000 to 3700), many of the spots on his liver were either gone or smaller, and the mass on his pancreas is smaller. I asked how often Dr. Dugan gets to share this good news with patients after round one, and he said only 25% of the time. From this point on, his treatment schedule will be three weeks on, one week off. They took him in for a treatment today in order to give him next week off so I am not sure when the 3/1 schedule will start.

At this point we are waiting for the insurance information to tell us if they will cover Tarceva. Tarceva is an oral chemotherapy drug that has shown good statistics when used with patients who have responded to Gemzar positively. He will be receiving a tumor marker check, which is a simple blood test, every month. His next scan will be in three months.

As you can imagine, we are happy with the results and look forward to sharing this news with many people. We do not have any info as to how this changes the prognosis however, we can assume it only helps.

Keep up the November support. There are pictures floating around of a large group of people wearing purple and as soon as I get a cpoy…hint hint…cough cough..hint…I will post that here.

FAIL! I have not updated nearly as well as I said I would. There are many reasons for that, but nothing worth trying to convince you with!

Last Tuesday was Dad’s 7th week of chemo which completes his initial round with the drugs. So far He has clearly won. He is up and about every day and is still doing most everything he was doing before. Today he had the 2nd head to toe scan as was planned. The scan went well and we pray that the results are clear and easily interpreted. We have a meeting scheduled next Friday the 20th in the am so you can be in prayer for that meeting. The plan is to have Deanne and Jon join us on a conference call from the office.

Right now, depending on the scan and the final decision by Dad, Dr. Dugan suggests that we add a drug called Tarceva to his regimen of Gemzar. This same website has some great videos explaining cancer and the treatment. Take a look if you have a few minutes.

 Thanks again for all of your comments. Mom and Dad read them regularly.

So he’s off the shots now. Dad was able to keep his numbers steady with a ‘2 pills one day 3 the next’ schedule.

Things are going well and Dad isn’t letting the chemo get to him. He’s up and about now by Thursdays which is very encouraging. His scan will be the week of the 16th so we wait for the results. I was going to write we wait patiently for the results but couldn’t do it. We pray that whetever the results of that scan are; that they will be clear. Up, down, left, right..whatever is fine. EH, I dunno won’t work!

 

In case you hadn’t noticed the previous posts; November is Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month. This month I hope you will take some time to do something extra in order to support the people whose lives have been changed by this disease as well as those who work to end it.

Here are 10 things that you can do to take action in November. Make sure you notice #3 as a simple way to help and make your voice known and heard.

I know sometimes it is hard to focus on anything other than the 54 shopping days until Christmas as of today. I know that Target for one had Christmas stuff/junk/decorations right next to the Halloween decorations. I can only assume that Thanksgiving will get less space than Halloween received. While it is hard, I would encourage us all to focus on what we have…or don’t have. We have an opportunity to do something this month that we normally wouldn’t have done.

This is the time I start writing a tear jerking paragraph about how we need to be thankful and thinking of others…blah blah blah. You have heard that before. You know what should be written. Instead of reading and feeling sappy and teary…let’s go do something. Use purple frosting and be ready when people ask you why you did it, buy a purple tie and wear it every week, give money…do something. I will be adding some specific ideas as the month goes on and I hope to reach all kinds of people with the ideas. Feel free to leave some for all of us in the comments section…now that I say that…I am going to post this as a separate page as well. Check for a tab above and we can leave our ideas there.

Here is an interesting video regarding pancreatic cancer. At the 3 minute mark you will be able to see a healthy pancreas compared to an unhealthy pancreas. Dr. Oz gives three things to look for in your own body that are warning signs for pancreatic cancer.