I'm Back!!!!

Hi folks! I'm back! Had an absolutely wonderful time in Europe but I sure did miss you guys. Since I'm still kind of "out of it"...jet lag and all :-), and I return to work tomorrow, I gave up on trying to read a month's worth of posts but will catch up as I go along. I'd sure appreciate if someone would fill me in on the highlights....I can't believe how much this board has grown.

Well, our 3 1/2 weeks stay in Europe went by much to quickly, but it was wonderful. It did Bert a lot of good to see his mother and brothers and we did a lot of touring, like we do every year, on our own. Weather was great...a little on the cool side, but that's the way we like it. Living in So. Cal. with pretty much constant warm/hot sunny days, believe it or not folks, does get old after a while. The first week, Bert was very tired, in part due to jet lag and mostly because we were literally up for 24 hours by the time we got there. But then his energy kicked in and we were go, go, go, and he gained quite a bit of weight...could not stop eating...food tastes so great over there. Of course, it helped that he had a chemo break. But reality does set in as soon as one returns, doesn't it. Monday (tomorrow) he goes for his 8 week CT/Pet scan. His onc is doing it every 8 weeks because of Bert's CEA continuing to stay above the normal range yet all scans up until now shown no evidence of disease, including last colonoscopy done in April. Results will be in on Thursday (I'm scared, as always) and onc will probably put him back on chemo....for how much longer, we do not know yet. Other than that, all looks good.

As an added note, when I returned I took my mom in for her results of scans that she had done while I was gone. The clinical trial chemo of MAC-321 is working!!!! She is responding well and her two lung nodules are shrinking...but of course (there's always a but, isn't there) at a price. She is experiencing much aching in her joints and extreme numbness in feet and fingers. She was supposed to have her 3rd treatment last Friday but onc said let's wait another week until the numbness settles. Other than that, which all remains quite managable, she too is doing all right.

That's about it. I have a favor. I would like to ask each of you for your prayers that Bert's results are good this coming week. I am very grateful to God for all the blessings he has given my family over the last year and I feel, in my heart, that your prayers and good wishes have helped greatly. Bless you all and more later.

Hugs,
Monika