Friday November 28th

Ours wasn't a typical turkey day, but we are enjoying the Thanksgiving weekend. We are in St. George at an RV park and the weather has been nice, around 60 degrees. We packed up on Thursday morning and drove to Cedar City where we stopped to have our Thanksgiving meal at a restaurant. In St. George we found a nice RV park. The boys have enjoyed riding their bikes around the park. There is also a swimming pool here, so David took the boys out while I am writing on the computer.

The appointment on Wednesday with Dr. Shehadeh went fairly well. He said the CT scan indicated that my liver was slightly larger than the last scan. However, my liver enzymes and blood counts have been stable, even slightly improved. So, the Dr. proposed that I take 2 more of the three week treatment cycles, with the same medicine, just a slightly higher dose for the oral pill. Then, he wants to do a PET scan, which is more sensitive and give us a better idea exactly what is going on. So, even though I'm not looking forward to being sick for another six weeks, at least we know that the medication is keeping my disease under control. In fact, the scan indicated that my lungs are clear, so that is nice to know.

I have mixed feelings about doing more treatment, especially when I have a hard time in the winter months to begin with. There is something about Dr. Shehadeh that makes me want to follow his advice. I listen to him and he reassured me that I did a really good job of tolerating the last 3 cycles. After all, I didn't end up with an infection or even with a blood transfusion, the whole time I was undergoing treatment. As time goes on, I'm even learning to anticipate some of the side effects and keep them under better control.

This weekend, our family is together in our trailer, just the 5 of us snuggled up with our dog and watching movies and playing games. Today was our first day here, so we did some exploring around town and we drove around the bluff and up to the airport, which was a gorgeous view of the temple and the town, with more red rocks in the far distance. We found out about a Christmas gift expo, so we went down there to pick out our gifts, literally! Brenton, Jonny and Nathan are all getting Ipod shuffles for Christmas. I got a new mop and sweep system and David got a bottle of special cleaner, for computers, cds, jewelry, glasses, etc.

We came back to the trailer for dinner. Just like last weekend, David has been spoiling me by cooking all the meals and having the boys help him clean up. Every one of the boys, even Sandi, has come to snuggle with me in the big queen bed. I feel grateful to feel well enough to travel. I have been struggling with nausea up until the day we left. Dr. Shehadeh did give me some samples of a strong acid reducer and I think that has helped improve my nausea considerably, also with taking my medicine with food and little by little during the day, instead of all at once. It is nice to take a break from feeling sick. I won't have any more chemo until Wednesday.
Emilee