Thank you for keeping up with Tony's status as he was battling cancer.

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Friday, June 26, 2009

Change in medicine

He will be ramping down off the old seizure-prevention medicine faster than planned. The last blood test results just came in, and the medication level was off-the-charts high. That is one of the reasons to get off this medication...even with taking the same dosage every day, the actual amount protecting him in his bloodstream can be too high, too low, or just right. We will skip the first two weeks of ramp down which should make this a three week transition.

He had the MRI today, but we won't know results for a few days.

MRI today

Today he has an MRI appointment to see if there is any remaining cancer. Please pray that the cancer is gone.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

New medicine starts today.

Today he started his new seizure-prevention medicine. Over the next five weeks he will ramp the new medicine up while he ramps down the old. The new medicine isn't supposed to make him as tired, and it has much fewer potential long-term side effects. The main warning is it might make him irritable to the point of being hard to live with.

He has lost some of the weight he gained while on the steroids, so they might adjust his chemo pill dosage for next week. The dosage is sensitive to body weight.

He stayed up to see the midnight showing of Transformers last night. He still feels fine...actually very good.

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Biking today

He has fallen back into his normal routine of staying up late and sleeping in. The time zone change from the UK temporarily had him going to bed in the late evening (instead of wee hours of the morning) and waking up in the morning (instead of early afternoon).

He and a friend went off to ride bikes tonight. He really is acting like he feels better than he has at any other point during treatments.

It look like he is starting to get wisps of hair on his head over the tumor area. Hopefully that means it will all come back eventually.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Mountain climbing today

He left with a friend to eat and then climb Baldy (a mountain on the edge of Eagle River). It is more of a hike than a climb, but it is a workout.

Sunday, June 14, 2009

He is home

He is home from Scotland. He got in today at 11AM, and he looks good. At least to our eyes, he seems to have developed more stamina and he just seems to feel better than when he left. He had a wonderful time, and talked non-stop about the trip on the way home.

He was tired from the flight, and from a very short sleep the night before, but he intended to stay up to get back on the local schedule. That lasted until about 4:00. He laid down to take a short nap, and he is still solidly asleep. He tried to wake up for evening worship, but was so sleepy he decided to go back to bed.

He has regrown hair everywhere except in a softball-sized area...maybe a bit bigger...directly over the tumor area.

He had an unexpected encounter there. It occurred as they were playing with one of the hosting flute groups in one of the concerts, and they were changing positions for the next song. A young male flute player was jostling by to get to position when he asked Tony "brain tumor?" Tony said "yes", and the guy said he had an astrocytoma removed 4 years ago. They didn't get to talk any more afterward, but it was cool to see someone else doing well long after a similar situation.

He will stay on the same seizure-prevention medicine this week, but next week they plan to switch him to one that is easier to keep in the effective range and isn't supposed to make him tired. Let's hope that works well.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Nothing new

Haven't heard anything new. I am sure he is still having a good time, but probably looking forward to getting home...but then again maybe not.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

In Scotland and having fun

He called and left a message today saying he feels good and is having a wonderful time. He is at the home town of the Bay City Rollers (a pop musical group from the 70's for those of you who are clueless about the fine arts ; ) but said memorabilia (for his Mom) is hard to find after this many years.

Saturday, June 6, 2009

We finally got to talk to him

We finally got to talk to him yesterday. He is having a great time. He feels really tired, but is thoroughly enjoying the trip and feels good.

He said he is really tired (it couldn't have anything to with the fact that he is on three medicines all of which make you tired and he has had jet lag), and he is having to take an additional dose of the anti-nausea medicine. He thinks that is necessary because he is active in the morning on the trip, and it was likely he slept through it at home since he slept in more here.

One of the Mom's on the trip said he is tired, but so is everyone else. If she didn't know better, she wouldn't know he was on chemo medicine.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

He is doing good

He texted to say he was doing good and feeling fine. It sounded like he really was good and not just toughing it out. They are still playing 'tourist' in London.

Doing okay

He texted to say he is fine. One of the Mom's texted that he is doing okay, but the chemo is upsetting his stomach some. It doesn't sound too bad, but probably does knock off some of the excitement. I think they saw the changing of the guards today.