We love good news!

Jul 24, 2019

Now that my 12 rounds of Folfirinox chemotherapy is completed (April 20th, 2019), I will be regularly visiting my oncologists and surgeon for checkups every 3 months. These visits entail getting a CT scan to insure that there are no unwanted 'baddies' showing up as well as blood work in order to make sure that all my functions are operating normally (kidneys, etc) and that my cancer markers stay down. I will be alternating my visits between oncologists and locations. One visit will be in Dublin with my local oncologist (Professor McDermott, a wonderful medical professional) and the next will be at MD Anderson, in Houston, Texas with my surgeon (Dr. Katz, whom has, quite frankly, saved my life to this point).

My first post chemo checkup went swimmingly having no abnormalities ... which I think everyone involved would agree that being so close on the heels of chemo would have been quite a shock if something had been spotted. There was still quite a bit of fluid retention from my Whipple surgery, however, more than anyone wanted to see.

I just completed my second checkup this week (July 24th, 2019) and have good news! My fluid retention is all but gone. There was nothing abnormal spotted in my CT, so I'm still NED (no evidence of disease). My cancer marker is down to a 'seven' (under thirty is normal). Finally, my remaining blood tests were all normal (kidneys are good)!

All of us (Connor, Riley, Denise and I) have been spending a hot, sweaty good time with my parents here in Houston. The average temperature is around 35C (95F), so the walks (to try and stretch after eating exorbitant amounts of fantastic Mexican food) in the middle of the day are challenging!

Hope all you beautiful people are having as great a summer as we are!

Peace & Love - Denise & Jay