We are currently working on scheduling a treament of Dori's malignant liver tumors. At first we had hoped to do a new "RFI" treatment but her tumors are too large for this particular method. So she will be having what the doctors describe as a radio-active seeding treatment which involves injecting a radioactive seed into the tumors that should kill 'em off. I have been unable to find much info on it but from what I understand it is not painful and does not have many bad side effects. Dori's had kind of a rough week of fluctuating temperature and general lack of energy. We have decided to plan a vacation in June if we can pull off the financing. I've been successful in getting Dori to spend some of the savings she has to have a little fun. She deserves it and we all could use a fun vacation. The hope is to get the liver tumors taken care of prior to the vacation.

People often use the term "rollercoaster" to describe the ups and downs of dealing with cancer and chemotherapy and it certainly is one way to describe it. This morning I was thinking about that for some reason and came up with my own analogy for what we go trough as a family.
Have you ever been to the beach and seen a piece of seaweed floating toward the shore? The waves will gradually bring it torwards the beach and then gently take it back out to sea. But, little by little the seaweed gets closer and closer to the shore. Ultimely, after a long struggle to get so close to the shore one big wave comes up, crahes down and the seaweed goes under and is taken out to sea by the undercurrent. Then it starts the long journey back to shore.

There have been a few times that we were struggling to get to shore but were crushed by a huge wave and taken back out sea. The first time was when, after 6 months of "cancer-free" living, it came back the first time. Then again when we found new spots in the liver a few years later , and again when spots flared up in the brain (twice). So the latest setback is just really another wave that has taken us back but we have resurfaced and will start to make our way back to shore again. Will the latest chemo (cpt11) be the one that shelters us from that wave that would try to pull us back? Is there some other force that will get us where we want to go? Or will the next wave be the worst yet? There is really no way to know, we just pray, take each day as it comes, and enjoy the time we have. We put it all in God's hands a long time ago and we totally trust the doctors we are working with-these two things have really helped to ease the stress level. Dori is very active and involved in the decisions that are made and is able to call many of the shots in her treament. There is no way to know if we are making the "right" choices but in many ways we have already beaten many of the odds. And we have not quit living our lives.

Chemotherapy has become almost routine as the weekly trip to the grocery store for us. We adopted a baby girl, we continue to be active and involved with our kids, families, and church. Don't get me wrong, cancer has changed us forever and chemo is not fun for any of us, but our lives go on and we are only doing what anyone faced with this would do. Just keep moving forward and take care of each problem as it comes. Don't worry about tomorrow's problems because there is enough to worry about today. We got through this day and took on the problems that came our way. We'll do the same thing tomorrow..and to tell you the truth not every day has problems! Maybe tomorrow will be one of those.

breastcancer.org is a site I recently stumbled onto that has a lot of info on breast cancer treatment and other stuff that is interesting. It is sponsored by Genentech, the company behind Herceptin.

We had a great weekend, I will post a picture of Dori and Jaden from Tait's party Saturday that I took with friend Melissa's Digital Rebel. What a camera! If there is a guardian angel out there and you want to make me real happy please buy me one of these (well, you could cure my wife first of course!) or maybe an EOS 10D if you're feeling extra generous.