Halfway There

Last week marked the halfway point in the chemo/radiation treatment. The first 3 weeks went better than expected. Looking at Jill you would never know that she was undergoing chemo therapy combined with radiation. The doctor gave Jill permission to run if her energy level allowed. Yesterday the four of us did a running lap around the local park with no headaches. Amazing!
Jill's sister, Kim showed up for the next two weeks. This weekend marks the first time that all three Camirand Kids spent the entire weekend alone with no adult supervision. No one was hurt and I convinced Steve that a bedsheet will not act as a parachute off the roof.
We continue to be amazed by all the love and support our friends and family are giving us.

A Week with Steve

Jill has survived a week with her older brother Steve and he only tried to force a steak upon her once, but refrained from giving her a noogie due to the scar. Week 2 is in the books and the score is 5,293,405 tumor cells killed so far. We had another great weekend in Flagstaff with rain on Saturday and an awesome lightning storm this evening.
Sorry about the lack of blog posts, but my computer isn't able to access the internet in Phoenix. It's strange because when Kat was here, her computer worked just fine, and my wireless internet works, but the plug in ethernet cable isn't working (for those computer geeks out there, yes I did disable the wireless radio). Anyways, that is going to leave the blogging to the weekends. For those of you that will be suffering from Jill withdrawl I would suggest chocolate, or a steak.
On Friday we have Jill's sister Kim arriving and then Steve leaves that following Monday. It's going to be a weekend of the Camirand Kids.
Untill next week Jill Fan's, stay safe out there; don't smoke, avoid pestacides and other carcinogens.
P.S. that's me, Jill, and Steve, enjoying dessert of Root Beer Floats for the guys and chocolate Rice Dream for the Jillio (Ice Cream in the floats). Leo is under the table looking for scraps. The painting was done by Kat, and the flowers were a gift from Alicia. Thanks to all for making this moment possible!

Vacation from Radiation

It is so good to be back in Flagstaff, and even better to have two days off from radiation. The radiation is taking it's toll on Jill hair and she is developing a bald spot in a worse place than mine.
The past week only brought one night of nausea and no loss in appetite.
We got to see our baby boy Leo (sorry Mom, he's still a dog) and enjoy the wonderfully cool weather. Today we went for an awesome 2.5 hour hike and had a picnic lunch up on the mountain.
Next week the guard changes again as Kat heads back to San Francisco and Jill's brother Steve hopefully brings some Seattle rain to Arizona.

So Far So Good

We're 2.5 days into chemo therapy and radiation and all is well. The first night of chemo was rough, with Jill up in the middle of the night with some nausea which lasted a few hours. Last night she didn't have that problem and was able to sleep through most of the night. She continues to do her bike trainer and aqua jogging sessions without any problems and it's been 2 days since she's taken any pain killers which is remarkable. I think that the hardest part for me is trying to catch up on sleep. It's so easy to loose sleep, yet so hard to make it up.
The chemo therapy is in a pill form which blows me away thinking that it is something that is self administered. That is such a change from having a doctor or nurse change out an IV bag every so often. I never thought that something like chemo therapy would be similar to a prescription drug.
We're both looking forward to getting back to Flagstaff for the weekend and out of this hot weather.

First Day of Treatment

Radiation was today and Jill passed with glowing colors! The first treatment has begun and all went quite well. She spent an hour on the bike trainer Lance Armstrong Style, and now we're off to hit the pool.

Heading down to Phoenix

August is such a lovely month to be enjoying the quaint little town of Phoenix. Treatment starts tomorrow so we're getting packed up and ready for Phase II of our journey. The changing of the guard took place with Kat arriving from San Francisco and Jill's Mom leaving back to Pittsburgh. Six week of chemo and radiation monday-friday. We'll be back in Flagstaff for the weekends. Jill is tough as nails and will get through this like a greased pig through a hillbilly's hands.

Oligoastrocytoma

We met with the oncologist (Dr. Porter) today and learned a new word "Oligoastrocytoma". Everyone say that 5 times fast. OligoastrocytomaOligoastrocytomaOligoastrocytomaOligoastrocytomaOligoastrocytoma

Tumors are "graded" on a scale of 1-4, with 1 being benign and 4 being nasty malignant and mostly resistant to any treatment. This Oligoastrocytoma was graded a "2". It met some, but not all of the criteria for a 3, and the consensus was to keep it at a 2. For some reason they don't break it down to the tenths. I'm going to have to take that up with the American Cancer Soceity. Because the Oligoastrocytoma has some of the grade 3 criteria they are going to continue with an aggressive treatment of radiation combined with chemo therapy for 6 weeks; the old "one-two punch" as Dr. Porter likes to call it. After the 6 weeks, Jill will get a month off, then back on the chemo therapy but at a much lesser dose.
We also looked at the MRI taken last Tuesday and there was a noticable difference, now that the majority of the tumor is gone. It's looking much less like Abby Normal's brain (I know some of you will pick up on the movie reference). We could actually see the ventricles this time!!!
Dr. Porter presented Jill's case to the Mayo Hospital tumor board because it was rather unique, due to the size of the Oligoastrocytoma, the way she presented to the hospital, and how well she is recovering.
Jill's quote as we were leaving the hospital this afternoon sums it up "I'm so going to win!!!"