What a week

I apologize for the delay in getting this information out, I know many of you have been waiting to hear what is going on down here.

We met with Dr. Habra yesterday to find out what was next. He agreed with Dr Lee the oncologist in Dallas that it was a Stage II Adrenocortical Carcinoma. He has decided on a treatment plan that includes Mitotane (which is a medicine or a pesticide depending on who is selling it) and steroids to supplement the other adrenal gland that will get pretty jacked up as a result of this medicine. Sounds exciting right? Pretty mixed emotions at this point. If she takes the Mitotane she will risk damaging her good adrenal gland, feel fatigued and nauseous, have to wear a medic-alert bracelet, have to take steroids and possibly block the cancer from returning. If she doesn't take it she will feel better but will raise the risk of the cancer returning. How do you make a decision like that. I think you make it the same way we did. Pray a lot, and trust that God has put you in the hands of capable Dr's.

Going forward we will increase the dose of the Mitotane and Steroids monthly with lab results being sent down to Dr Habra in Houston. He will monitor the results and make adjustments to the dose as we go along. Every 3 months we will return to Houston for CT scans and meetings with Dr Habra.

He would not give us any information on the long term story. He didn't want to because it didn't matter and there isn't enough information to do any more than guess. He said that if it was a stage I or Stage IV there is more concrete data, but it is a bit fuzzy for II and III.

I don't really know what else to say. I think we are both hopeful that this will keep things under control, but also nervous about the effects of this new medication.

I also wanted to take an opportunity to thank every single one of you for an incredible week. In light of everything else that was going on, because of your prayers for peace, the donation of the points needed for the hotel stay your generous gifts, we were able to have what amounted to the first family vacation we have had for many years. We took the kids to the zoo and the children's museum, rode the metro train around town and took a few road trips, all as a family. Bottom line we all had a fun and relaxing week together and I can't tell you how much we all needed that.

So now we are headed back home, rested and hopeful and looking forward to tomorrow while remembering to enjoy today.

Eric