JUST TO LET YOU KNOW WHAT'S HAPPENING

Hi to all our family and friends,

Since we last spoke we have had a great few weeks a nice visit with my little brother Mike and beautiful sister-in-law Penny. So nice to have family around. 

Now just a quick update on our situation:

As mentioned in our last blog the Oncologist had taken Norm off the chemo and put him on a strong steroid for a month to get his strength back.  Everything improved, mental, emotional, general well being, EXCEPT physical strength. 

We had an interim appointment with the Radiologist who gave us his take on the scans ......... that the lung tumor has NOT grown, the tumor on T11 in his spine is no longer growing and is NO longer a threat. The lymph nodes in his chest have DECREASED a little bit. With this encouraging and hopeful news we went to see the Oncologist for a new plan. However, with Norm being so physically weak the Oncologist wants to have him off the steroids for a couple of weeks in hopes of regaining his physical health. After two weeks Norm will have another MRI of his brain in order to compare the two instead of MRI to CTScan which is inconclusive.

So just wanted to update you all as I promised and now will keep you posted after our next visit with the Doctor. 

As always thank you for your prayers and for your best wishes.

We are truly grateful for each and every one of you.

Love and Hugs,
Us

BIT OF AN UPDATE

Hi Everyone,

Just thought I would send along an update on our current situation. A lot has happened since I last sent info. 

Norm went decidedly down hill after his second session of his first round of chemo. He was sick every day spent 10 days sleeping and being sick. I called the Doctor at the Cross and he arranged an IV of antinausea drugs and rehydration, as well as a steroid to last for 5 days. For two days he was doing great, and it was nice cause Mom Schopf was here to visit us. I noticed that by the 3rd day he was starting to feel tired and not well again.

Our appointment with the Oncologist was on the 15th of August, which our beautiful daughters attended with us and the information was okay. Dr. Smiley said that what Norm was experiencing was no quality of life and decided that he would discontinue the chemo and put him on steroids for a month. 

The difference was immediate and wonderful. Physical strength comes and goes depending on the activity of the day. But the mental and emotional feelings are fantastic. 

Today we went to see the Priest at our local parish and Norm received the Sacrament for the Sick. Father prayed for us and has enlisted the prayers of what amounts to Prayer Warriors for the church. Made both of us feel much better. 

On our way home our family Doctor called to explain in more detail what the Oncologist had said to us. The brain scan was inconclusive as the first scan was a CTScan and the last one was an MRI.  The MRI is much clearer so is like comparing apples to oranges, which is a good thing in our mind because the difference is not so noticeable that is definitely a good sign. As well the lymph nodes in his chest seem to have receded a wee bit. We are ecstatic about that . The bones seem to have had more activity than we would like ... the cancer appears to have spread to his L2 and T7. This makes sense since Norm's pain in his back though manageable has been consistent. 

I appears to me that the prayers of everyone are at work ....thank you

We have an appointment with the Oncologist on the 17th to discuss further options that are available to continue the fight.

As always we are grateful for your thoughts and prayers.