Cleveland Report...

We just got back from Cleveland and we are pleased with what we heard today. We still don't know everything for sure until some additional testing is done. However, the scan today reported that there is not any significant growth of the cancer in the abdomen or lungs that would be causing the pain that Eric has had the past 3 weeks. The doctor feels that the current drug, Afinitor is still working and that is good news. So ruling that out, the next step is to do a MRI of the spine to see if anything there is causing the pain. This has been our suspicion for awhile now so we were not surprised to hear the doctor say this. If there is signs of disease there (normal for Kidney cancer stage 4), then he will order some radiation to treat it and relieve the pain. Eric has read about this and others that have had this done say that the pain is relieved immediately with this treatment. The goal at this point in time is to eliminate the cause for pain and this seems to be a logical next step for Eric. So relatively speaking, we have good news today. I know that Eric is VERY tired of sitting at home and taking these pain medications all day long. He is very much looking forward to anything that will take the pain away and will let him get back to his routine. We don't have anything scheduled yet. We are able to do the MRI locally which is wonderful after just getting home after a 10 hour day. The doctor also said that if treatment is the next step, that can also be done locally if we choose not to make the trip to Cleveland. We'll take it a step at a time for now and just get the MRI done first and go from there. The doctor has also asked Eric to stop taking the Afinitor until he says to start taking it again. Of course, the pain medication is still necessary so not much will change until he can reduce that dosage.

We know that many thoughts and prayers have been with us today. We thank you for your continued support and we will continue to update the blog as we know more. ONE DAY AT A TIME... Sometimes I have to remind me that we can't go any faster than that. We ask that you continue to pray that this pain can be relieved soon. We have a special vacation planned in four weeks to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary. We pray that it's God's plan that the vacation will happen and that we can enjoy it with Eric feeling well. God is good ALL the time... ALL the time, God is good. We believe...

Eric, Gwen, Emily and Adam