Next...

It seems like here lately, we have either good days or bad days.  On the good days, people might never know cancer has entered our lives.  But other days it’s as if we are just waiting for the next round of bad to hit - it feels as if Satan is attacking from every side.  On these days it is easy for Satan to take hold of our fears and insecurities and we all struggle to find joy.

Toward the end of this last round of the Stivarga, Tim began to experience more side effects as the toxicities built up in his system. He found himself extremely fatigued, coughing and vomiting blood, and continued to lose weight. Tim had a CT scan on Tuesday and saw his oncologist on Thursday for the results. The doctor felt like the fatigue, blood, and weight loss were all side effects of the Stivarga. But those side effects should subside, as the scans showed the Stivarga isn’t working.  While the initial tumor is stable, lesions in his liver and lungs continue to increase in size.  Some doubled in size in the last month.  This is most definitely not the news we wanted to hear.

So what’s next? There is one more approved option for treatment - Lonsurf - an oral chemo.  We are awaiting verification with the specialty pharmacy and anticipate receiving the first round shipment on Wednesday.  This means he’ll start on Thursday. Each cycle will consist of four pills in the morning and four pills at night for five days, be off for two days, back on for five days, and then off for sixteen days. As we understand it, side effects will be nausea, vomiting, fatigue, and possible hair loss - very similar to his previous chemo.  However, this drug’s number one side effect is low blood counts - that’s why he’ll be off 16 days in an attempt to help his numbers recover.  This means we expect him to be weaker than before and he’ll be more susceptible to any infections.

Please continue to pray for us as we walk through this next valley and offer us grace as we attempt to keep us all free of germs and spend time with each other.