Houston Update

We are back from yet another short trip to Houston. We leave from Crossett on Sunday and then start our day Monday morning leaving the hotel at 7Am and our morning is full of blood work, scans and Dr. appt...usually leaving Houston a little after lunch.

Now for the news...Alan's scans showed that the two areas on the left lung are unfortunately still there and have not changed in size. Dr. Amato did not seem concerned that there was not a significant change this time. He said that many patients see a drastic change after their first round of meds and then they might not see anything else until around the 6th month of meds. Alan will be starting his 3rd round of Sutent this coming Sunday.

Remember that spot around where Alan's renal vein is. Yea, that spot that just about every Dr. has been going back and forth on. Well, after these set of scans, Dr. Amato seems to think that it might actually be tumor or as he likes to refer to it as "real." His words for "really is cancer." He said that the mass has shrunk some in size and that it still has the shadow behind it which makes it appear to be a tumor. He didn't talk about this too much b/c he could tell we were shocked with the news, but just like the spots on the lung, we will monitor this area and hope that the Sutent does what we need it to do.

Alan will be on the Sutent for a complete 12 months. After the 12 months, if the lung spots and tumor are still there, then he will have a solitary wedge resection to remove the nodules on the lung and take out that other spot by the renal vein during the surgery. They will not have to remove any part of the lung, just the cancerous areas.

I pray that none of you ever have to go through this, but if you or someone you know if ever diagnosed with RCC there is a great Dr. and staff in Houston. We love this man so much and his nurses. They are great and even though we only see them once a month, they remember us every time. I guess that is basically everything. I probably left something out, but I'm tired.

O yeah, our next appt. in Houston is March 2nd.
Love and Prayers!!

Houston

I should have already posted this, but Alan's Dr's appt. in Houston was changed to the 26th of January. It was originally scheduled for the 19th, but we were able to have it changed due to Alan's work schedule. So anyway, we will be heading to Houston Sunday and coming back Monday unless something comes up while we are there. Please pray that we have the same good news this time as we had from Alan's previous scans. We still need those prayers coming our way for us and our entire family. I don't know, but it just seems like it's getting harder to cope. Maybe b/c things are slowing down and it's all just really sinking in. We have put everything in Gods hands and that is all we can do.

My Crafty Side

I haven't posted any hair bow, etc. pictures lately, so I thought I would post a few items.

Let's change the pace a little.

These are pigtail hair bows with 1.5" white on bottom and 7/8" red on top.



These are my new paci holders I'm making. These are great. I wish I would have made these when Sydney was little.

This is a bulletin board I made for a Christmas gift. I've shown my boards before, but these are larger than the others. I also added embroidered buttons as push pins.

Close Up.

This is my first boy bulletin board. They wanted a Razorback theme, so this is what I came up with. I like to add pictures of the kids to their boards. It makes it personable from the beginning.

The New Look

Well, I've had a few people interested in seeing Alan's "new look." In my last post I talked about Alan's hair changing colors, so I thought I would share a few before and after pictures. Yes, I asked Alan before I posted if he minded me showing our followers. If you know Alan then you know he is pretty laid back. We like to believe that since his hair has turned white, the meds are doing what we want them to do!

This picture was taken Thanksgiving day. The normal look.

This picture was taken on Christmas Eve. It looks like he shaved everything off, but it's all still there...just really, really white! You can see it creeping up towards the hair on his head.

This picture was taken Christmas Day.

We Love Our Alan!

BTW, who knows if I'll ever get to post Christmas pictures, but we had a great Christmas and I guess Santa thought our kids were pretty good in 08.

Back to Work!

Alan is officially back at work after being off for 4 months. He started Sunday. I think we were all a little nervous and anxious about his first day back, but he had a good night and he really enjoyed being with his friends at work. Alan is still doing good with his meds. Side effects are pretty much the same as the first round. If you see Alan out and about, you might not recognize him...his mustache and gotee are white...yes Santa Claus white. His hair is starting to show some white also. We kept thinking it might fall out, but it hasn't, so I guess as long as he is on the Sutent, he will always have this white hair, lol. It's great! We can laugh about it. It's ok. I say it often and I'm saying it again...we have some amazing friends and family. Thank You for everything!

Meet Max!

So, I guess about a week before Christmas, these two little puppies showed up at Alan's parent's house. They looked pitiful and were defiantly close to death. Somewhere in there I said, "yes, we can keep him!" I guess I lost my mind for a moment! They were both pretty sad looking and Alan kept calling it a "Christmas Miracle." He has been wanting a puppy for the kids to grow up with, so I guess this is it...our little mutt...Max! He really is a sweet puppy and Sydney and Carson LOVE playing with him. He has already grown so much since his arrival. Bealle, our lab, has finally taken him under her wing. Samson, the Shi Zue, still wants nothing to do with him. Any of you that know Samson, this is probably no surprise! haha