We’ve had another couple weeks of ups-and-downs.

Tim started back on his next round of chemo last Friday. After two different chemo infusions at Kaiser, he was sent home with a pump to deliver a slow release of the third chemo. On Sunday, he went in to disconnect the pump. As in past treatments, this often leaves Tim feeling nauseous for at least a few days afterwards. A couple days ago, we went to see Tim's oncology consultant at UCSF. Dr. Ko reviewed the chemo treatment Tim is currently on, and felt that this was the best option for now. In early March, Tim will have a CT scan done to determine whether or not the treatment is having any effect on his cancer. If not, there may be another chemo option, but the prognosis would not be very good: 3-4 months. If the treatment shows some signs of stabilizing or even slightly shrinking the tumor, then the prognosis is 4-6 months. It's a statistic, so Tim could be on the lower, middle or upper end of the prognosis. Still, it's pretty unsettling for both of us.

Paul’s oral lesions (that includes having small pieces of bone popping out of his lower left gums) turns out to have nothing to do with either his cancer or the various drugs he’s taking. Instead, as the oral surgeon told him, “I’ve got great news for you.” Instead of having to do surgery on his jaw, he explained that his jaw was now self-healing! The surgeon then explained that, unlike 2 years ago when Paul had to have oral surgery on the right side of his jaw to shave down a bony torus, this time Paul’s gums are pushing out bone pieces and healing on their own, so surgery probably won’t be needed. The surgeon explained that Paul was a perfect candidate for what’s happening on his left side since two years ago he had a similar problem on his right side. Torus complications are almost always bilateral. Even better news was Paul’s recent lab results that showed his chemo is indeed reducing his excess protein level and other markers are showing positive results. Paul is still having mobility and pain difficulties from his back fracture, but it does seem to be getting better. So, next on the horizon is another infusion of Zometa on Sunday to promote bone stability and growth. The last time Paul had this it made him pretty sick for 3-4 days, so now they will give him additional drugs to try to offset the side-effects.

In between our feeling sick or fatigued, we're continuing to try to make every good minute or hour count. These moments may not come around as often as they used to, but at least they're still happening