Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Anatomy of Jason's tumors...

I have been asked a few times where all of Jason's tumors are located, and really haven't looked into it too much, until now. I got copies of all of the reports from jasons scans the last time we were in Arizona, so now i can tell you where all for the tumors are located!

Brain {about 8 tumors}
12 mm{9/15/10} previously 6mm {8/3/10} Left medial temporal lobe.
Temporal lobe-hearing.
10 mm{9/15/10} previously 6 mm {8/3/10} Right posterior temporal lobe.
Temporal lobe-hearing.
there is now edema surrounding involving these 2 lesions
6mm {9/15/10} previously 4 mm {8/3/10} right frontal parasagittal
Adjacent to the temporal lobe.
7 mm {9/15/10} previously 3 mm {8/3/10} right posterior parietal
Parietal-sensory, motor, pain, heat, touch
10 mm {9/15/10} previously 7 mm {8/3/10} right occipital lesion
Occipital-vision
2.9 cm stable lesion {9/15/10} left posterior frontal {main tumor}
{compairable to a cherry or grape}
Frontal- emotions, personality, morality, intellect, speech
1.9 cm stable {9/15/10} right frontal lobe
frontal, emotions, personality, morality, intellect, speech
Vasogenic edema surrounding these 2 lesions appear improved slightly
9 mm stable {9/15/10} right cerebellar lesion
Cerebellum- muscle tone, equilibrium, walking, dancing



Chest
Lungs
3.2 cm lobular in right lower lobe. {9/14/10} Which previously measured 1.8 cm {6/25/10}

Abdomen and pelvis
clean!






Monday, September 20, 2010

Arizona September 14-17

well we left for Arizona not so bright n extremely early tuesday morning. We had originally planned on flying there that morning and home that night, so i can work more...but that didnt happen! the day was awful from the beginning!
we made it to Arizona on time, but transportation didnt have us scheduled, so we sat at the airport for an HOUR!!! yes a WHOLE HOUR!!! ugh!! but we made it to our first appointment right on time!
Jason had blood draws, then had a CT scan of his chest, abdomen and pelvic regions. then we FINALLY got to eat breakfast ;) when we met with the dr, he gave us the results of the CT scan...which pretty well sucked. but could have been worse. The ONE spot in Jason's lung has almost doubled in size. :( so we talked it over with the dr, and scheduled an MRI of Jasons brain for the following day. While talking with the dr he gave us our options...we could either do a stronger dose of chemo, or i guess quit chemo all together n just search for a clinical trial. We chose the stronger dose of chemo, and are also looking for a clinical trial. The new chemo still has the DTIC which jason has been receiving since we started going to CTCA. It also has 2 new chemo drugs: BCNU {carmustine} and Cisplatin {platinol} . Jason receives the DTIC and Cisplatin all 3 days, and the carmustine 1 day. It is all given IV through jason's port, over about 7 hours, for 3 days!! {which feels like forever!!!} tuesday was an extremely LONG day, with waking up at 3, to get to the airport on time, waiting for transportation, meeting with the drs, then waiting 7+ hours while Jason received his chemo, and FINALLY getting to leave the hospital at 11:30.

Wednesday started off early, we had to be at the hospital for chemo at 9...the had the MRI at 2:15ish. then back to chemo until 730 that night.

Thursday we had another early morning, our appointment to meet with the dr {oncologist} was at 8:30, where we got th e results of the MRI, which once again sucked... 5 of them are growing, 3 are stable. So we were told once again that we need to try and get into a clinical trial, so the lady in clinical studies, was beginning to search for us! after the appointment with the dr, we went up to infusion for jason to get chemo, and got done n was out of the hospital by 6! :) after chemo Jason received a new drug, Neulasta, which is used to stimulate the growth of "healthy" white blood cells in the bone marrow, since the chemo lowers all blood counts, and is given as a single injection under the skin {so it stings/burns, unlike when things are injected through the port. no feeling} the symptoms for this chemo are supposed to hit A LOT sooner than the other chemo, about half way thru the first dose, and lasts up to 5-6 weeks later! They are also worried about kidney toxicity. Jason will get blood draws once a week while we are home, so the hospital can keep an eye on his blood counts. After leaving the hospital we went to In n Out for the first time! :) {everyone is surprised by this!!}

Friday, we met with the clinical trial lady and found a trial in Twin Falls, Idaho called them up and got all of Jason's medical history, and reports sent to off to them to find out if we qualify! after meeting with her we finally got to come home! :)

the lovely suite you get when your receiving 7+ hours of chemo
jason's best friend during chemo, "betty box"
In n out

Bees game!

this post is forever overdue, but ive had no motivation lately to update the blog, so please forgive!
since we didnt get the BBQ in our backyard for Jason's birthday, KBER wanted to send us to a bees game, and hook us up with a suite, n some food! {n you cant pass up free food!}
we had a lot more fun that we had expected! we got to take 12 friends but had a couple back out at the end, so we took 11 :) after the game there was a butt load of fireworks, and a SNAP presentation! {OMG!! i hope they get paid lots}
view from our suite!
US!
the group! we had a great time, n hope that everyone else did too!

for some reason i didnt take a pic of the suite, which is odd, since im like a photo freak..but oh well..

Friday, September 3, 2010

we're home...

sad day! we got home sept 2..we departed Hawaii the 1 n had 3 different layovers!! ugh! i will NEVER do that again! but we had such an AMAZING time!! LOVED every minute of it! n definitely plan on going back!!
we flew out of Arizona the 25 bright n early, arrived in Hawaii n spent the day at the hotel, we were exhausted! the time change totally kick our butts! {they are 4 hours behind us here{utah}} Thursday we hung out at the beach, had a blast. Friday we had the rehearsal dinner for timaris wedding, then jason went to the bachelor party! Saturday was the wedding, which was gorgeous! pretty much came to the conclusion my next wedding will be on the beach! :)) sunday we went to peral harbor and then a loauo with grandpa, chris n mike. Monday the guys went fishing, and reuben {cousins hubby} caught a HUGE marlin! it was 12 feet long 600lbs!! while they were fishing us girls went shopping hung out on the beach, went on a booze cruise, pretty much just had a good time! :) tuesday we drove around the island {ohau} stopped at the valley of the temples, some truck thing to at lunch, a macadamia nut farm, a couple beaches, Giovannis shrim truck {which EVERYONE should stop at! so good!!}

the first day we went exploring, i was taking pictures, and found out my camera had DIED it would take the pic, but the pic was all white, and you can kind of see the outline, so we have NO pictures :(( but the people we went with are all pretty much amazing and are going to hook us up with photos :) probably wont be for a few weeks, when we go back to arizona, but better late than never!!

as soon as i get the photos ill post them! :)