Round Three

Round Three is in the bag! Only three more cycles until another set of scans. I am really anxious to find out how much the chemo has done thus far. Nervous and excited at the same time.

Today I asked for a copy of Johnny's lab results. I'm curious like that, and besides they are his labs so we are entitled to them, no? They had told us before starting the chemo that his platelets were on the low side, not critical or too low to have chemo, but low. I guess I'd rather his platelets be low than his white blood cells (infection fighters) -- if something has to be low.

One item of interest was his CEA level. This is the "cancer" lab that was 60.4 on his first set of labs prior to chemo starting. Today it was 34.1. Now, I have no idea how this translates to the effectiveness of the chemo. But I like to think that it means that Johnny's butt-smokin' hot bod has been working so hard that almost half of the cancer is gone already. I like to think that -- I don't know that -- but it sounds good.

We asked Dr. Ansari about the published studies that recently received a lot of press related to aspirin increasing the overall positive outcomes for colorectal cancer patients. He said that everyone should be taking aspirin. It is really quite a remarkable little pill! Aspirin inhibits the COX-2 enzyme that is commonly found in tumors of the colon and rectum so it makes sense that it would increase overall survivability -- and increase of more than 29% in some studies. Absolutely amazing! Not to mention the benefit for decreasing the likelihood of strokes and heart attacks. So, we have added a full strength aspirin a day to Johnny's ever-increasing list of medicines. I decided that I am going to start taking one every day, too.

We felt better prepared today: Nausea meds, heartburn meds, constipation meds, aspirin, sleep aids, prune juice, Milk of Magnesia, mashed potatoes, chicken noodle soup, lemon-lime Gatorade and grape Kool-aid. Everything was lined up and ready to go when we got home. I like feeling prepared. Makes me feel like I can actually help him a little bit when I have everything he needs.

Please continue to leave comments and messages. During chemo week, Johnny likes me to read them to him (usually starting on Wednesday when he wakes up from his 36 hour hap). He reads them by himself the rest of the time. They make us both really happy.

Thanks to everyone who continues to feed my family. AJ and Kelly, we enjoyed the visit with you guys this evening. We LOVED dinner! The chicken and noodles were fantastic -- and the banana bread is already gone! (Jake really liked that!)

Please continue pray for my Johnny. Especially that his lab values rebound quickly so that he doesn't have to start getting shots to improve them. He hates needles and these shots won't go through his port.

Please continue to pray for the Cramer's.

Happy Birthday, Angie! Love you, sis.