The Journey Continues

Hello everyone,

It has been quite a while since my last update, so we will be covering a lot of ground. One thing you can take away from my lack of communication is that I have been feeling pretty good and busy working.

I flew to San Diego and drove down to Hospital Santa Monica in Mexico where I spent 3 weeks in therapy. The therapy consisted of three to four hours of IV’s, Sonodynamic therapy, Hypothermia, Hyperbolic Oxygen therapy, Insulin Potentiometer therapy using Chemotherapy and so on. I spent at least 6 hours each day getting worked on. Also, I started a heavy-duty regiment of supplements, to the tune of 50+ pills a day.

It was a very restful time and I started feeling better as the treatments progressed. My acne (from the Tarceva) disappeared after the 1st week. The staff is very caring and truly trying to help. The food was tasted like something your grandmother would cook, bland but very good for you. I am on a strict no carbohydrates, no sugar diet. This means lots of protein, fats & vegetables.

Other people observed the most noticeable changes upon my return. My business partnered noted that before I left I was mostly non-productive and looked sick. After my return, I was back working with a renewed vigor and enthusiasm. I have been working full time since my return. All be it, I am not 100% productive but am functioning around 90%. Everyone says that I look thinner (down from 185 to 160 lbs), but very healthy with good skin color and clear eyes. All I can say is my quality of life is much better than I every expected it to be, though I hope the cancer goes away soon and I return to my old normal life.

Six weeks after my return from Mexico, I had blood work done, a PET scan and a CT scan. The blood worked showed my liver functions returned to within normal ranges and my CA19-9 tumor marker down from original 1750 to 1250 (normal is less than 40). The PET scan show cancer activity has remained in the areas it was before. The CT scan showed only minor growth (less than 3 millimeters, about the width of 4 business cards stacked together) in only one area. This may not sound all that great to you but it is a true blessing to us. It means we have stopped or contained the growth of the cancer. Please keep in mind; pancreatic cancer has a 99% fatality rate annually. So just stopping it is a major accomplishment.

I am heading back down to Hospital Santa Monica in Mexico on Sunday for another 10 days of therapy. We hope this time we will be able to beat on the cancer enough to get it to shrink some.

As some of you may think from this update and phone conversations with me, that we are always positive, upbeat and optimistic. That is true most of the time but cancer has a way of beating up on you emotionally. It effects everyone differently, but what keeps me going is feeling good, i.e. lack of pain and fatigue. I am very thankful that pancreatic cancer is relatively painless and I sleep 9+ hours a night to keep the fatigue at bay. Blake has been wonderfully supportive but it has taken a toll on her too. The kids have been a constant source of joy for me. They are so innocent and excited about everything. Their faces just light up when they see me and that makes all the despair dissipate. So we definitely have our up days and down days. But we are hanging strong and taking it one day at a time.

Thank you for all your interest, support and prayers. We truly appreciate it.