Something to think about.

I head back to San Antonio tomorrow for my fourth round. I am still feeling great which I cant be more happy about. Though it is a strange feeling. After almost a year now of dealing with this it is hard to comprehend how far things have come. For the first time I looked back all the way at my blog. It really set in how lucky I am to be blessed by god and to have such wonderful people surrounding me. As I read some of my first posts I remembered how it was to live every day in pain and not be able to do the things I wanted. It was just weird to think this has been going on a whole year now since I first started feeling bad. I don't really know how to put into words what I feeling, I'm not sure if its a sense of relief or what it is, but its a great feeling. I got to thinking about a lot about how lucky I am. A good family friend of mine died this week many of you know who I am talking about. She died before any of us expected. My prayers are with her family that god will help them find the strength necessary to deal with it. It was her death that made me think again how easy it is for god to take anyone of us at anytime, whatever the cause. I said in an earlier blog that my goal/hope through this was to help people to build a better relationship with god, family, or whatever they need, if I did that then I did my job. I pray that I am still able to do that because her death reinforced my belief how important those things are to a good life, and that our time here is limited and valuable to those around us. So please take the time to tell those important to you love them.

God Bless
Jake

Quick Update!

Met with Dr. Crim yesterday he was excited to hear the good news as well. All of my blood counts are holding up well. No real side effects to note that are bothering me. I am still just ecstatic about the news. I am going to start working again here really soon at Lockheed it should all be finalized by the end of the month. I am excited it will be the first time in almost 11 months I will have worked. I guess you can look at cancer fighting as a full time job but it will be nice to have one that makes money. Other than that not much else is going on here.

God Bless
Jake

Still Smiling

I don't think I have quit smiling since Tuesday afternoon. I got to see my scans yesterday morning when I met with Dr. Patnaik before I started my chemo. It was a cool trip I was the talk of START. Everyone new before I even got to the clinic Wednesday morning and they all wanted to see pictures of the changes. It is almost impossible to put into words the changes my liver and other areas went through in only 6 weeks. Its no wonder I was hurting pretty bad before starting this drug, my liver was taking up the majority of area in my my chest and was probably 1/3 larger than its normal size. Now its the size of a normal liver again and you can see a number of large clear areas in it which before it was nearly completely cover in spots. There were also 5 other spots else where in my chest area 4 of those are gone and the other is nearly gone. It is great news and I am extremely happy but there is still work to be done cause there still a number of large and small spots still on the liver but it looks so much better than before, and I feel a million times better. I got to come back last night so my stays in San Antonio are getting shorter the better I get, which makes me happy. Oh other good news...I get to start running , working out, and PLAY SOCCER again, its been way to long. All I have to say is GOD is GOOD, keep on praying cause he is listening. Thank you and I love you all.

God Bless
Jake

Just a little bit of Good news!!!

I had my scans done early this afternoon and before I had time to settle back into the hotel room my phone was already ringing. It was Dr. Patnaik calling to see if I wanted my results. I was like this has to be good if she is calling only 30 minutes after I left her office. So I said "yeah sure but it better be good news". She replied "oh it is". It turns out this drug is working awesome. The cancer has shrunk by 30%. Its hard to believe that it is this good after just 2 treatments. Thank you all for your prayers because God surely did answer them. I have treatment tomorrow morning and I will update again tomorrow afterwards with a more complete description of what she says then.

God Bless
Jake

Back to S.A.

Its back to San Antonio tomorrow for round three. I am really excited yet nervous about this trip. I get scans done on Tuesday to show if this drug is working as well as we think it is. i hopefully will know something by Wednesday or Thursday at the latest. I am still feeling wonderful and ready to get this round out of the way. I had an awesome birthday couldn't have asked for a nicer day. We had a big crawfish boil and had a great time. Not much else to say Ill update again as soon as I get the results from the scans. Everyone say an extra prayer or 10 for some good results.

God Bless
Jake