Fish On

We had a very good time fishing last Saturday. I purchased this fishing trip several months ago at Buck and Vera Jo's Grace Class auction. It's a yearly auction where members of the class donate and/or find friends of theirs to donate items or services. The proceeds go to missions and other things that the class agrees to sponsor. Every dime is used for a great cause and always to help spread God's word.

I'd like to thank June Bug for donating this fishing trip to the Grace Class auction. I can't remember exactly what price I finally paid for the trip but I remember Buck bidding me up to almost the full value of the trip. He knew I wanted it and he has a knack for knowing how high he can take you and then back off. It's always a lot of fun watching and bidding.

We had a great time and plenty of "Fish On" battle cries were heard. We caught our limit of Trout, one Flounder, about six Silver Trout, several undersized trout, plus hooked into a couple Spanish Mackerel and a Snook. Thanks again to June Bug for donating the trip. I will be using him again. For more information about fishing with June Bug, visit http://www.SnookQueenCharters.com/.

Thanks Aunt Melody for making one of Heath's dreams come true

Heath will get to spend some time with his favorite musician. Heath’s Aunt Melody has been in contact with Slash of Velvet Revolver and helped arrange something very special. Slash has booked a recording studio in L.A. where Heath and Slash are going to jam and record one maybe two songs together. You can only imagine how much this means to Heath. I can’t say enough about how wonderful we all think Slash is for reaching out to Heath like he has. I’m also sure that Slash will be impressed with Heath’s talent and they will have a great time.

Moffitt appointment with doctors 5/1/08

Karis and Heath met with the doctors at Moffitt on Thursday. The doctors do not think that the Chemo is working. They have ruled out any kind of radiation or surgery or further chemo at this time. The doctors at Moffitt and Boston, as well as Dr. Agresta in California and Dr. D’Amato in Georgia are all looking for a new Clinical Trial for him. The Sarcoma Annual Meeting is May 30th thru June 5th. We are praying that they all put their heads together and come up with a protocol for Heath. Karis is looking at alternative medicine at this time and is in touch with MD Anderson for a Clinical Trial with Whey Protein also known as Glutathione. She spoke with the Clinical Nurse today. Heath is on a strong vitamin regimen as well as an organic diet and organic juicing. He will be meeting with two different natural doctors this week. The chemo has been hard on his body and this vitamin protocol should boost his immune system and bring his antioxidant levels up.

We are asking for your prayers as we are praying for a miracle. The doctors have been amazing and we are not giving up.

Scan results

Heath had CT scans with contrast this morning. He had to drink 3 big bottles of barium sulfate: one last night, one early this morning and one on the way to Moffitt this morning. He's been feeling nauseous from the chemo he had on Thursday and he was running a fever all weekend so drinking that stuff was not easy for him.

They were able to get a good look at what is going on now. The scans from March didn't show much because there was so much fluid in the right lung. Now we have a good scan to compare against in six weeks after he gets two more cycles (four rounds) of chemo. That should tell us if this protocol is working.

Today's scans showed two tumors. One on them was in the area that they spotted back in January and thought it could be scar tissue or a tumor. It was too small to do anything with at that time but it has grown to 3-4 cm. It is in the back part of the right lung. The second tumor is much larger and is located at the bottom of the right lung. They said that it is in the pleural lining and that it had grown inside by the bottom of the right lung and outside around the liver. The good thing is that this tumor is showing signs of necrosis (cell death) which could mean that the chemo is working. This is the tumor that caused the Pleural effusion.

Thanks for all the prayers. Keep praying that this chemo is working.