Good scan results on June 25

Heath had scans done at Moffitt on June 25. They told us that his tumor could double in size within a 90 day period because it is such an aggressive type of cancer. He has been having a lot of pain in that area but Dr. Dasilva told him that the treatments should be killing the tumor which would cause the pain. The scan results basically showed that the tumor has not grown. It's even possible that it had grown some from the time of his previous scan and to when he started the alternative treatments then shrunk a little bit. Also, he is not showing any other symptoms of the cancer. All of his other organs and lymph nodes appear basically normal.

This was very good news and is a good indication that the treatments that Dr. Dasilva is giving Heath as well as all the vitamins, supplements, juicing (or pond water as Heath calls it) and organic diet that Karis is giving Heath are working to build up his immune system so his body can fight the cancer the way it was met to.

Karis will be scheduling him to have scans in about two weeks. We thank everyone for all the prayers and good thoughts. Please continue to pray for further healing.

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.

Links showing Heath playing with The U.C. Band

Heath has been playing with a great group of guys. The name of their band is The Under Construction Band or U.C. Band. These guys are all older (my age and up) and they have been playing together for a long time. They are also known as F-Troop.

Heath plays lead guitar. They have told me how amazed they are at Heath's talent and Heath loves playing with them because they really have a good time.

Here is a link showing Heath playing the National Anthem on April 11th at the Palmetto Relay For Life Cancer Walk. I filmed this on my little camera so the video is a little choppy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtuHT0FgswM

Here's a link showing video from later in the evening. The U.C. Band was playing Satisfaction. I started running out of memory so I was only able to catch part of some of the songs. I believe they played for a little over one hour.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zI7puyvC_Mg

2nd round of chemo has been completed

I discovered a new setting for this blog and now Karis can post here as well. I've gotten a little behind again so that should help me keep this blog up to date.


Here's the update:
On April 10th, Heath was given another round of the Gemcitabine chemo. That night he played a gig with his band, The U.C. Band, so he seemed to take it fairly ok. The next night he and his band played at the Palmetto Relay For Life Cancer Walk. I'll post more on that later.

One week later on April 17th he was supposed to get a round of Gemcitabine and Taxotere but his blood counts were too low so they delayed it for one week. Today he was given the Gemcitabine and Taxotere chemo. He had a reaction to the Taxotere which was also very scary because he thought he was having a stroke. They stopped the infusion for about 15 minutes and then continued it more slowly. They said it wasn't common but that it does happen sometimes. Next time they will start with a slower rate and then increase it as they go.

Next Thursday he will be getting more scans. This should give us some idea if the protocol is working or not. Please pray that the tumors are shrinking.