Stable for the Holidays.

sta⋅ble

 [stey-buhl] adj. exhibiting no significant change

Happy Holidays. I was at MD Anderson in Houston on Tuesday and Wednesday before Christmas for my regular 9 week restaging. My test results were good. Another stable. I'll take it. We (Team Jan) are pretty happy (read relieved) about the news.

The CT scans, blood tests and chest x-rays on Tuesday went fine. Julie was with me as usual. The nausea during the CT scan iodine blast unfortunately permeated my peppermint armor, but I held it together. There have been no real issues with any new symptoms from the Avastin, Rad 001 or the angina.

On Wednesday, Dad and I met with Dr. F, Carmen and various other medical staff. After our discussion about the status of my tumor, my next question (in my head) was, so what happens with stable? How long will it last and what does it mean? Those are hard questions to answer. I looked the word up in the dictionary and frankly, I only really like three of the definitions. The one above and a building for the lodging and feeding of horses, cattle, etc. My personal favorite is the place where Baby Jesus was born, but technically that was a manger (a box or trough in a stable or barn from which horses or cows eat). I talked with Carmen about it for a bit (the stable part, not the horses or Baby Jesus part), and will continue talking about it with Dr. F. in future appointments. Nurse Carmen, if I haven't already mentioned, is in charge of the drug study I'm currently on. She also gave me the 28-day Sandostatin shot. Her motto for the shot: if it doesn't hurt, it isn't working. And she means it, but not in a bad way.

The best part of the trip? Seeing Mrs. Z Huddleston smile after her rigorous 3 week chemo treatment for Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (ALL). I met her and her daughter, Robin, when I was in Houston at the first of December. She had just been diagnosed by her family doctor and moved her treatment to MDA. We watched the blizzard in Houston that day and talked about computers, resources, cancer, faith, and other stuff. They are great folks from Alabama and I really enjoyed and am inspired by her resilience after 3 grueling weeks of not only getting her head around having cancer, but dealing with being in isolation and the highly toxic drugs. She is a very strong woman with a very strong family to support her. GO Mrs. H GO! You can do it!

Happy New Year. Thanks for your constant support, prayers and confidence that I'll keep on keeping on. I'm looking forward to an awesome 2010.

smack,

jan

PS. To cousin Julie, my Dad, sisters, brothers, family, and friends who take the time to call, email or go to these appointments with me and shower me with a moon full of support. Thank you. One day I'll figure out a way to make those words bigger or at least as big as they feel. I couldn't do this without you. I know I'm not always a ray of sunshine and I tend to lose my sense of humor at times. But thank you from the parts of my heart not experiencing angina. The best parts.