7/31/08 Thursday Afternoon

Well, Shelly took out her endowments a week ago Wednesday, got married on Friday morning and had her reception on Friday evening at the Groom's parents' home. It was an old fashioned Hawaiian Luau! The afternoon and early evening were overcast and the day was fairly cool for the family dinner and most of the reception. Just as they were getting ready for the Hula Dancers, the reception was rained out. Everyone went inside the Kip's parents' home for visiting and cake cutting. Shelly and Kip opened their gifts this immediate past Tuesday and both she and Kip went back to work on Wednesday.

Judy had her heart ultrasound and stomach CT scan on Monday. The cardiologist thought the tightness around her heart was more likely related to blood flow restriction than to cancer. The cardiologist said that the tumors throughout her abdomen were shrinking, but that she had a spot at the base of her pancreas and spots on the bones in her back that were not previously visible. She noted that the spot on her pancreas was probably there all along, but had been blocked from view by the overall swelling of the pancreas ... which had now subsided. She guessed that the spots in the bones were more likely from the dying cancer cells than new cancer cells. They gave her a medication to help strengthen her bones and then gave her the same chemo treatment as before ... which now seems to be causing numbness in her hands and feet. Since it does not yet affect her ability to dress herself and do other routine things around the house, they are going to keep her on the Taxol a while longer. However the numbness can be permanent, so they won't be able to keep going with the Taxol if the numbness begins to affect her daily actitivies.

Jerry had his heart MRI and his new U of U cardiologist told him that he did not put too much stock in the lower (42%) ejection fraction even though the MRI confirmed it (43%) and that Jerry would not be able to feel a 50% blocked coronary artery if everything else was OK. However, the cardiologist did say that Jerry had water in his lungs and on his heart and that the water in his lungs was causing his shortness of breath, not his heart. He made five medication changes for Jerry: 1) took him off Maxide (a mild diuretic); 2) put him on Lasix (a much more powerful diuretic); 3) reduced his Coreg back from 50 mg twice a day to 25 mg twice a day (said the heavy dose might be contributing to his exhaustion); 4)Doubled his Lipitor from 40 mg to 80 mg (since his cholesterol was 289 and had been down to 200); 5)put him on Spironolactone for his blood pressure and to lessen the affects of the expected Vitamin K loss that will be caused by the Lasix.

He told Jerry that he should begin having less shortness of breath and more energy soon and that he would see him again in 6 weeks.