Things are starting to ramp up again!

Hi All

I have my next CAT Scan tomorrow morning here in Moscow at the hospital. Oh boy. I get to drink a barium fruit smoothie tomorrow morning! I hear its the latest thing. No, really! Well, maybe not really, but that's part of the protocol I have to follow. The scan tomorrow will help my doctor assess whether (a) the Interleukin-2 is working, or (b) the tumors are continuing to grow. I'm a little nervous, as I feel like this one test will decide my fate. Well, not really, but both Dave and I are tired of waiting and want to get on to the next phase of my treatment, whatever it is. We're hoping I'm in the 5-7% of IL-2 patients where the tumors actually shrink, but will take an arrest of growth, and no new tumors! The test results to go my doctor at the Oregon Clinic in Portland, and we have an appointment next week to go over them and to plan the next step. I may be a bit nervous about tomorrow, but the trip to Portland is beginning to give me nightmares!

On the other hand, Thanksgiving was loads of fun! We decided not to drive across the state to the Willamette Valley, and instead spent Thursday here at home, cooking dinner and watching football/basketball/whatever sport was on TV. We had invited a number of people to dinner but only one person could make it. Dave and I cooked Cornish Game Hens rather than turkey, and had a ball! After an evening of playing Tripoli and Vanessa and Dave's Wii (wheeee!), we settled down for a long night of sleeping off waaayyyy too much food. On Friday we set out for Stanfield (near Hermiston), 3 hours south, to my brother and sister-in-law's house for a day-after-Thanksgiving-feast of prime rib with their family and my parents... and more playing of Wii. Good grief. Did everyone get one of these Wii things and we're behind the times? Sheesh! We spent the night and stayed just long enough on Saturday to watch my beloved Duck football team lay a big stinker in L.A. SIGH. No national championship, no Rose Bowl, only bitter, bitter disappointment. I'm still trying to overcome the depression from that one.

Its supposed to snow overnight. I think Dave is hoping for a blizzard so we can go for a walk and I can hit him in the face with a snowball.

It's the little things in life that make it all worthwhile. ;)

Until Next Time!
Cheryl