Duke Visit was Great!

We had a great visit at the Duke Clinic yesterday. We saw Dr. Peters for the first time. She had a great personality and was from John Hopkins. She told us that the MRI was CLEAR!! Harold will continue the chemo through December, as originally planned. He will have MRIs every 2 months for the first year off of therapy. Then he will have a graduated MRI schedule. In 2011, he will have MRIs every 3 months for a year, then every 4 months for a year, every 6 months for year and then yearly for life. We can handle that! Dr. Peters said that the key was to stay ahead of the game and to catch any re-growth early on. I just hate that word “re-growth”. I imagine that it’s going to be hard when we stop the chemotherapy all-together.

Other good news…Harold has gained 8 lbs in 4 months! He’s finally up to 143.5 lbs! We asked about all of the meds that he’s currently taking and she said that we will continue the Keppra for many, many years. If he stops and has a seizure, we’re back to no driving for 6 months. We can’t handle that again! But the good news is that his daily medications do not make him sick or have any side effects…only the chemo once a month.

We discussed his memory too. I’ve noticed that it’s gotten better and Dr. Peters said that it will improve as long as he’s using his brain. Harold plays solitaire on his phone and my laptop ALL the time. She said that was good…anything with numbers and having to make decisions is great for his brain. So that will get better with time.

I decided to ask a big question since our 1 yr post-surgery anniversary is coming up. People are always asking how Harold is doing and to be honest, I’m not sure of the best way to answer that. I asked Dr. Peters if we can say that he’s “cancer-free”. That’s a B-I-G word and I get a lump in my throat just thinking about it. Please know that we understand this battle isn’t over. And while his MRIs have been clear for several months, we do not have our hopes up high. Harold realizes that we will always have this battle and it will forever be on our minds. While we are very excited for the good news, we are also very cautious to not get ahead of ourselves. I don't want to set ourselves up for disappointment.

As for Dr. Peters' answer: she said that she doesn’t like to say ‘cancer-free’ until a patient has been off therapy for one full year. SO…in January 2011, we will not only be celebrating Harold’s 40th birthday, we will also be celebrating a very huge word! We’ll be ringing in the New Year for many years to come!!

Next Duke visit is November 19th.