Update March 15th

There have been some changes since the last update.  We thought we were going to St Louis tomorrow for a CT Scan on Thursday; however, we ended up going to St Louis last week on Thursday and had the CT Scan on Friday.  Dr Anderson at Barnes was concerned about Gary's sudden pain and problems with the stint, so he didn't want to wait another week. 

The news was not what we wanted to hear.  The tumor has not pulled away from the artery and is possibly a little larger around it which means that the treatments have not worked like they needed to so far.  Dr Anderson said that radiation continues to work for 7-8 weeks after the treatment stops and it has only been 3 weeks since the radiation treaments ended.  Needless to say, we were very disappointed and somewhat depressed, but after a couple of days, we are back in the saddle and thinking positive.  The positive results are that the cancer still has not spread to other organs.

Dr Anderson is now in the planning stage of consulting with other doctors (who are in charge of clinical trials) and Dr Leo (our oncologist here in Bolivar) to see what the next stage of treatments will be.  We have not heard from him yet and it may be next week before we hear from him.  As for now, Dr Leo is going to start chemo treatments again next week on Mondays for 3 weeks then off one week.  These treatments should be much easier for Gary to handle because they will just be one treatment a week.    That all may change after we hear from Dr Anderson. 

Gary is feeling better, eating better, getting some energy back and gained 2 pounds this past week!!  We try to stay as positive as possible, but sometimes that is hard to do because of all the negative issues about pancreatic cancer.   We ask for your continued prayers and support.  It means a great deal to both of us and to our children.  I will post again after we know something for sure about what will be next for us.

Jannis