We’re overdue for an update – sorry for the delay.

Maggie had an infusion of Cetuximab, her targeted therapy, in the clinic on Tuesday. We had decided to leave off the standard Folfiri drugs to give her gut more time to bounce back. She is continuing to have tummy issues – not constant but persistent enough to limit her activities, so we knew hitting her again with Irinotecan at this time could be debilitating for her. She’s tired, as her appetite comes and goes. You’d think all this would weigh heavy on her but her spirits remain in positive territory most of the time. We’re planning for her to have one more infusion of Cetuximab at Batson in two weeks before switching our efforts to the plan at MD Anderson. Her CEA (tumor marker – indicator of tumor activity) was back up over 10 this week. We hate to see it rise any but are thankful we have made the decision to transfer back to MDA and have those plans in the works. We also see it as clear confirmation this is the right decision. A continuing drop in CEA might have a tendency to tempt us to keep the present treatment plan in place for a bit longer. We know the time is right.

I continue to be amazed at the expressions of support and prayer for us. It has been a long journey. We’re quickly approaching the fourth anniversary of her diagnosis. In some ways, we can’t remember a non-cancer life. It permeates much of what we do and impacts nearly every decision we make. We can’t imagine un-knowing the people we’ve met along this road, un-learning the faith lessons we’ve seen, or un-experiencing God’s hand of mercy each day. It certainly has redirected the expected course of our lives. We have no idea what the coming days hold for us. (Look what happened before when we thought we had it all figured out!) We’re taking each day as it is given, looking for the joy within each moment, and holding our “treasures” with an open hand. We pray the same for you!