Murdocks

James saw the oncologist again yesterday. The CT scan results were normal-- no problems in the chest area. The markers they look for in the blood (to indicate cancer) were up from his last blood test-- we're not sure what that means. Maybe nothing. Dr. Sweetser was leaning more toward the 9-week treatment with three drugs. We're not sure why-- maybe he had just done some research on it and felt like it would be better. From what we've heard it is kind of the more common way to go. The reason people (including Lance Armstrong) sometimes go with the 12-week treatment is that the third drug (whatever it is called) can very rarely cause pulmonary problems. Dr. Sweetser acted like it was almost more of a myth perpetuated because of Lance Armstrong's choice. So James said that would be fine. He WILL be doing the 9-week treatment instead. It uses the same two drugs as the other with the addition of the third. It will just be three cycles of one week on, two weeks off-- instead of four. He will be starting this Monday-Friday. 8am-1pm. He can do it at the Doc's office rather than the hospital. For the first three days, he'll have an IV, and on Wednesday he has to go into the hospital to get a port put in right between his heart and his shoulder-- then he won't have to get poked every time he goes in. So that's where we're at. Grandma Holm will be able to come stay with us for this first week, so that will be an amazing help. And everyone has been so supportive. Thanks for everything.