Medical Update

Well we met with Drew's oncologist on Friday to go over the results of his CT scan from the prior Monday. We were both terrified to go to the appointment. We knew going into this that things weren't great but we didn't know how bad they were and didn't really want to be told how bad they were. Luckily the appointment was a positive one and we left feeling good about the next steps of treatment. Unfortunately, the cancer is lurking its ugly head in a few places. Drew has a few spots on his spleen, liver, and lungs. He also has a rather large tumor on his back near the end of one of his ribs that is causing him some pain. The good news is the doc wants to have the surgeon take out a piece of the tumor and have it sent to a special lab for testing. This testing will determine what type of chemo won't work for Drew and will help to determine the best options for chemo. The next step is chemo and since Drew has been on the 2 types of chemo for colon cancer it is a guessing game as to which one to start next. This test will give us the best shot. Drew also needs to have his catheters in his abdomen switched out as they are causing some issues and not draining properly. The oncologist is going to call us early this week with a plan of attack. We are thinking Drew will have these procedures done early next week. He will be in the hospital a few days and we should have the results of the tests in about 10 days. Drew will also have radiation done on the tumor on his back. We talked about the possibility of RFA and cyberknife for the spots on the lung and liver, that is to be determined. I think Drew will start the chemo and radiation first and then we can look into the other options.

While none of this is really good news, we were both terrified that we would walk into the appointment and be told there was nothing left to be done and the cancer was everywhere. While the cancer has spread, it could be a lot worse and we were happy that the doctor already had a plan in place and it seems like they are doing everything they can for Drew and our family.
If the tumor was not located on his back near the surface this test would not be possible, I guess in a way we are somewhat thankful the tumor is where it is so this test is an option.

The hardest part of all of this is watching Drew in pain. He has good days and bad days, he had good hours and bad hours, it is no fun. I wish he could just enjoy each day to the fullest and do whatever he wants to do, but he can't and it is hard to deal with. He is uncomfortable or in pain pretty much all day and I am worried that it is getting worse but it is so hard to tell bc he can do the same thing on different days and have a great day the one day and a horrible one the next. We just have to take each day as it comes.

On another note, we are looking forward to Halloween this weekend. Aubrey has a Halloween party at school on Wednesday and parents get to go, so I am super excited for that. I have never seen her interact with her friends at school so I am interested to see that dynamic. Her teacher has told me that she has a BFF named Sammy and they do everything together, but Aubrey doesn't talk about her much so we shall see. Aubrey also has our annual playgroup Halloween party on Friday. We have known this fabulous group of about 8 women and kids for 3 years now and they all mean so much to me. We see them every Friday and it is awesome knowing that Aubrey has friends from when she was 10 weeks old, hopefully they can all continue to grow up together. Finally, we have our neighborhood block party and trick or treating. It should be a great weekend! Below is a picture of Aubrey and her two best friends Ava and Sophia at the pumpkin patch. They had a ball.