Holding Steady

Elise has her second Avastin infusion on Wednesday. Since her last one, she's been holding steady ... not getting any worse ... good news! We'll know more when she has another MRI in September. In the meantime, she's been enjoying time with her family and neighbors.

Jasper is getting so big. He turned 5 last week and we had a fun Spongebob Squarepants party for him. It was a hot day, but the kids stayed cool in the pool ... and the adults lounged under the shade trees. I hope Cameron can post some pics and video of the activities.

Last night Jasper spent the night at Gramma's ... we "camped out" and slept in the little teardrop trailer ... watching the thunder and lightening as we fell asleep.

Suanne (Elise's Mom)



random pics

First Treatment

Elise had her first Avastin treatment. The way this medicine works is by preventing the formation of new blood vessels. Since tumors "feed" on blood, Avastin "starves" the tumor. Elise spent over four hours at the UW Medical Center yesterday afternoon/evening, first getting lab work-ups to make sure she was healthy enough to get the Avastin, then getting the 90-minute infusion. It was a lengthy, but uneventful process. Elise will go for Avastin infusions every two weeks.

Although Avastin has yet to be FDA approved for GBMs, major brain tumor centers have had some promising results from its use. (Avastin is typically used to treat colon cancer.) We are hopeful that Elise will be among those who benefit from its use and that she experiences no harmful side effects.

Suanne (Elise's Mom)

news

So here we are in August, time seems to be going to quickly.
A lot of craziness seems to be creeping into our lives, car getting stolen etc., but as always there is so much good in the form of those people in our lives it's hard to let the bad get to ya for too long.
Elise's most recent MRI showed that her tumor has doubled in size. It's growth has manifested itself in her symptoms worsening. Memory, speech, and movement in her right side have degraded. The tumor has grown up and foreword, unfortunately growing into the frontal lobe.

Tonight we had one of the hardest talks we ever had. We told Jasper that mama is going to die. It was right up there with breaking the news to Elise back in the hospital.

Elise did a second round of chemo recently which made her really tired, but she got through it very well. With the growth she had a few treatment options that she now can't do. So her next treatment will be a stronger more aggressive form of chemo.
-cameron

stolen car

So our car, the civic, was stolen last night. This morning it was recovered minus my subwoofer and a bunch of cd's. Sucks, but otherwise the car is how it was.
In other news Elise will begin her second round of chemo in a couple days.
Things are good.
I want to wish my sister Carma a happy birthday.
gotta run,
cameron

No News is Good News

It's been a while since I've posted ... but wanted to let you know that we are enjoying a nice stable time with Elise medically.

Cameron, Elise & Jasper have been spending some good family time together at home. They've made friends with another young family at their apartment complex and have had some barbecues together. They also came to Elise's 4th of July party in Fall City. It was entertaining watching Cameron and the other "big boys" lighting off the fireworks. We had a fun time with lots of "ohs" and "ahs"! The kids (and kids at heart) even roasted some marshmallows for somemores.

Also, on the 4th, Elise's good friend from high school, Jamey and her mom came by ... bringing a beautiful scrapbook they made of memories from a cross-country trip Elise took with them while still in high school. There was lots of reminiscing and catching up going on!

Last Friday, Elise's step-sister Echo gave birth to Luke Andrew. We visited them at Echo & Joe's home yesterday. I'm sending a picture I took with Auntie Elise holding Luke, along with Jasper, Echo, and big brother Lane. After we visited with Luke yesterday, Elise and I took Jasper and Lane to the park to play then to our house to visit and have a some dinner under the shade trees. We wanted to give Cameron, Echo and Joe some time off to rest up.

On Thursday, we go to the doctor again to get ready for Elise's next round of chemo that starts early next week. Then, in mid-August, once Elise stops feeling tired from the chemo, we start some out-patient physical therapy to capitalize on Elise's increasing strength.

Stay cool ... Suanne (Elise's Mom)

Elise, Jasper, Echo and Lane with Echo's new baby Luke.

hi

So now Elise seems not to really be suffering any side effects from the chemo sand I couldn't be happier about that.
We have been doing stand and pivot transfers. So her leg strength is increasing some, which helps for the transfers.
We possibly have some outpatient rehab coming up, which would be awesome. She is progressing without it, so with rehab she could be doing a million times better.
We are really excited about the fourth, can't wait, should be fun.
Jasper is growing like crazy, and has been great help with Elise. He is such a sweet soul.
Still pretty busy these days, more when I get a chance.
-cameron

Chemo Round 1 Completed

Elise finished her first round of chemo. She had to skip one night because of nausea. We aren't sure if she felt sick due to the chemo, or if she had the same bug that Jasper had a few days prior. The doctors increased her anti-nausea meds. Outside of that one incident, she's had mild side effects ... yeah!

Elise went to a follow-up appointment with the rehab doctors last week. The doctors were very impressed with the increase in movement and strength on her right side. They prescribed some outpatient physical therapy to help her learn to stand again ... with walking as the ultimate goal. They also gave her some good ideas of how to work on standing up at home.

The 4th of July in Fall City (where hubby and I live) is always a fun time as the neighborhood lights up with many individual family firework displays ... We are looking forward to having Elise, her family and some friends over for a good time!

Suanne (Elise's Mom)