CT Scans and Booty Rides

Well if that's not a title to catch your attention I don't know what will!

This has been a long trying week as far as medical issues go. Gavin went to the oral surgeon on Monday and his mouth is better but still not healed from the surgery he had 5 weeks ago. This is so disheartening to hear because of having to keep delaying chemo week after week. Dr. Sharma (wonderful oral surgeon) gave us a few options that both he and Dr. Pal (wonderful oncologist) have spoken about. Interestingly, the 2 docs didn't agree on treatment vs. wait and see approach. After much discussion with Dr. Sharma and weighing the pros and cons I asked the million dollar question. I asked if it didn't make sense to schedule Gavin for another CT so that we would know how much the tumors have grown. I figured that would make a difference as to whether they need to be more aggressive in getting Gavin's mouth better or we could be conservative and give the mouth more time to heal on it's own. Well both docs did agree that that was a good idea so Gavin had the CT done today. Thankfully, Dr. Pal got the results before the end of the day so the wait wasn't very long. The tumors have grown which wasn't unexpected since he has had no chemo for over a month. The good news is that they are growing slowly and he didn't see any new growth. Thank you God for that! Dr. Pal is also looking into some other treatments that he can give Gavin that aren't toxic (or as toxic) and won't compromise his immune system any further but might stabilize him until his mouth is fully healed and he can receive the aggressive chemo treatments. The 2 docs will talk before Monday and hopefully by Monday night we will have a plan in place so we can move forward in fighting this battle. Thanks to everyone for their extra prayers this week, they were needed and appreciated!

On a lighter note, BOOTY is this weekend! We will start riding Friday night at 7 pm and some of the team (not me!) will be riding miles and miles throughout the night. Pray for no rain! (Pat especially would like you to pray that prayer!) There is still time if you wish to donate. Just go to www.24hoursofbooty.org and hit the donate tab. Our team is "Tour de Sharpe" and feel free to donate to any of the team members. Please help us raise money for cancer research.

Thanks for your support, thanks for your prayers, thanks for your love!

Maria