I talked to my instructor and asked work for two days off to accompany Tom to Detroit. It was all approved and I recruited Grandma to watch the children and the "girls" (our dogs). She loves to come spend time with her grandchildren, but Cody ended up with dog duty at night as Grandma shut the bedroom door and the girls had to find elsewhere to sleep.
Tom was previously fighting the cold/flu bug and did not feel well the week before we went. However, he was in good spirits on Sunday morning when we pulled out of the drive at 8:00 am. After two days of scans he was not feeling that great, but he was not letting on how bad he really felt. He had such a good attitude our entire trip and kept saying how glad he was that I could go with him. It makes me sad that I can't go every time and that makes these trips bittersweet.
On Tuesday we met with Dr. Ali for the results. He said that the scan were stable and that things were looking good. I had noticed that his CEA jumped from 17 to 53 from his last scans in August. I decided to finally ask the question I've been asking the other doc's for 4 years. "Why did the CEA fluctuate so?" He took a great deal of time explaining how the numbers and scan indicate what the cancer is doing. He also talked about what they watch and when they use tumor markers to closely follow the cancer. Tom's last 2 blood work results showed a slight increase in both CEA and Calcitonin. At this time Dr. Ali is not too concerned because the scans continue to show as stable. He should have these results back from the Mayo Clinic in 2 weeks. If there is once again an increase in the tumor markers, then they may start monitoring these levels monthly. Dr. Ali. did comment about one of the tumors in Tom's liver. It had changed in appearance. He felt that this is due to the cells dying from loss of the blood source. There is always a chance that the opposite is true and it once again is growing and has outgrown it's blood source. We will see what it looks like in 3 months after Tom's scans in February.
After 3 days of being on the road we were ready to head for home. It was a beautiful day and Tom kept saying that "He should be hunting". I know that he misses many of the things he used to do. Its hard to realize that life has so drastically changed. Now we are concerned with numbers, scans, and day to day "feeling wonderful" when just 4 years ago we had more material worries. I know that God is using our family for his purposes. I know that he is beside us in everything that happens, are we reaching out to him? I am reminded that God is not the booming voice, but in the whispers.
1King 19:11 "Go out and stand before me on the mountain," the Lord told him. And as Elijah stood there the Lord passed by, and was a mighty windstorm hit the mountain; it was such a terrible blast that the rocks were torn loose, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind, there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire, there was the sound of a gentle whisper.
