Hello everyone,
Well, next week is finals week for Steve (MSU) and Allison (SDSU) and then they are moving home! I'm very excited. This, of course, means a hectic week between their finals, chemo for Steve on Thursday (7th), moving him home and heading to brookings to get Allison back home by Saturday so we can enjoy the Kato Cubs first ball game. I never thought I would see it, but both Steve and David will be playing together on the team along with cousin JJ. Very exciting!

Steve's roommate, Jon, has been struggling with a bad cold for a while and Steve got it. It's really hit him hard and he is dragging. He stopped over last night and he didn't look too hot. We know that it could be worse, though. If his white count had dropped as they expected, this probably would have hit him much harder. Steve is doing a great job at listening to his body and resting when he needs it and I think this is playing a big part in how well it is going for him. Renee, don't be so hard on Jon... it happens. ;) Feel better Jon and Steve!

Happy Birthday to Dan and Alex Sukalski on Wednesday!!

Come cheer on the Kato Cubs if you have some time. Sunday, May 3 at 2 pm - Franklin Rogers.

Take care and God Bless,
~Vicki

Great response!

Well... Dr C. showed us the pictures from the PET scan that was done on Tuesday. We compared it to the first one that was done and there are no spots seen! This means that the two cycles of treatment that Steve has had diminished the cancer enough that it cannot be seen by scans anymore. Those scans can only detect up to a certain depth so there could still be some there that will not show. Dr. C is very pleased with how this is responding, as are we. Steve continues to come in with good labwork and still feels quite good. We are convinced now that he will not lose any hair. He still gets tired and sleeps whenever he can squeeze it in. I'm sure the weather getting nicer will help to keep his spirits up. I know it can't be easy.

The next treatment is scheduled for May 7th which will coincide with moving him out of the dorm and moving Allison home from Brookings. It will be some busy days but I love having them home and I'm sure they will love being home! ;) ha ha

Have a wonderful weekend.
~Vicki

Check out Pinata Girl

Hi everyone,

Tomorrow is chemo #5 and we will find out how the PET scan looked. We will update later.

Be sure to check out some of my favorite video clips. They are on the left as you scroll down. I just added another one. Pinata Girl. If you haven't seen this, it's pretty funny. Be sure you have your volume up so you can hear her.

Just a little something to make you chuckle.

'Til later,
~Vicki

Enjoy the weather!

I hope everyone is getting a chance to get outside and enjoy the weather.

Steve seems to be doing very well. I hardly hear from him. I know he still checks this blog from time to time. Though he doesn't always have time to post, he does read ur messages.

Next week will bring a follow-up PET scan on Tuesday and then a chemo treatment on Thursday. He is past the midway point.

Thanks for checking in with us and look to the left for a pointless poll you can do. ;)

~Vicki

Moving along...

Hello,

We are here in the chemo suite while Steve receives #4 treatment.  Dr. C says he is coming in with excellent lab work!  He suspects it will just be that way and he will continue to handle this really well.  They will do another PET scan a couple days before his next treatment to see how things look.  The lumps that they could feel in his neck and around by his collar bone can no longer be felt.  This is all very good!  

He is coping with this so well and we are extremely proud of him.  He is so excited to get the chance to continue playing baseball and anxious to get started.  Hopefully he will keep feeling well enough to play as often as he can. 

Again, thanks for the love and prayers.

All our love,

~Vicki  

I Still Have Hair.

Hello to all. Steve Here.  I apologize for taking this long to post on here after my third treatment, but I've had so many things to do that my head is starting to spin in circles!  I finally just sat down and wrote up a "To-Do-List" the other day which was very seriously needed because I had so many things I needed to try to remember to do and most of them were things that I needed to do urgently.  Of course, I forgot to add to the list "write on blog."  Anyway, this treatment really was about the same as the other two.  The symptoms seem to slowly get increasingly more intense, where each one is a little worse than the last.  It's not a thing where my last treatment was twenty times worse than the second one, because it wasn't.  It was really just a little bit worse.  Still, it can make for a really long day sometimes, but the weather we've had lately (up until the other night when it was a fippin blizzard) has raised my spirits tenfold!  And supposedly the rest of this week is supposed to be in the 50's!  I'm looking forward to the nice weather! I can't wait.  Another thing I'm looking forward to is this weekend, the amateur baseball team I'm playing on for the summer, is having its first meeting!  This just makes me even more excited because baseball is basically my life and I'm so glad I have been given the opportunity to continue my baseball career!! Woo Hoo! 

The Twins opener is tonight at 7:10 pm and you can bet your bum that I'll be watching it!  Anyway, I'm writing this and I should realistically probably be doing my homework...  Adios everyone and take care, thanks again for all the support!!

Much love to all,

--Steve

So far so good...

Since Steve hasn't had the time to post I will tell you what I know. He seems to be doing quite well. (Unless he is not sharing everything with me.) When I talk to him he is usually in pretty good spirits and looks well. He says the nausea is an occasional annoyance throughout the day but nothing he can't handle. He has not taken the anti-nausea meds this time. He takes naps whenever he can. School seems to be going very good. No hair loss yet. I told him he should let it grow until (and if) he starts losing it. If he doesn't lose it, we joked that he should just let it grow nice and long as an "in your face" to the cancer. We shall see.

Until later...
~Vicki