Dancing Queen (or, the day we got great news).

Dancing Queen.  That is me right now.

Those of you that know me (and/or love me) know that "Dancing Queen" is a celebratory song in my life.  Weddings, baby showers, karaoke nights, or even just a car trip to the grocery store are all events in my life worthy of ABBA and an air microphone.

Well, grab your hairbrush and sing along, friends - I have great news that is definitely worthy of dancing.

We got some good news today!

A couple of days ago, Ryan and I outlined to each other what our best hope would be: minimal to no growth, that his pain would not be attributed to tumor growth, and (I secretly hoped) for no more chemo - for now at least.  Here are some bullet points that illustrate the news we got today:

• Minimal growth - some of which could actually be inflammation from radiation
• Great bloodwork that showed his bilirubin continues to decline, everything is stable
• His pain is likely irritation from the radiation still, five weeks later (his tumors are on the outside of his liver, so radiating that area would cause the lining of his liver to hurt and be irritated)
• The radiation treatment appears to have been effective, so we're going to do another one on another nearby section of his liver sometime the week of January 7th
• NO MORE CHEMO FOR AT LEAST ANOTHER MONTH - HALLELUJAH
• The next chemo that he will do is not going to cause him to lose his hair - yes, that is totally my issue, but I like looking at Ryan and not seeing cancer written all over him.  My issue, yes.  I own that.
• CT showed his lymph nodes are stable and show no changes.  That radiation he did this summer must have really caused those things to shut it down!  Yes!
• The itchiness he's been feeling lately is not likely caused by his cancer, according to his oncologist - due to normal bloodwork and the position of the tumors on his liver.  Ryan has always been sensitive to dry winter air, but lately the itchiness has been intense and he's been concerned.

Well!  I'd say that it's time to go out and celebrate and sing songs - praises to our God from whom ALL blessings flow, AND perhaps do a little ABBA impression as well! :)

Have a great night, everyone!

kp

Stable!

Nothing has grown, and blood work looks awesome!

More details to come.

To God be the glory!

Hello! I am typing this on my phone so I will be quick with details, but we have great news.

The results of the scans show that both tumors and one of the two lymph nodes have SHRUNK (I double-checked that participle online and it still doesn't sound correct). This is only since late August...truthfully, we were not expecting this. This is almost too much to hope for when he has been doing chemo for six months already with no change. The amount of shrinking is roughly ten to twenty percent, and that is HUGE!

So back to the same routine because it is WORKING! Keep praying, friends, God is doing big things here and around us!

EDIT: I should also mention that Ryan's liver enzymes have lowered SIGNIFICANTLY since his last appointment.  Only one of the major three that we check was elevated, and it was half of the last count...the other two were at NORMAL levels!