Another Round

Well, bad news: another round of chemo; good news: it's Christmas time at the hospital - snowman, poinsettias, and holiday scrubs. Aaron went in to see the doctor on Monday and ended up having to stay for his fourth cycle of chemo. The CT scan showed that he still has a tumor that is about 4 cm long, but it is still shrinking. To make sure that there is nothing still living inside it that could reproduce more cancer cells, Aaron will be doing one more cycle consisting of the five 4-hour days and two quick treatments on the following two Mondays. In a couple of months, the doctor may choose to do surgery up at OHSU to remove anything that might be remaining. He sounded pretty confident that Aaron would have to do the surgery, but you never know, so keep praying!

CT Scan

Aaron had his CT Scan yesterday. It went fine, but unfortunately we won't know anything until Monday. He's scheduled to start his fourth cycle on Monday, but he will visit the doctor first to see the results. So it may just be a doctors visit and no chemo, which would be great. I think Aaron is ready for it either way - a little more Chemo wouldn't hurt to beat that dang cancer to the ground. And if he goes in assuming he has to go in for the chemotherapy and the doctor tells him that he doesn't need to, it will be like a really awesome early Christmas present !

Have a great Thanksgiving! And like you all know, we are very thankful for you!

Well, I've been pretty terrible at keeping everyone updated, so here's the latest...

Today, Aaron had pulmonary function tests. His lungs have been monitored because the Bleomycin (one of the chemotherapy drugs) can cause some changes to lung tissue. The tests showed that his lungs aren't putting oxygen in and removing carbon dioxide from his bloodstream as efficiently as it was before, but he's still within a good range. It's a good thing he initially tested way above normal. Aaron's last test showed him in the 118th percentile - no wonder that kid could run so fast. Now, he is in the 85th. His blood work looked good. His white blood count was a little lower, but still decent. Great news is that his alpha-fetoprotein and human chorionic gonadotropin (hcg) levels are in normal range. These numbers often increase with the amount of cancer that is present, but do not necessarily mean that there is or isn't cancer in the body.

On Monday, Aaron goes in for the last treatment of the third cycle. The doctor has scheduled him for his fourth cycle of chemo to start the first week of December, which would give him a nice week off to enjoy a big Thanksgiving dinner. However, he has a CT scan on November 25th and if everything looks good, the fourth cycle will be canceled! How exciting would that be?!?!

Poker Fundraiser

Man, what a turn-out, huh!?! You guys are amazing. I don't know how we are ever going to thank you enough. I just hope that each and every one of you know how much you are appreciated.

I also wanted to let you all know that over SIX THOUSAND dollars was raised that night! That is going to be so helpful.

Aaron told me that he mostly enjoyed the great conversations that he had with everyone. Knowing that so many people were praying for him and supporting him is very comforting. Again, we do not know how we will ever thank you all enough.

If anyone has any stories, I hope you share. I also hope that you share any pictures that you might have. If you are able to, it would be great if you could e-mail them to abuckendorf85@gmail.com.

I guess it's time to shave it...

Aaron frantically looking for a hat.

McKenna and Uncle Aaron

What's that McKenna??

Congratulations Jake!

Week 2

Aaron has just about made it through another week and seems to be doing pretty good. It was nice that he didn't have to go in every day this week to receive treatment. Even though he only had to go in one day, it wasn't until, I believe, Thursday that he was able to kick the nausea. However, even without the nausea, he has been so weak that he still hasn't been able to do much. Just the littlest activity makes his muscles start to shake from fatigue. The other day he took the dog for a short walk around the park. He learned that it wasn't an exaggeration that every ten feet would feel like another mile. It was a good thing that he drove there; otherwise, I don't know that he would have made it back. Besides the lack of energy and physical strength, he's noticed that his mouth has gotten pretty sore and he's not sleeping too well. Last night, he didn't even fall asleep until four o' clock.

On Monday, he'll go in again for another lab, visit with the doctor, and to receive the Bleomycin. Then it is no more appointments (hopefully) until the next week, which is the start of Cycle 2 - that's one cycle down!