Friday, March 30, 2007
T.G.I.F.
Chris is up and about. She continues to take her pain meds and the other 4 but has been tolerating everything pretty well. She is eating at the table and not having to sit in bed all day. She does rest a lot which is really good for her.
The boys are outside cleaning up old mulch. They want to go to the MS dance tonight so I put them to work first. It's the last dance of the year so it should be pretty well attended. Those DeWitt boys cruising for chicks like their old man!!!
Tomorrow they each have a lacrosse game at home in Frederick. So I will be at those all afternoon. Chris will continue to enjoy some more rest and relaxation. She did get up yesterday and today and was able to take some calls for work and did get a chance to go through all of her emails. She really is dedicated but I think it is more therapeutic for her to keep up with her work.
Well have a great weekend everyone and I'll post more later!
P.S. Alex's team won Wednesday night and are now 9-0!!!!! They are ranked in both the D3 coaches poll as well as the usual lacrosse polls too. Way to go Allie!
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Thursday update...
Chris is doing better. Not great. But much better. The nausea is finally under control with the medication that she has been taken. This medicine is more powerful than the stuff she was taking during her regular chemo treatments. The pain where her gall bladder is has been kept in check by taking her pain meds regularly. She sometimes tends to toughen it out and I finally convinced her to start taking the maximum dosage for a few days so the that pain goes away and is not just tolerable. It's really helped.
She got up this morning and took a shower and came downstairs to have breakfast. She was up for a couple of hours and even sat down and got through some of her emails from work. COMSTAR provides her with a computer and connection to their system for just this reason. The cleaning company came by today to clean the house and once again did a wonderful job. That has just been a godsend for us and especially today.
Chris is resting a lot which is great. I think she gets better faster at home. It is much quieter than the hospital and very relaxing. Especially during the day.
The boys are well and playing lacrosse. Practice is 2 days a week for Michael and 2 for Tyler. Of course they are on opposite days!!! We carpool which makes it tolerable.
Yesterday, Chris's mom left a dish for us that all I had to do was pop in the over. Great timing. They've been wonderful in everything they've done for us. They make sure the boys get to where they need to be and just having them here for them takes any and all worries away.
On a lighter note, someone has started a vicious rumor about me and our dog Chloe. Seems that people think that I let Chloe sleep in our bed on Monday night when Chris was in the hospital. That could not be further from the truth. Truth is that Ramsey let the dog stay in the bed, not me. I was out like a light as soon as my head hit the pillow and the cat was left in charge. Stupid cat!
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Resting at home
Around 4 they came in with the discharge papers and Chris got ill again! Very weird because she had just told her mother on the phone that she felt much better! More drugs, and another hour later she finally felt good enough to come home.
She slept most of the way home. When we got home there was a large arrangement of flowers on the kitchen island from COMSTAR. They were beautiful and really made her glad to be home. and dad were here again as well. She went upstairs and I went out to get her prescriptions filled. She is still asleep now as I write this. I am exhausted and going to bed soon. We're home and that's what matters most right now!!!
Good night!
Coming home...
The Dr. did say that she could come home early this afternoon!!! That's great news. Thanks to all of you for the emails and calls yesterday! It made the long day better.
Monday, March 26, 2007
Chris's chemoembolization...
No word yet on tomorrow. Hopefully she'll come home but we'll see then.
Sunday, March 25, 2007
AVON Walk Support!!!!
Charlie DeWitt9512 Bridgewater Ct EastFrederick, MD 21701
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Boys start lacrosse
Well even with the rain Tyler and Michael both played lacrosse on Saturday. Michael's game was first and he did very well. He got hammered within the first 2 minutes of the game by some large boy from the other team. He got right up and within 2 minutes scored the teams first goal. Everything went well and they won the rain soaked game.
After that game we drove to PA for Tyler to play in his first game of outdoor ever. He did great for not playing before. They ended up wining 4-2 against a good squad. A friend of ours was out of town and asked if we could take their son to the game as well as they are on the same team. We had a nice afternoon even with the rain. We went out to dinner afterwards and got home around 8:30!
I went upstairs and fell asleep around 9:30 . Big mistake. I woke up around 1am and could not fall back to sleep. Went in the basement and watched TV and typed up my Avon Walk email. I finally fell asleep around 5AM and got up early to take Michael to Sunday School. Chris was up early so she and I went out for coffee too.
Sunday night Ray and Cheryl asked us over for dinner. It has been awhile since we've seen them so we immediately said yes.
Well we're now ready for Tomorrow! Chris's procedure at Hopkin's starts at 7AM. So it's off to bed early. I'll post tomorrow if I can to fill you in on the results....
G'night.
Friday, March 23, 2007
Dinner on Friday
Ty's Tech Fair
Last night Tyler attended the Frederick County Tech Expo. His task was selected to compete against other schools in Hovercraft competition. One of many competitions for the night. He had to design and build a hovercraft out of Styrofoam, wires, motors and hot glue. He had 1 hour to do it. He competed against 10 other entrants. They had a course set up where they put power to them and measured how far they went in 30 seconds. Tyler came in 5'th place. Very good considering he was doing it by himself. Other teams had 2 members.
Chris came home early today from work. John's Hopkin's called with information about Monday's procedure. It seems that NOW she has to be there at 7AM. They want to do an MRI before the procedure to use as a starting point. They'll do subsequent MRI's afterwards to see the progress of her treatment. She's a little worried about the MRI as she is a little claustrophobic. They can give her something to knock her out I'm sure.
Lacrosse for the boys tomorrow. No snow in the forecast. Just rain!
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Lycoming in the top 20!
http://www.insidelacrosse.com/page.cfm?pagerid=2&news=fdetail&storyid=154569
Chris went to the lab today to get bloodwork done in preparation for her procedure on Monday. Many of you have wished us well. Thank you very much. I know that everyone is thinking of us.
As I right this I am listening to a press conference about John Edwards and his Wife. His wife was diagnosed with breast cancer just 2 months after Chris was diagnosed. Today they announced that it had spread to her bones. It was a very informative press conference and their situation is very, very similar to ours. It made me sit and think about how lucky we are to have friends like you!
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Lycoming wins agan...
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Dinner on Monday
Chris continues to go to work and do her job as well as she ever has. Some days she gets pretty tired though so the boys and I make sure that we keep things in order around the house as best we can.
Thanks Theresa!
Sunday, March 18, 2007
NEW Email Address
Our @adelphia.net addresses will be forwarded to the new accounts but only for a short while. My new email is
charliedewitt@comcast.net
Tyler and Mike's are tcdewitt@comcast.net and mmdewitt@comcast.net
Today was a nice day outside. Sunny but brisk. The snow is still here but melting making it really messy in the yard. We went to brunch this afternoon with the entire family and met up with Chris's family to celebrate her mother's birthday! Everyone in the family was there except Alex. She is at school right now. It was nice.
Friday, March 16, 2007
Snow!
Thursday night Chris's friend June who retired from COMSTAR awhile back came by and brought the boys and us dinner. Homemade chicken enchiladas! MMMMMMMMMMM.... they were great. And brownies WITH WALNUTS!!! My favorite. Good bye diet...
I fell asleep on the couch around 12. Brownie induced coma I think. Anyway, I woke up around 2 and went upstairs. Look out the bedroom window and saw 2 guys walking in the back yard!!! We just had a neighbor next door have their shed broken into and a week whacker stolen. I called 911 immediately. They came, look around, and the guys were gone. I'm not too concerned. Our neighbors have some guys living with them that on occasion are outside late. Never a big deal, but a call to 911 doesn't hurt! We're safe inside, our shed doesn't have much in it, and it's just stuff. Something I've realized over the last few years. Stuff does not matter. Stuff can be replaced.
Thanks to everyone for the emails the last couple of days. We appreciate all of you keeping in touch!!!
If you're out there and have the time could you please include a friend of mine in your prayers and prayer groups. His name is Jeff and he has a cancerous brain tumor and has been battling it for a couple years now. He's not doing to well right now and just came out of the ICU at the hospital. Thanks, I know you all understand.
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Lyco BEATS #13 Messiah
This picture is of Alex playing pressure defense. Ooooh looks like the girl she was covering tripped or something! Good job Alex! The next picture is of the same girl getting a free position shot.
Alex has moved into a starting position on the defense. She started and played about 3/4 of the entire game yesterday.
Messiah was ranked 13th in the country for DIII Women's lacrosse! They won't be next week. Lyco is now 5-0 and has a great chance to be ranked in the top 20 teams in the country!
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Latest E-mail about Chris
She has really been an inspiration to me and everyone around her. I cannot begin to tell you how proud I am to have her as my wife. She continues to be the Mom and Wife that holds our family together. Having Alex go to college was a huge change in our lives and I'm still trying to adjust to that, but Chris has made that transition a lot easier.
As you know Chris wants to become part of her oncologist's clinical study. It was recently highlighted on the local Washington,DC channel. Here's a link http://news.wjla.com/news/stories/0107/390502.html
Now that Chris is off chemo and because her cancer is ER/PR positive (hormone positive) she is being placed on Tamoxifin. This drug prevents the naturally occurring hormones that are in her body from helping the cancer to grow. Here's a link for a better description http://www.breastcancer.org/tre_sys_tamox_idx.html
Dr. Emens explained to us how her clinical trial works and that Chris is currently eligible, but before moving forward she wanted us to see a doctor that specializes in administering chemotherapy directly to the liver and not throughout the body. The doctor's name is Dr. Georgiades and the procedure is called liver chemoembolization. It sounds really complicated but we think that it is good option for her right now. We had a meeting with Dr. Georgiades on Wednesday 3/14. Here is information on the doctor and at bottom of his page you can go to a link on the procedure.
The idea here is that they can direct undiluted doses of chemo directly into the liver and prevent it from going to other parts of the body. This attacks the tumors much better and faster than normal IV chemo. We set up an appointment for March 26 to have the procedure done. It will first be done in the right liver lobe as that is where the most lesions are. She'll be in the hospital for 2 days and then about a week recovery. After 3 weeks she goes in for scans to see the results. If they are good then she will have another procedure to do the left lobe sometime after that, otherwise they can redo the right lobe if need be. The Dr. seemed very confident that based on Chris's current reaction to chemo that this procedure will certainly be beneficial to her.
I have created a new website to replace the old one. It is now located at http://chris-dewitt-updates.blogspot.com/ It is much easier for me to maintain this website. You can also leave your comments on each of the posts as well. It's a real BLOG! Please check out the links and the Pictures Page as I post pictures there quite a bit.
Well, I'm sorry for the long message but I know you want to be kept up to date. I'll post to the blog more frequently as we move ahead. Thank you to all of you for looking after our family and keeping us in your prayers. Don't hesitate to drop us a line at any time. I'm usually awake!!!
Charlie
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Alex gets the nod...
The weather is starting to finally break and we are able to go outside and walk around. Being stuck inside the last couple of months has really been a bummer. I don't think I would make it in Alaska that's for sure. I think they have the highest number of suicides per capita too.
I'm sending an email out sometime soon about what is happening with Chris so keep you eyes open. Dr. tomorrow....
Monday, March 12, 2007
Lyco vs. U. of Rochester
Sunday we decided to drive up to see Alex play lacrosse again. We are really glad we did. Her team played the University of Rochester and won! Alex went in the game about half way into the first half and then played the entire 2nd half! Pictures are here.
It was a long drive up and back but we were really glad to see her play and do so well. Her team has a really tough game this week against a very tough squad.
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Dinner at LaPaz
It really makes a difference when we get a chance to visit with friends. Chris had a great time talking with the girls and I was having a great time drinking with the guys!
Friday, March 9, 2007
Got a call from Dr. Emens around 7:30 this morning. CT Scan showed smaller tumors, but more of them. ?? Both good and bad, so somewhat neutral. Yeah I know we felt the same way....She said that since the blood work showed good progress that sometimes when a large tumors shrinks it may break into multiple pieces and that may be what they are seeing. They are going to analyze the scans to confirm. Chris is going to contact the specialist today and set up a consult for next week
Thursday, March 8, 2007
After going round and round we finally decided to go up to Lycomig to watch Alex's 1'st home lacrosse game. It was exciting to see her playing. They played
They are now 3-0 and have another game at home on Sunday vs. the
Dr. Emens called this morning and Chris was at work. She called there but didn't leave a message. We did not end up speaking with her today... Another Dr. , the liver specialist, called and left a message for a consult. So that may be the direction.
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
Tests and Dr. Appt
Another looooooooooooooooooooong day. First of all no school today. Snow flurries coming down! Left at 7:30 home at 4pm. Chris had a bone scan, ct scan and bloodwork done today. After all that we met with her oncologist. The procedures took all morning and up to 1:30. We were all over the hospital as the bloodwork is done at a different location from the nuclear medicine stuff. We finall saw the Dr. and unfortunately we did not get the ct scan results.
Blood work results were good. Showed normal liver functions and her ca 27/29 markers were lower. The bone scan showed a small area that had show up on other tests so really nothing new there.
We talked with the Dr. and she explained everything about the clinical trial and believe me there is a lot to know. Here is a MUST see link that is from a
She also wanted to consult with a specialist Dr. that does a procedure where chemo is sent directly to the liver mets. We'll know more on the scans when the report comes in.
Dinner was provided by our neighbors The Libonate's. It came at a perfect day and time. Thank you so much guys.
Tuesday, March 6, 2007
Chris and I went to parent/teacher conferences tonight for both of the boys. All is going very well for them in middle school. After that we went out to dinner in downtown
Tomorrow is a long day for Chris. We have to be at
Sunday, March 4, 2007
Alex goes back to school...
Took Alex up to meet her friend Meg who will be taking her back to school. We're disappointed that we did not get to see very much of her during her break but she is doing wonderful at school in bother her academics and her lacrosse team. She certainly adjusted well! She has 2 games this week, Thursday vs.
This wednesday Chris goes to
Saturday, March 3, 2007
Chris and I woke up early today so we snuck out of the house and went to Beans and Bagels for breakfast! The owner there is a great guy and really enjoys seeing her when she comes out. We went to the airport to pick up Alex today around 8pm. She's home for just a few hours as tomorrow she goes back to school.
Thursday, March 1, 2007
Ski Club
Well today was the next to last ski club.