Tomorrow, 1954

“I had more fun on my 70th birthday than your average 10 year old!”

The last blog we asked for prayers for a good scan on this new trial.  The scan was on the 19th and my doctor’s meeting was on the 20th.  Everything you do at a hospital begins with, “what’s your full name and birthdate?”  For every appointment on the 20th I had fun answering that question with, “Mark Daly, tomorrow 1954!”

Before the doctor comes in for the consult, other members of the team visit to cover certain issues.  We were slowly put at ease as it seemed each person who came in to discuss something seemed to be in a good mood, especially when they learned my birthday was the next day.  One visitor was Patricia, my Research Coordinator.  She takes care of all my details including scheduling and she brought up details for April and May visits.  That seemed promising.

Next, the Physician’s Assistant came in to discuss my bloodwork and the scan.  

It was a little unnerving as we had never met this PA. The last time that happened is when they removed me from Trial #1.  That unknown doctor had a great way of sharing bad news, reminiscent of the Cheers episode where Norm’s new job was to bring employees into Cheers to tell them they were being fired. He did everything good except buy me a pitcher of beer.  Thankfully, my fears were unfounded as Mayo’s PA had nothing but great news!

Just to make you break out your dictionary I’m going to share the Impressions from the report:

    1. Decreased size of mesenteric metastatic lymphadenopathy

    2. Decreased size of anterior abdominal wall implants

    3. Stable peritoneal carcinomatosis

    4. New nonspecific subcentimeter right-sided pulmonary nodule

That’s a lot of big words but they sound great don’t they?  Throughout the entire report there’s reference to Stable Disease (SD). Which is much better than Progressive Disease (PD).  Here’s some examples of shrinkage: 

A mesenteric node went from 2.6 X 1.1 cm to 0.6 X 1.6 cm.  Another went from 3.2 X 1.8 cm to 1.9 X 1.4 cm.  

Obviously, these are great results after only 8 weeks on the new medicine but something else excites me even more.  You might recall, two years ago I was having terrible gut aches.  Those were mostly caused by a liquid called ascites that is not supposed to be there.  During my surgery they drained the ascites, along with all the floating microscopic Meso cells.  Well, during the time between these two trials the ascites had started to return.  At my January scan I asked my doctor what we were going to do about that.  He said we’ll keep an eye on it and if it continues to build volume we can drain it.  Well, on this report it clearly states, No Ascites!

When Dr. Yap finally joined the party he was happy.  He told us, “we could not have expected a better result than this!”  We were thanking him and his staff profusely when he actually thanked us.  These are the kind of results trial doctors like to see for progress in the important work they are doing.  That got Diane to realize, even more, the value of participating in a clinical trial.  These doctors are producing cutting edge cancer treatments that could save people and perhaps find a cure some day.

God is so good!  Sometimes when I share these kind of results people respond with, “you are amazing,” or  some other comment inferring that I have something to do with this success.  It’s not me, it’s God’s love.  

                        But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, he saved                                  us—not by righteousness that we had done, but according to His mercy—through the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit.

Titus 3:4

                                                                    

    

Most of you know my Mom, Willie.  She is amazing and going strong at 93.  If you know her well you know that her birthday is in February and she prefers to celebrate all month long!  I never really appreciated that concept until this birthday.  It’s been one heck of a birthday month for me.

Willie Mae and her little brother Bobby!

My birthday month started in late February with an Alhambra High School “70th Birthday Party”. We had 60 or 70 people show up at a nice Mexican food restaurant to celebrate our year of turning 70. 

Then at the beginning of March we went up to Alaska for a few days to do our taxes, our PFD, a Euchre tournament with dear friends, and I played in the Fur Rendezvous Alaska Poker Championship. 

A sad event happened in March as well.  You’ve read my accounts of our Old Guy Group that still gets together every month or so.  This is the group of 17-18 guys from Sevilla Elementary, Alvilla Little League and Alhambra High.  We had a difficult  meeting this month as one of our own passed away suddenly.  

Tom was a great guy and frankly seemed to be more healthy than any of us!
He will be missed.

The next best gift in March was a trip to visit Rachel and her husband Joel.  We flew directly from the good news in Houston to Denver for a few days.  It was a fantastic weekend with these two.

We took a train ride through the Royal Gorge alongside the Arkansas River.

We had my birthday dinner at a new restaurant in Canon City, CO.  The 1887 Historical Eatery is the first phase of this hotel undergoing an amazing restoration.

We even got these two on a pickleball court and then game night with friends Ross and Jessica.

On the way back to Denver we spent a few hours at their favorite springs, Desert Reef Hot Springs.

It was an enjoyable birthday indeed.

One more fun March event was a Milk Can Dinner at Jerry and Sheila’s house.  From time to time they get us Alaskans who snowbird to Phoenix together for dinner,  pickleball and game night.

Here’s a fun Old Guy gift we bought for me…Cataract surgery!  My eyes took a turn late last year and my eye guy said it was time for the surgery.  Both eyes have had the surgery and everything is healing nicely.  The next step is adjustments.  Yes, adjustments.  If you’re not familiar, the latest thing in cataract treatment is the insertion of “adjustable” replacement lens.  

The process is called Light Adjustable Lenses (LAL).  The doctor has a machine that uses light to make a 90 second adjustment on the lenses.  He can do up to 5 adjustments until the eyes operate together to allow both distance and reading, with the goal of never needing glasses again.  I’m really looking forward to no longer dealing with glasses.  

It’s Not Always As Easy As I Make It Sound!

So, as is my habit, this blog contains a lot of good news.  I credit all you readers, both friends and strangers who are kind enough to pray for Diane and I as we navigate this journey.  This trial has become an element of my testimony, relying on God’s will to teach us patience and love.  

With that in mind, I will reveal that I started writing this blog from my hospital bed at Mayo Clinic in Phoenix.  On Monday I realized that my digestion system was clogged.  With an ileostomy it’s easy to tell…I had nothing in my bag.  I’ve had partial food blockage before so I was pretty sure I could clear it on my own as we have in the past.  At first, nothing worked, laying on my back with my knees up to my chest, a warm shower, walking, massaging around the output…nothing.  I tried to play a few games of pickleball but realized I needed to get back home.  This was a full blockage, not a partial blockage. 

After several hours of trying with no results we decided it was time to go to the Emergency Room.  Online it says if there is no output in 8 hours to seek assistance.  

To make a long story short, Mayo Clinic treated me quite well and kept me comfortable for three nights.  The plan was to relax the bowel with nothing to eat or drink…nothing!  I was on IV hydration and encouraged to walk often.  For most of the time my abdomen was distressed and caused waves of pain as the contents moved around, trying to get out.  The fourth day would have likely required surgical intervention had the blockage not broke free in the early hours of the fourth morning.  We were so relieved!

Now the current issue is the Mayo Internal Medicine group believes it was not a food blockage but a blockage caused by the cancer tumors pushing against the small intestine causing a narrowing of the passage.  Based on the good news at the beginning of this blog, I’m having problems reconciling their diagnosis.  If the tumors are shrinking wouldn’t that mean less stress on the intestine?  But alas, I am no doctor.  

Of course I’ve been in touch with MDAnderson and they are waiting for my return.  FDA protocol requires that trial participants who have a hospital visit for any reason must discontinue the trial drug until the trial doctors can meet and assess my situation.  That will take place on Tuesday this week.

Our prayer request is that the MDA team knows all about this sort of issue and will develop a plan for me to get back on the track to killing this cancer.  Mayo responded to my emergency with all the proper protocols but they’ve only known me for two days, MDAnderson knows me quite well and understands my situation better than anyone.  

Birthday Month Wrap-up

We finished the birthday month with the Arizona Diamondbacks second game of the 2024 season.  After following them all the way to last year’s World Series it was fun to see them kickoff the season with a few wins.

They even had fireworks for my birthday!

Happy Easter To All Of You

Tomorrow is Easter Sunday and Diane and I wish the best for all of our family, friends and readers.

God has blessed us greatly and I’d like to share a prayer that hits home for us and may give you hope for the future:

                God, you know our story.  You wrote its beginning, middle, and end.  Remind us of the sacrifice Your Son made so that we might remember Your faithfulness, even when we don’t have all the answers.  In Jesus’ name, Amen