Cruising Along - by Ane

Yesterday Mark saw Dr. Urba (I was in UT so didn't go with him).  He is SO pleased with the way Mark has responded to the drugs.  In a month or so Mark will have a PET scan and Echo to see the status of tumors throughout his body and how is heart is responding to the medications.  If the tumors are gone he will likely get off the meds again.  Mark still has almost no negative side effects with these drugs, but if his body figures out a way around them they will no longer work, therefore it's best to get off them before that happens so they can be used again, if needed.

A few weeks ago Mark gave the opening remarks at the Lake Oswego "Relay of Life".  He did a great job!

Tonight Mark joins me in UT and tomorrow we'll drive up to Rexburg, ID to the graduation exercises for Rachel & Tighe who are both graduating from BYU-Idaho.  Rachel received the Gordon B. Hinckley Award of Excellence in the Communications Department. Tighe will be speaking at convocation  for both the Communications and Business Departments.

On Saturday Eric & Jessie, Rachel & Tighe, and Mark & I will fly to Tampa, FL where we'll board our ship for a Caribbean Cruise - visiting Cozumel, Belize, Roatan and Grand Cayman.  We're cruising for a celebration!

A Very Happy 36th!!! - by Ane

This week-end we are celebrating our 36th wedding anniversary in Cannon Beach.  Yesterday morning Mark surprised me with a note “…please join me for a weekend getaway to our favorite spot on the beach - just you and me and the sea gulls – beginning as soon as we want to go through Monday.”  We picked up the pieces from our fabulous family gathering on the 4th, packed and headed out, stopping at Sushi Hana for lunch. By 2:30 p.m. we had checked into our room at Webb’s Scenic Surf with a view of the sandy beach, the stream that flows to the ocean, the waves as they push their way toward us, and sea gulls darting back and forth.  Oh, how good it is to be here again, but most of all how grateful we are to have had another year together with hope for many more to come!

Thursday Mark had an ultrasound to see if the tumor in his left adrenal gland is still evident.  He has been on the new meds for over three months. Today we got the lab results from Dr. Urba:

Mark - Here is your ultrasound result. Looks good because it was plenty big enough to be seen by ultrasound if it was the same size.
Walt

7/4/2014 EXAMINATION: US ABDOMEN LIMITED COMPARISON: PET/CT March 28, 2014 and CT abdomen and pelvis March 26, 2014. HISTORY: Malignant melanoma. Evaluate left adrenal mass after cancer therapy. PROCEDURE: Targeted ultrasound is done of the left upper quadrant to evaluate for the adrenal gland mass. FINDINGS: No obvious mass is present in the left upper quadrant. The adrenal gland or mass are not seen. IMPRESSION: Neither the adrenal gland or mass are identified on ultrasound in the left upper quadrant. Suggestive that the mass is smaller, but either repeat CT or PET/CT scan would much better evaluate.

So, either it’s gone or small enough that it’s not evident by ultrasound.  Fabulous! That makes our celebration complete!!

I got whomped on! - by Mark

Two nights ago I was up much of the night with fever and chills.  I was shivering for over an hour no matter how many blankets Ane put on me. I ached all over and couldn't get comfortable.  Fevers and chills are the most common side effect of the new meds we are on, but we have not had any since we started them over two months ago.  I had just been telling some friends how amazing these drugs are as I have had no noticeable side effects.  Now we were both wondering how long we would have to endure this.

Ane looked on the internet at other's experiences with these drugs and found this not unusual.  She also noted that some had gotten off the meds for a few days and then back on with much improvement.  So I didn't take them the next morning and emailed Dr. Urba.  Even though he was at a conference he got right back with us and said it was fine to get off the meds for a few days but it might not be a side effect. It might be an infection of some sort and we might want to see our regular physician.

Our family doctor got us in that day and after several tests, wasn't sure what it was but wanted to try some antibiotic, to see if it would help or not.

Today was a whole new world.  All the pain, fever and chills went away.  Wow, what we take for granted can so quickly change.  So I am staying on the antibiotic for 10 days and starting up the meds again Monday morning.

We still don't know what it was/is but for now things are much better.

Thank you again for your warm support, good thoughts, faith and prayers.

He Feels Great! -by Ane

It's been almost two months since Mark started the new meds - Tafinlar and Mekinist.  One is a new version of the BRAF inhibitor that he took before and the other is a MEK inhibitor.  The combination is working amazingly well!  We know the tumor in his adrenal gland shrunk right away since it stopped hurting within days of starting the medications.  In another month or so Mark will have some type of scan to see the status of the tumors.

The side effects have been minimal - so much better than with Zelboraf.  There is hardly any sun sensitivity or skin growths that were such an issue before.  He has experienced some joint pain, but not much.  That didn't happen with the Zelboraf for several months, so some of the side effects don't show up right away.  It seems that his hair is thinning, but not too much yet.  He started losing weight and lost about seven pounds, but that has stabilized now.

All in all Mark feels GREAT and nothing slows him down!