First, some friends dropped by a couple weeks ago at the last minute to wish me and Kim well. The outpouring of support from everyone has just been nothing short of spectacular! We are blessed to be in such a wonderful community of faith, family and friends. This journey would be impossible without the love of everyone in our circle!

It's been a few weeks since our last post. The three week break from treatments gave us a much needed recharge, mentally and physically. The radiation treatments in my leg has had minimal side effects so far and I believe my knee area is feeling better. The fact that some of the cancer got obliterated can step up one's outlook also. I'm still on blood thinners and that will probably be for a number of months more. Better safe....

The results from the 9 weeks were positive. Stable with some regression in the tumor. It's at this point I should probably just stop beating around the bush. Some people know what cancer I have but I have been hesitate to write about it in this blog. It's pancreatic cancer. Yeah, not a great one to have but, again, which one is. PanCan is a stubborn one to fight. When I first looked it up on Google while sitting in the Hopkins lounge waiting for Kim to pick me up (as I was on crutches), I thought, "I'm a dead man." So, do me a favor, don't look anything up about this cancer. Most information is old and outdated. I wish I wouldn't have as it really put me in a bad place for a number of weeks.

Kim, not only being just the best wife and mother a family could have, is also my research scientist. She gets the medical jargon whereas I can barely get through the first couple paragraphs of anything she wants me to read about PanCan studies and research. Today she found an article from the cancer center at Johns Hopkins Medicine that really lifted us up. Our doctor, Dr. Daniel Laheru, was prominently featured as well as the whole team at this wonderful facility. I know it's a long read (see below) but it will give you some excellent insight as to how they are fighting the war on PanCan. It's a war you can't fight using traditional methods and they know that they can't treat the cancer but, rather, they must treat the patient.

When we met with Dr. Laheru a couple weeks ago to review the scans, it was a little bit nerve wracking. He had two other doctors in with him (shadow doctors) and our research nurse, Brad. Yeah, good things weren't running through our heads since this was our first "official" follow-up on the treatments. Long story short, he said he was happy with the results and he asked if I was. I said, "I'm happy if you are happy!" Sure, I was hoping the effer inside of me was gone but that's only in made-for-TV movies. Stable with some regression was ultimately what we were hoping for. No signs of it anywhere else (except for the leg, of course). PanCan has a tendency to move to liver and lungs. That's when things get out of control. Mine are clean. If you missed this tidbit from earlier posts, I am the only one at Hopkins that has metastatic bone cancer from PanCan. I'm a freak but a blessed one. Again, if it didn't go to my leg I wouldn't be writing this blog until sometime in the future when my other organs would be affected. My cancer was caught early even though it ravaged my left tibia. Again, freakish.

So, we continue on another 9 week course which consists of two weeks of chemotherapy followed by a week off, repeat, repeat, and then scan. We are already done the first round so only two more rounds in this cycle to go! On my off week next week I will get a procedure done to insert a port into my chest to make infusions easier. IVs have been getting the best of me this time. I don't really want the port but, because this could go on for another 24 weeks, it's become a necessity. I had to switch arms right at the start of the last infusion due to excessive burning at the IV site. Adding another 30 minutes onto an almost 6 hour regimen wasn't thrilling for either of us.

Now for some happy, family news! Emily had her WKMS orchestra adjudication this week and Kim was able to go watch. They did fantastic!! They scored a 1 and, most importantly, earned a trip to Starbucks complements of the band director. :-) She looked beautiful as she was heading out of the house that morning.

Ryan is now working as a host at J&Ps in Mount Airy. This is his first official job and he is really doing well. Frank, Kelly, and the other great folks there have just been wonderful to him. Small towns are the best!

Nathan is graduating from Linganore High School in a couple weeks. Yeah, we can't believe it either. We are so proud at all that he has accomplished and we know he will continue to excel into college.

With everything that has been going on the past four months with us, it's important to remember, no matter what you are going through, you still need to enjoy everything that life has to offer. Kim often tells me that tomorrow is no guarantee for anyone. It's taken me a while to realize that. I still dwell on our situation. It's hard, sometimes, to talk about it without tearing up and I often worry about the future. We both do. But we know that staying positive and keeping things as normal as can be is an effective treatment also. We've learned so much since January. There are more good days now than bad days. We laugh more and don't occupy our thoughts 100% about the situation. As Howard Jones sang, "Things Will Only Get Better". This happened for a reason and we are at the best facility in the country, if not the world. Which brings me back to Dr. Daniel Laheru in the article that Kim found from this month. You can download it from here: http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/kimmel_cancer_center/centers/pancreatic_cancer/PancCancerMatters010917_FINAL.pdf

Our doctor is on the left. :-) He is truly amazing!

We hope that everyone is enjoying the Spring season, albeit, a very wet one around here. Please continue the thoughts and prayers. It means so much to all of us.

Much love from our family to yours! God Bless you all!

- Kevin and Kim