February 2, 2002

Update # 26 

Good Morning, 

The car remembered the way to St. Louis with no problem!!!  Jeff and I went down to SLUH on Monday for simulation.  They marked on Jeff from mid chest to belly button.  Dr. Roy commented he was pleased with Jeff's counts and he could proceed with the second round of radiation.  Then he had a CT Scan to verify the markings and make sure they covered what they wanted.  Before Jeff had the CT Scan he had the joy of drinking a banana smoothie for contrast.  It's a good thing he didn't know he had to drink it.  He said it wasn't very pleasant.  He also had an x-ray which showed again no change in the empty tumor shell.  We returned to SLUH on Thursday afternoon for them to again double check markings.  They moved things just a little.  Friday morning was just a short visit to see if the blocks they had made coincided with the markings.  They will radiate the nodes in the upper abdomen and also radiate the spleen.  Everything is now set for the 14 doses to begin on Monday.  We will still have our 8:00 time so we can be back by 10:00. 

Jeff went to school on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday morning and arrived by 10:00 on Friday.  Report cards came yesterday and he did fairly well.  He was out and about more and received 5 A's, 2 B's, and one C.  His grade point average isn't too bad.  Second quarter attendance was 29 days and absences were 18 days.  

We hope this second round will be as easy as the first one.  Jeff had no side effects then and we pray he will tolerate this round in the same manner.  Either way, this is the last course of treatment.  Then we return to Dr. Chu for check-ups. 

As always, we thank you in advance for your continued prayers.  They have made it possible for us to make this journey.  God has given us wonderful support and we are grateful.  Talk to you next week. 

Love,

Marcia