Back to Mayo's on Monday

We're engaged in a full-court press now, with appointments at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester Monday and Tuesday. We'll be meeting with the Neurology and Neurosurgery groups over the course of the two days.

In the meantime, we found out that MD Anderson will do a "Is he a surgical candidate or not?" evaluation free of charge and without requiring a trip to Houston within a few days of receiving the scans and records. Those are being ordered/gathered/sent as I type, and we should get an answer from them next week. We want to make sure that all options are evaluated.

The new chemo mix of Avastin/CPT-11 is being readied upon the return from Mayo's. Unsure yet on when Dad may start on that, as if surgery is an option, that will likely be the route taken first to try and get rid of as much of the tumor as possible.

Our first road trip in the new Pilot on Sunday. I'm flying back on Saturday and will have the pleasure of driving the new car with Mom and Dad North to Minnesota. Tracy is going to hang back with Rich and the kids and try to wait for us before Baby Sister arrives in the next few weeks.

Thanks for all of the calls, notes, and prayers. We couldn't do this without all of your support.

I will be updating the blog as regularly and as close to real-time as possible. Cell phone minutes are at a premium right now, and are $.45/minute if we go over, so the blog will be a great place to get information.

You know Dad loves to deal on a car. . .

This is the new car we'll be taking to Mayo's next weekend. 2009 Honda Pilot. O'Daniel Honda probably didn't realize what hit them when he walked in the door. They go in and sign paperwork tomorrow.

Dad loves a good deal. And they got one.

Not the news we were hoping for. .

Well, the MRI scan results are in. We were all mislead a bit by how well Dad was looking and feeling with the latest results. The scan shows that we're dealing with a very aggressive tumor that has grown approximately 3x in the past couple of months. They now think that it's a glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) tumor, which is a downgrade from what we thought we were dealing with.

Chemo and radiation treatments doesn't appear to be as effective as we'd like, so we are looking into next steps and the next line of treatment. Our first step is to go up to the Mayo Clinic on May 4th (first available appointment) and talk to the neuro team there, including being evaluated for neurosurgery for a partial tumor resection. Dad wasn't a candidate for surgery before due to the location of the original tumor, but they want to do a second evaluation with the neurosurgeon to determine if it's now an option. They're also discussing new chemo drugs.

Dad remains upbeat and positive despite the latest news, and please know that we all appreciate the thoughts and prayers that are coming in by phone, email, and even Facebook! We take great comfort in knowing that we have the best medical teams working on the next phase, and we all will continue to do whatever we can to deliver on Dad's request for 20 more years.

In the meantime, he continues his strength training program, talking to a large number of you on the phone, and spending time with the family. He has a granddaughter coming into this world in a few weeks, so we have yet another positive event to bolster everyone's spirits.

The month ahead

I've fallen off the blogging wagon a bit - Apologies to you all that check often.

The past month has been a busy one. Mom and Dad enjoyed a trip out to Oregon for a week. Flying proved to be tolerable with the Bose noise-cancellation headphones, so we'd like to schedule another trip soon! Time spent in Portland and Depoe Bay (where the whales were safely out of sight in the driving wind and rain) was great. Even a trip to the Columbia Sportswear employee store where new fleece and gear was had by all.

Dad started having what we think were seizures the week they returned, but some new medication has him doing well again. He's started a strength and fitness training twice a week at Immanuel Hospital, and hopefully that will do some good for his energy levels. There's the quarterly MRI on Tuesday, with results on Wednesday. We're anxious to see what the scan tells us.

We're also three weeks away from the newest addition to the family. "Baby Sister" Huff will join us in early May. Of course we're convinced that she will immediately fall in love with Grandpa. I predict many short naps in the chair for the both of them.