My seventh and eighth infusions were wonderfully unremarkable! The only drama was no results from my early morning blood draw showing up in my medical record. Those results are required before the infusion could begin. I called Trish, my oncology case manager. She put me on hold and called around, discovered that the blood chemistry machine that serves all the labs at Kaiser Interstate was non-functional. She also discovered that someone had driven my blood (and doubtless others) to the big central lab. Happily, the results came up as Kathy, the nurse of the day, was finishing the pre-infusion questions. So the eighth infusion proceeded in a wholly unremarkable way 😊

The MRI of my brain confirmed that the radio surgery had killed the melanoma cells in my brain. One of the two remaining pockets of dead cells is completely gone and the other much smaller. I like the idea my brain healing!

The final event of the day was CT scan of my torso, looking particularly at the melanoma nodules in my lungs. The conclusion is that the nivolumab (trade name “Opdivo”) has stopped the cancer. There are no new nodules which means the normal metastasis of the very aggressive melanoma is not happening. Neither are the nodules growing. Of course, I would like them to be smaller, something the two med treatment accomplished but with terrifically impacting side effects (see January-March posts).

The next steps will be to slow the infusion cycle from every two weeks to every four weeks with scans every three months. If all goes well, Dr. Mashru will pause the treatments after the April scans to see what is happening.

I deeply appreciate the prayers and encouragement of so many. I continue feeling fine with no effects from the cancer or side effects from the nivolumab. Now if I can just get my grades done . . .

Sherry, Cyndee and I spent a week at Clydehurst Christian Ranch in the mountains of South Central Montana. It is the place where Robert Redford filmed “A River Runs Through It.” I found my curiosity, which is always huge, kicked into an even higher gear with all the beauty and all the stories of people. As I was doing a pre-marital with Erik and Cynthia tonight, my eyes went once again to a cross stitched picture which a friend who sees my soul made for me many years ago.

The bi-weekly infusions continue to be uneventful, I am glad to say. The blood panels I do before each infusion show the liver distress numbers (AST and ALT). The graph shows before, during and after the two med infusions back in December/January that caused all the huge spike and the other nasty side effects. The numbers continue to run in normal range, actually declining a bit, during the one med infusions

Ann and Jack, my sister and brother in law, came for a short visit. We went to the coast to hang with Cyndee and then to the Columbia Gorge and on to The Dalles to see David, Samantha, Nicole and Joy. There are more pictures on my Facebook page.

The infusions are getting to be totally routine. Blood panel numbers are nominal, infusion nurses are friendly and wonderfully professional, the actual infusion takes 30 minutes and I walk out feeling fine in about an hour. The only change is what work I do while the infusion is going. Liz Ditty is one of my Leadership Cohort students who did a study on Elijah last term which is now contracted as an Intervarsity Book entitled “Prayers God Answers.” I get to go through it, appreciate the insights and make some suggestions for the final edits.

I have infusions scheduled every two weeks through the middle of September with an MRI and a CT scan scheduled for August 1. The scans will confirm no active melanoma in my brain and hopefully much reduced nodules in my lungs. I wouldn’t be too upset if they were absent all together. I don’t think I’d miss them since they have not made their presence known to me other than through the scans.

The other new event in my life is catching my first river salmon. Vinnie Sylvia loves to share fishing in his 14 foot boat. We have gone on the Columbia twice. This time we went on the Willamette near the St. John’s Bridge. After a wonderful morning on the river – fishless to be sure – Vinnie announced we’d head back in a half hour. Three minutes later my rod went crazy. It took a while to land the 14.5 pound salmon. It was VERY tasty.

Sherry was in the room where it was happening for infusion #3 of the second round this afternoon. I am glad to say there is no drama or side effects. My liver numbers are well within the normal range as are all the other blood numbers. All that is good – though I will admit that I have a bit of nervousness since the side effects hit after the third treatment back in January. But doing only one med, no elevated blood numbers and feeling normal gives me lots of hope. I will have another blood panel on May 31, CT/MRI scans in late July, and have infusions scheduled through mid August

We went to see Dr. Burt to see the inside of my bladder in live color. He looked all around and only saw healthy tissue. The deeper urinalysis showed no cancer cells which is exactly what we’d hoped.

I will head for Costa Mesa on Monday for my four all day classes Tuesday through Friday. Then Sherry, David and I will fly to Kansas City for Elizabeth’s baptism on Sunday. Susan’s parents will also be there, so all four grandparents will join the celebration. We are beyond excited!

We got to celebrate with David and Samantha for the 50th anniversary for her parents. It was casual with lots of fun, followed by supper for the four of us along with Nicole and her close friend Colton. Joy was not able to join since she was visiting her close friend, Nathaniel’s parents for the first time.

Infusion #2 is history – no side effects so far, I am glad to say. The whole process took less than an hour, half of which was preparing leading up to the actual infusing. So I didn’t have a lot of time to read my book on Eastern Orthodox theology. I had a 2:00 appointment but the center called me yesterday and asked if I could move to 4:00 since they were really busy at 2. I was glad to accommodate and did my recliner time in an almost empty infusion center. But the view of the west hills and the flowered tree in the foreground was great!

The week before was assessment week. The MRI showed that the melanoma nodules in my brain are taken care of and there are no new ones. The best news! The CT scan on Friday showed that the melanoma nodules in my lungs, which the first three infusion had reduced by about a third, have not progressed. Again, the best possible result. It also showed two “incidental pulmonary edema” so I am injecting a blood thinner in my abodmen for a total of seven days. I gave David allergy shots back when he was a little guy, so I have some experience. But it’s different pushing needle into my own skin.

Liz and Tom, Sherry’s sister and brother in law, spent the weekend with us. We went to the Columbia Gorge and had dinner at Multnomah Falls Lodge on a beautiful day before we went to see the big fish at Bonneville. When I told Liz we were going to the Oregon coast, she immediately ordered oysters. So I did a search and found the Oyster Bar at JAndy Oyster Company at Tillamook. Liz was ecstatic!