OUR DEAR FRIEND HAS CANCER FCS

[supertek65]

Hi bret!!!

[supertek65]

Good morning Bret! !!!

[timebuilder]

Good morning, Bret and everyone!

Frank!

You're up at 6:05 on a Sunday????

[fcs]

Just got sprung

Appt Tuesday at UNC with Oncologist, to talk abouit starting treatment back up

[timebuilder]

Just got sprung

Appt Tuesday at UNC with Oncologist, to talk abouit starting treatment back up

That's great to hear!

[timebuilder]

Good morning, Bret and everyone!

[Doug Lockhart]

Hi All......here is the official update from Karen....we'll keep you in our hearts and prayers...


Haven’t checked in for awhile, this email is long…

Week March 16

Made it to Day 10 of chemo. We are laying low since chemo started. Had our first kidscan! meeting on Monday. Andy has a sprained ankle and an air cast for a few weeks.

Bret’s brother Steve and Anita visited this week. Had a great visit. They tore out the front steps and rebuilt. Tough job, and Steve’s back was already hurting, but they do good work, it looks beautiful. The front of our house is transformed. Thank You Kudos to the Missouri Schaffners, who spent their Spring Break with us!

Thank you to Rich G for taking Bret for his CT scan, to Chris G for checking in on Bret this week, and to Carol B for coming to do grunge yard clean up and dump run after the steps construction.

Week March 23

Still laying low. Bret had oncology appt on Monday 23rd, doc wanted to see him after 10 days on chemo. Bret seems to be tolerating the treatment well. A few side effects with fevers, flaming hot spells, chills, insomnia, nausea. But no ER visits. He's been eating for the most part. Had an ophthalmology appt Wed to get an eye baseline, going for echocardiogram next week at Rex to check out his heart. Plan to see a specialist at UNC Hospital for 2nd opinion.

A friend at kidscan! shared this link from Ted Talks on angio-genesis. Ted Talks - Can We Starve Cancer
And another on resveratrol. Muscadine Grape Benefits

Week March 30

Bret still doing okay on treatment, same side effects.

Saw new melanoma doctor at UNC Hospitals, thinking of making the move there, she is a melanoma specialist. One of the advantages of their office approach is that a medical team reviews your case so you get input from entire team rather than just one physician. This is sounding pretty good. New oncologist says Bret is doing amazingly well on the meds. She also shared that Bret’s autoimmune system disease (MG) is likely one of the reasons he is still alive, having immune system in overdrive is likely also killing cancer cells.

Auntie Kathy came to visit for a week, she helped with lots of grunge chores and cleaned out the garage with Bret and painted. It looks great. Bret and Kathy, however, look a bit worn out. (If you’ve seen Bret’s garage, you know the task she took on... Brave Girl power!)

Thank you to Raymonde for staying with Bret this week, and to Marv for driving Bret to doctor appt.

Happy Easter. Hope the Easter Bunny brought you (dark) chocolate, kale, parsley, blueberries, and muscadine grapes! (I think Bret got a new melanoma oncologist in his Easter basket!!)

Week April 6

Bret started having spiking fevers on Tuesday, 103 and 104F, tend to cycle every 6 hours or so. Went to doctor (the new one!) on Thursday and they admitted him. Concerned about sepsis, or perhaps tumor infection, so put him on super antibiotics. Took him off chemo meds for a few days. Another thought is that his body is destroying/adsorbing some of the tumor as it dies, causing fevers. Plus side of hospital stay and new round of tests is: latest CT scan shows significant shrinkage in tumor!! That’s roughly 30 days in, so miraculous news for us. Bret will stay in hospital through Sun or Mon. Have to get him well enough to get back on treatment.

Thank you to Lesley F. for taking care of Bret during fever spikes and making dinner, Katy S. for hanging with Andy and making dinner, Piet W. for driving Andy to hospital, and Rich G. for taking care of Simon on these hospital days! This week has been rough.


Here’s my plug for Relay for Life: it’s less than 2 months to Sat May 16. If you haven’t signed up for our team, please go ahead and do it. If you can’t join us, please think about making a donation. Ping Bret back with an email and he’ll share his website for ACS!

[timebuilder]

Good morning, Bret and everyone!

Thanks for posting the email, Doug. You beat me to it!!

[timebuilder]

Good morning, Bret and everyone!

[fcs]

HI All busy with Tax Day

Issues with some parts of Liver function that a VERY high so on hold for treatment for now. More labs tomorrow and Appt with neurologist and question with the MG plays a part in my cancer and the treatment

[timebuilder]

Good morning, Bret and everyone!

[timebuilder]

Good morning, Bret and everyone!

[Doug Lockhart]

Mornin' all my Murican friends and MR......gorgeous weather up here this weekend.......will pound down some 'tart cherry juice' for the aches and pains and get on the bike.

How is the new doctor working out Bret? Is she 'on it' and diligent? With that 60 Minutes article they said that the particular organ function with the tumor would be adversely affected when the treatment was indeed attacking the tumor.....so that might be good eh?
Say Hi to Karen and Andy and hang in there Bret.......we're with you buddy.....

[timebuilder]

Good morning, Bret and everyone!

As always you can join us this morning on line. The page updates when the service begins at 9:00 and 10:30 EDT.

http://livestream.com/TheCaringChurch/church

[jxw9634]

love that when it showing interpret. im Deaf also

[fcs]

Mornin' all my Murican friends and MR......gorgeous weather up here this weekend.......will pound down some 'tart cherry juice' for the aches and pains and get on the bike.

How is the new doctor working out Bret? Is she 'on it' and diligent? With that 60 Minutes article they said that the particular organ function with the tumor would be adversely affected when the treatment was indeed attacking the tumor.....so that might be good eh?
Say Hi to Karen and Andy and hang in there Bret.......we're with you buddy.....

She seems really on top of it. Appt Tuesday to see is my labs a good enough That I can go back on treatment wipe out a lot lately.

[timebuilder]

love that when it showing interpret. im Deaf also

The second morning service always has one of our interpretation team. The leaders are a Dad (Jim Bracelin) his wife, and his daughter. We also have a young man who learned ASL while serving in our choir. We have 10-15 deaf believers who are regular attenders.

Jim is vice President of Silent Word Ministries.

http://silentwordministries.org/

Here is Jim on Vimeo, teaching a deaf Sunday school class:

[timebuilder]

She seems really on top of it. Appt Tuesday to see is my labs a good enough That I can go back on treatment wipe out a lot lately.

I admire your willingness to fight a great fight. That is the very spirit of victory!!

[timebuilder]

Good morning, Bret and everyone!

[fcs]

Full day of Doctors appt. Getting them all to get Information in real time to each other is a challenge thought I have to say Now with the New Oncologist things are going smoother.

Treatment I'll begin using on one of the 2 drugs and a reduced amount of the one today. then recheck in a week to see if I and begin back on both drugs.