Cancer's Ass has Been Kicked... AGAIN!!!

Whoooo Hoooo! Everybody get ready for the party of all parties because Tommy Boy has done it again! He has kicked this cancer's ass and we couldn't be happier or more proud! Monday's PET scan shows no signs of cancer meaning our dad is in remission... a word we never thought we would hear in January. We feel so blessed and so grateful that we are able to bring this great news to you all.

The past nine months have been a wild ride on this roller coaster called cancer treatment-- but we managed to hang on tight and get through it together. Thank you all so much for your love, prayers, support and a BIG thanks to all of you who were on our Warrior Healing team that did the 7 & 7 with us everyday. I truly believe that played a major role in getting us where we are today in combination with an amazing patient, a top notch team of doctors, and finding the right medicines all put us on the other side of this thing. I think I will still be doing my 7 & 7 -- maybe just visualizing someone guarding my dad's body making sure no more bastard cancer cells come near it again! :)

Keep your eye out for info on the blog for the party details... it will be in September and you have to be here!

Thank you all again... we could not have done this with out you!
~Whitney

Chemo: Round 6 of 6!

Today was Tommy Boy's 6th and last chemo infusion! Whooo hoooo! He will continue with the chemo pill that goes along with it for the next 3 weeks... and then we will do another PET scan to check again where we are at and then determine where to go from there. We will meet with Dr. Ko at UCSF on June 16th to cover the PET results and have him weigh in on where we go. (Either just wait for 3 months (with no meds) and scan again to make sure non of the cancer has come back, or continue with the chemo pill every other week kind of indefinitely.) So we will see what happens next. But this is an exciting milestone to reach! And I know my dad is glad to finally be on the other side of all of this.

I went down and brought lunch to eat with my dad today in the chemo lounge... that was a first for me. I am glad I got to go check it out and see what he has been doing regularly since October! He got the corner seat he likes, so that was good... and we enjoyed a little Panda Express together :) It was kinda fun. I was glad it wasn't too crowded... there were only 2 or three other patients in there so I didn't feel like I was in the way.

Let's see... what else? My dad has been keeping busy despite the fatigue that comes along with the chemo pill. He got another chunk of melanoma (maybe pre-melanoma?) excised off his back... so his body was working hard to heal him after that mini little surgery. And then he jacked his back up rafting right before that, so his poor back was giving him a heck of a time... PLUS his white blood cell count was super low, so he was having to go in and get shots for a few days to get those numbers back up. So all of those things combined definitely made for one tired Tommy Boy-- but you wouldn't know it from him. He is still go-go-go and does everything he can to get things done he wants to get done. He does not do well with sitting around and "resting"-- but he did for a couple of days, so that was good. Sounds like he is on the mend in all of those aspects-- so hopefully this will be a good few weeks for him. Keep your fingers crossed.

Please continue with the prayers, love and support. I know that it is our 7:00a & 7:00p warrior healing times that are making Tommy Boy Kick Cancer's Ass... so please keep it up! We are forever grateful!

Will keep you all posted... stay tuned!

~Whit

P.S. I forgot to mention that my dad and Renee had a BLAST on their dive trip. My dad was feeling like a million bucks (other than being cold) and did a ton (TON!) of dives. You can red the comment Renee left in the last blog. It sounded like the trip was perfect and they are looking into planning another one soon!

More Good News!

Tommy Boy had another PET Scan last week after he finished his 4th cycle and we had an appt to go over the results with Dr. Javeed on Monday. The good news is the cancer is still continuing to shrink, and is remaining less active. The spots on the lung and the liver are still completely resolved (no trace of cancer) and now we can add the affected (or is it effected?) lymphnode to the resolved list! The main tumor in the esophagus/stomach junction has continued to decrease in activity, and the spoton the left femur also has slowed down in activity! Yay, yay, yay and yay! Looks like we have all kept up on our 7 & 7... and it has paid off! :) Sooo... please continue to do so- because it is WORKING!

In other news... my dad and Renee leave Friday night for thier dive trip in Cozumel. My dad's plan is to do something crazy, like 17 dives in the 5 days they can dive! Luckily he is feeling pretty good and has some energy back since he hasn't had a chemo infusion for 3 weeks. So keep him and Renee in your prayers while they are gone and fingers crossed my dad has enough energy to do all he wants to do!

Thanks again everyone for all of your continued prayers and support!
~Whitney

Walking on clouds...

Now that our dad is on the road to healthier days I can't help but feel such gratitude in every second that I have my eyes open. Hearing the news last week that my dad is getting better - lifted literally a million pounds off my shoulders. I know that what was going on since Sept had been weighing on me but I had no idea just how much until it was released last Tuesday. Now the everyday trials and annoyances can be tackled that much easier - and I can even face them with a smile...

I know I don't say much on this blog - mainly because I have two amazing sisters that just take care of sending out the news for me...but I feel like I have so much say yet I can't really find the words to express exactly what I'm feeling. Mostly just happiness- elated happiness and relief. I can breath now. I no longer have constant anxiety and aggression. And when I did have those things - I didn't even realize it...I feel like now that my dad has another chance at life - or just a longer life than we were expecting - I can live my life now/again.

Now anyone who knows my dad knows that feeling this way is ridiculous and he would be completely pissed if anyone's "life" was put on hold because of his...but then anyone who knows Tow Ewing would find it impossible to continue on with their lives as if nothing was wrong. So being the youngest daughter of the greatest man alive - I can too easily put my life on hold when I find out that this amazing man's life could soon just be a memory.

But I don't want to have to "explain" to my future kids how awesome their grandpa was - no way - not gonna happen. They are going to know first hand just how great is. He's going to be the best fricken grandpa ever because he's the best dad ever. He's the best friend ever - brother, son, neighbor, employee, you name it, he's the best. And someone up there knows that there is too much going on down here for him to miss out on. (Thanks up there, by the way)

I am a believer - and I am extremely selfish. I want my dad to be better and I want my dad to stick around. So at 7 & 7 everyday - I picture my dad's cancer being plucked out the earth like carrots by a rabbit. (Little bunny Fufu) It's something someone told me that worked for a cancer patient - and it if worked for them, I'll try it too. And in my mind - it's working. I also picture my future and he's with me the whole way. The power of positive thinking works incredibly...this is proof.

I also know that I would not be able to fathom going through something like this with out the family and support group that I am blessed to have. I am truly the luckiest person in world to have the family I have. I don't even have to talk to them for them to know how I'm feeling - they know, and they pray, and they love unconditionally. Now that's family.

So I'm ending this little blog with the note of hope - I have hope today and I will always have hope from now on. I love everyday now - my cheeks have been sore for the past week because I can't stop smiling!!

"More than a miracle... phenomenal"

Those are the exact words we heard Dr. Javeed say today! We finally got the good news we have been waiting for since September 15th! Hallelujah! So glad to write a blog where I am excited for the news!

So here's the deal... the tumor in the esophagus at the stomach junction decreased in size and the activity level is now the same as background cells (low activity... which is FAB!) The lymph node near the esophagus also decreased in size, the new tumors/nodules on the lungs and liver have resolved... meaning they are GONE!! And the spot on the femur is moderately better with decreased activity too. Dr. Javeed had nothing but optimism and good news for us today.

He told us that he has never seen someone respond so well and hasn't ever been able to give this good of report to a patient. Truly, truly, truly AMAZING! Me, Taylor, Renee and Sheryl all had tears of joy as we processed what great news this was. I know we have to be thankful for the doctors and the drugs... but really I think it is all of us killing the damn cancer at 7 & 7 that really made the results so astounding. Soooo... let's keep it up because clearly what we are doing is working.

Our dad starts his next round of EOX on Monday, and will complete two more cycles before the next PET scan (in about six weeks.) So hopefully this good news will become a trend. I told the girls in the office that we are now going to become greedy and expect good news every time we come! :)

This is for sure the news we have hoped for... maybe even better than we were praying for. And we thank God for listening to us all while we demanded that he heals our dad/brother/uncle/friend. So let's keep demanding it. Thank you all for the love, support, prayers and being on the Healing Warrior train.

Love you all... here's to kicking some more cancer ass!
~Whitney

Fingers Crossed for Ggood News After Monday's PET Scan

Our dad goes in on Monday for another PET Scan to see whats been going on since he has completed the first 2 cycles of EOX. We have an appointment on Tuesday afternoon with Dr. Javeed to get the results... keep your fingers crossed we get some good news.

Some promising signs that we may get good news is that Tommy Boy has been able to eat TONS better than he was before he started this new chemo. He is finally gaining weight and able to eat with out tons of pain... so we are so so glad about that.

I like to think that this is in part because of all of us doing the 7 & 7 focused energy and visualizing killing my dad's cancer. I would really like to be able to put "Cancer Killer" on my resume! :) I know there are a lot of us doing the 7am and 7pm visualizing... and that we have super heroes, base ball bats, spaghetti strings, St. Michael, and cancer killing spray all going in to Tommy's esophagus (and other organs) twice a day to kick some cancer ass! What else do we have out there? Share... if you would like! Its kind of fun knowing what other people think about when they are contributing to this effort to kill the cancer!

In other news... the fam has booked a trip to Cabo San Lucas the week before Christmas. My dad and all of us are super pumped for some sun (and diving for some of us) and to being together for the holidays. And he and Renee booked a dive trip to Cozumel in April. I hope Renee is not expecting a lounging by the pool, laying out in the sun kind of vaca... our dad has total ADD when it comes to laying around- even if he is on vacation. I know he has LOTS of dives on the agenda, so that will keep them busy!

Thanks again to everyone for keeping all of us in your thoughts and prayers and for the focused energy at 7 & 7... I am so very hopeful that this (along with the chemo) is doing the trick! We'll keep you posted and let you know on Tuesday if we are right!

~Whitney

Join Team Ewing and help us Heal Tommy Boy!

We have the best family EVER! Over the weekend Peggy drove up from Paso Robles to hang with us and Jenny opened up her house for us all to get together and Eric cooked the most amazing feast of deleicious Mexican food. And then to top it all off... Sheryl and Peggy spent the entire day on Sunday cooking delicious food packed with protien (with extra protien powder) to help keep Tommy Boy's weight up... so he never has to think about what he is going to eat. He has a fridge and freezer full of perfectly packaged meals of things he likes. Our family is amazing!

Speaking of amazing... Sheryl sent out and email to the entire Ewing clan asking everyone to get on board the healing train. We LOVED the idea and wanted to share it with everyone else that is following the blog to see if we can get our "Warrior Team" healing our dad. Please read the email below and set your alarms to help us fight this bastard cancer. (Thanks again Aunt Sheryl for letting me post this to the blog and for getting this team of warriors created!)

Dear Family & Friends,


As you all know, Tom’s cancer has metastasized to his lung, liver and leg and right now all the treatment must be focused on a remission! This journey is going to take not just his doctors and his daughters but ALL of us. Here are my thoughts (yes, you might think I am crazy – but stay with me):


I want to create an army of healing warriors to help in Tom’s fight and this is how I hope to do this. At the same time EVERY day all of us will STOP what we are doing and spend 10 seconds in focusing healing thoughts directly to Tom. The specifics will be that you must use your mind to create an image of something killing his cancer cells – each and every one of them. How? – well, pick your favorite image – i.e. Pacman gobbling up cancer cells; a very large mean marine with a huge gun blasting them away, one at a time, or my favorite – St Michael the Archangel on his white steed with his huge sword chopping off the head of the cancer dragons – anyway, you get the idea – choose an image of something that works for you. When you stop to focus your thoughts with your warrior image killing the cancer cells, really SEE it happening. I know this may sound a little crazy (and REALLY not at all like me) but this is what I know for sure:


1 – Everything in this world contains energy – it is in all of us – it can be manipulated and transformed but it never goes away

2 – Our minds have more power to heal us than we can possible imagine but we just don’t know how to use it

3 – All of this energy comes to us from God and we can channel it – Mom knew exactly how to do this and I believed in her completely

4 - God will help those who help themselves

5 - There is great power in numbers – if each one of us can focus in and channel just a tiny bit of this healing energy – just think of the effect of 50 or more of us.

6 – Tom must believe in the power of God working through all of us to heal him and he must imagine killing this cancer too.

7 – We need to focus our prayers to doing more than asking for a miracle (we can do that too) we need to focus our energy directly to Tom.

8 – If you are uncomfortable with the thought of a killing warrior then use your prayer energy to imagine his healthy cells growing to defend against this horrible cancer

9 – The power of people who love Tom focused at exactly the same time everyday will be an immeasurable help to getting a remission.


WE CAN DO THIS!!!! COMMITT TO BEING A HEALING WARRIOR.


Right now we think that 7:00 am and 7:00 pm would work (yes, that means weekends too). We can accomplish this be setting our phone alarms (all of us older folks can have one of our kids do this) to go off everyday. If there is a better time, let me know.

I want to get started ASAP – there is no time to loose.


Love you all,


Aunt Sheryl





Sound good everyone? Want to joing our team? Thank you all again for your continued prayers and support... we are so grateful for all of you and would not be able to get through this difficult time with out all of you.

Love and hugs,
Whit

The Latest

I so wish I was writing this update with fabulous news on the treatment front for our dad... but unfortunately that's not the case. We are still doing all that we can to remain optimistic and keep positive... but we are going to need the prayers and the positive mojo to go into overdrive with the latest news we have received. Just before the holidays we met with the surgeon and talked about either continuing with more chemo or going straight to surgery... we played the waiting game for quite a while with lots of doctors out of the office for the 2 weeks over the holidays. My dad got the last round of chemo and then the team of doctors (that seems to be getting bigger and bigger... which is great to have so many smart minds all talking about what’s best for my dad) decided to do one more PET scan and determine from there if they would go straight to surgery (if the cancer wasn't shrinking) or do one more round of chemo (if the tumor was responding well to the treatments.)

When we went in for the PET scan results we were super bummed to learn that the cancer is not only not responding to the chemo... but it has spread and is more active. They found a new spot on his liver and a new spot on his left femur... never what you want to hear from an oncologist. The doctors have come to the conclusion that because this is a "radiation induced tumor" (meaning, the radiation he received for the Hodgkin's Disease 20 years ago, caused this cancer-- how lame... right?!!) it is drug resistant, aggressive, and clever... it is finding away to keep thriving despite the drugs being pumped into Tommy Boy (what BASTARD cancer cells!) SO what does all that mean??

It means that curing this is no longer an option. Surgery is off the table... and we try to manage the bastard cells taking over. We meet with Dr. Ko at UCSF on Thursday and will learn more about what this means and what our dad's quality of life will be like. We are all feeling like we got punched in the stomach and a little pissed that we really can't seem to catch a break with this. My dad is still his same old self... and being our rock (go figure?!) Thank goodness he can hold it together... because it’s hard for us to at some points. He started a new chemo yesterday... and this one is supposed to be pretty gnarly (horrible side effects, and kind of just going to beat him up for about 6 weeks). So please pray that this chemo kicks some cancer ass... and that my dad tolerates it well... and that we can all remain optimistic despite the bleakness of the situation.

Thank you all so so so much for all of the love and support you have given us thus far... and for continuing it was we trudge down this new road of managing this bullshit cancer, instead of curing it.

Lots of love,
Whitney

A new year :)

Happy New Year!

I know a lot of you have been waiting on an update... I think we have all been trying to figure out the best way to communicate the overwhelming lack of information. The good news is there is no bad news - so, that's a start :)

Dad finished up his second round of chemo then had a PET scan to see if this chemo was working. Esophageal cancer is typically treated with a chemo cocktail called EOX. Remember when we found out that the weird thing on the lung was lung cancer (that was fun...)? Well, we also found out that the results of the DNA testing meant to assess his tumor's resistance to certain chemos determined that EOX would likely not work for dad's stubborn bastard tumor. So, the think tank decided to go with something different. We took a "calculated risk" and decided to try a less conventional chemo mix in the hopes that this one would do the trick.

Dr. Ko (UCSF GI Oncologist) was only comfortable with this approach if we agreed to do 2 rounds, then a PET. If the PET didn't show the results we wanted then he'd do 2 rounds of EOX before surgery. The DNA testing to show a tumor's resistance is still very new so Dr. Ko isn't completely sold on relying on this test 100%. He relies on the data and the tests and the fact that EOX usually works.

So the PET -- looks like this chemo is working on the lung (which we really weren't too concerned with anyway since the surgeon could take out that entire chunk during the esophagus surgery). The esophageal tumor, however, shows no signs of improvement. Same size, no metabolic activity change. It's hard not to see this is disappointing, but Dr. Jablons (UCSF Surgeon) made a really good point: "You have to stop the freight train before you can back it up." So no news is actually good news? It could have been bigger or more active. No reaction is actually a sign of the cancer responding to this treatment.

We're still sort of in a holding pattern because Dr. Javeed (primary oncologist in Folsom) and Dr. Jablons are leaning toward doing the surgery right away. The rationale for this being that if the chemo isn't taking care of the cancer then getting it out is the best way to ensure we don't waste another minute.

Dr. Ko is on vacation so we'd like to chat with him before deciding on surgery now or not. Since dad is handling the chemo so well he decided to do another round of this one while we wait for Ko to come back and make his recommendation.

So it looks like surgery won't happen until early February at the soonest. We will be sure to update everyone as soon as we talk to Dr. Ko - he's our favorite and the most likely to give us some nice pearls of wisdom and hope :)

Love you all -- extremely grateful for the support and prayers!

xoxo,

~kyle