OCTOBER 22

GOOD NEWS! This morning, Gary went in for blood test and another PET scan. The doctor wanted to see if the treatment was showing signs of working before continuing further. As the doctor entered the room this afternoon to tell us the results, he was beaming from ear to ear. It was great news! The scan showed that a significant amount of the cancer was gone! We asked to see the scan and he showed a side by side comparison. It was unbelievable! The area of Gary's brachial plexus that lit up the screen before was barely noticeable. Even to our untrained eyes, we could see the difference! In our previous meeting with our doctor, I sensed a reluctance in him to give any kind of prognosis. Today, he seemed so hopeful! He told Gary, "I guess God's not finished with you yet." That probably was the best thing we could have heard! Gary is still not "out of the woods", but at least we know the treatment is working. We sat and talked for an hour today about the next procedure they will do, which is an Autologous Blood and Marrow Transplant (BMT). They will take Gary's blood cells out of his bone marrow, freeze them, zap him with high dose of chemo, then put his cells back in. This is a very serious procedure and will make him very ill before he will get better. They plan to start the procedure the last week of November or first week December. I will write more about the BMT later. We are just so relieved to know the method of treatment is working and we are seeing the cancer disappear. I truly believe we have seen these results because of all the prayers that are going up around the world on Gary's behalf. Thank you so much for daily praying for him.

PS. Gary will start treatment #3 tonight. Doctor is keeping the dose at 50% like last treatment. He does not want to do anything that will cause his kidneys to act up again. They will not do the transplant otherwise. Pray that Gary will do as well as he did last time.... out in 4 days!