June 25 2014

Round three of chemotherapy starts tonight. After all of the tests and scans and questions from last week, the doctors have concluded that all of the tumors have either grown no larger or decreased in size. That means that we are going to stay with the current chemotherapy regimen because it appears to be working. That's the good news. The bad is that there is still too much cancer spread throughout her body to consider either surgery or radiation at this time. If the chemotherapy continues to kill the cancer cells and shrink the tumors there may be a time in the future that other options are considered.

The other big news from this week is that Afton was given the clearance to start walking again. After the PET scan last week there were concerns that her Pelvis bone was not sufficiently strong to bear her weight and that it might fracture. However, the orthopedic oncologists looked at the MRI of her pelvic bone and concluded that the health risks from not walking (bed sores, blood clots, etc) were worse than the risk of a fracture. Afton loved this because she was terribly frustrated with the “no walking” verdict from earlier. The better news is she can get back in the pool when she gets home.

To help her walk better, she was fitted with some carbon fiber orthotics that help her mimic the energy transfer that your calf and shin muscles normally do. They fit right inside her shoes and strap to her lower leg. They work exceptionally well and she is walking much better and longer. She still requires a walker but just to see her walking again is awesome!!! She walks 1/4 mile twice a day and is hoping to add more tomorrow.

My sister Amy and her husband Kevin and their awesome kids came up again from Atlanta to cheer Afton on. While they were here we went over to the Red Cross and donated four pints of blood. By my calculations, that brings the total of blood donated on behalf of Afton at 206 pints. Thank you to ERDC, Big Blue Band and the Vicksburg Ward. That is phenomenal and will help so many people. Thank you all for helping in this way. Kevin and Amy also helped us make another fun video to help kickoff this round of chemo. We loved having family come to visit.

We also had a surprise visit from another ERDC employee. Lee Miller from my division is up in Nashville doing some training and he stopped by to wish Afton well. It was extremely unexpected and very welcome. Thank you Lee. Our dear friends the Kraus' also came by bringing gifts of swiss chocolate, diet coke and Sunday dinner. Somehow they found out about my adoration of swiss chocolate. Yummy!

We have had several people ask if there was a way to help donate funds for Afton’s medical expenses. We feel honored that anyone would feel so inclined. These donations will be put toward her medical expenses, food, transportation as well as any incidental costs. In order to make it easy to donate, we have established a method to accept donations using the PayPal system. Please click on the link below to process any donations.

https://www.paypal.com/us/webapps/mpp/send-money-online

In the field entitled “Their email or phone number” enter:

mymissionisremission@gmail.com

We have made yellow bracelets and t-shirts to say thank you and to show your support. If you wish to receive t-shirts and bracelets, please email mymissionisremission@gmail.com for details.