Deb's Update: 07/19/07 7:30 AM PST

Hi all,

Just a quick update to let you know how things are going. I have technically been at work now for 3 and a half week... time flies! I actually had the week of 4th of July off but I'll count it as a week back at work :-) I'm back in the swing of things there schedule wise, but I really do feel like I am still "new" there to some degree... Not much I can do about that one, huh?

I am very tired these days most likely because my days are longer and more mentally stimulating. Not a bad thing, but I have to find a few more hours to sleep I'm guessing :-) The past couple of weeks I have had an on and off dull headache and I'm hoping it's from the fatigue. After I have rested and slept, the headache seems to be okay, but as the day goes on, I notice it... I will keep you posted on my dull headache.

I start cycle #6 of chemo this coming Monday... it seems like I just did a cycle but hey, I'll continue to take this Temodar if it's doing well for me! My routine labs were the usual slightly low and not low enough to have any additional meds. My med onc doc took another lab for the high ANA that I had (pre-vaccine trial and also mid June)... hopefully since I'm not on that Bactrim DS med anymore, that my ANA will come down to normal... it may take time I guess. She has decided not to put me on another prophyllactic antibiotic since I seem to be doing well. She did suggest to do more labs (at 2 weeks post Day 1 which is the first chemo day) to follow my blood counts.

Next MRI is tomorrow at 6:30 in the morning... YIKES! Thereafter, I have an appointment with Dr. Yu to go over the results... wish me luck! I hope all will be well still and I will continue to shock him.

I have decided to go to see a neuro medical oncologist at UCLA just for a second opinion in regards to my routine treatment, potential clincal trial that I could be in or just to make me feel better :-) My friend Kim works with an oncologist who told her that this doctor that I will be hopefully seeing is an awesome neuro med onc doc with about 10-12 clincal trial for GBM patients, so we'll see what they've got for me. Kim's oncology doc colleague definitely says it's a good thing that I stayed on the Temodar and didn't just do the vaccine trial and NOT take it! Always good to hear that docs think that's a good thing.

Visits with Al, Susan (his sister), Ant, Paul and Oscar (their dog) was great... I had the week off so it was nice to be able to entertain and have some friends around me. Radar found a new friend, Oscar! Boy oh boy did they play together the entire time :-) Always a good thing because Radar doesn't love lots of dogs since he's intact. Al's sister had lots and lots of allergies (pets, pollen, etc...) while they were here so they had to head back to CT earlier than expected... bummer, but it's what they had to do. We didn't do anything major like site seeing or that kind of thing, but we all hung out and had some good conversations, meals and laughs!

Well, it's around 8 AM so I have to let the dogs out one last time and head to work... just wish me luck for tomorrow's MRI! It'll be about 8 months post diagnosis already so I'm hoping I am still disease free! I will post a result (or have my mom do it) as soon as I find out how the MRI is. I didn't have time to review what I've written or spell check it so my apology if it's a crazy update... but, I gotta go!

Love you guys!
Debbie