New Developement

Matt was so excited thinking he was going home today.  Matt has developed Pancreatitis.
He woke up this morning with a real bad pain in his stomach.  They believe that because of
the ERCP procedure that Matt had done yesterday it inflamed his pancreas.  This could be
life threatening if not taken care of.  After the CT Scan Matt can only have liquids and pain
medication.  Hopefully by tomorrow the Pancreas is feeling better and might let Matt eat
more solid food.

Please God I pray that Matt's CT_Scan does not show anything bad. That it is the nodule on
his liver pushing on the bile duct.  I also pray that his pancreas feels better tomorrow!

Doctor Appointment

This morning Matt and Casey and I (Kitty) went to UW-Madison Hospital where Matt has been doing his clinical trial.  Matt had labs done first and then doctor appointment.

As soon as Clinical RN Rosemary saw Matt she new something was wrong.  Since Matt stop taking the two chemo pills has felt worse.  The whites in Matt's eye have gotten yellow and even his skin on his face has gotten yellow.  Matt has been very tired and has been sick to his stomach since last Tuesday.  Casey had taken Matt to their friend who is a PA and said something is going on with Matt's liver.  She thought it would be okay for him to wait another day to see his doctor on Monday.

The labs show that a normal Biliruben test  was high. A normal number is 1.4 and Matt's biliruben was 9.3.  It also showed his ALT and other tests were all high.  They wanted to put Matt in the hospital.
Of coarse Matt has been trying to avoid any hospital but Casey put her foot down and told him he had to
stay and get better! 

Matt's weight has gone steadily down.  He has no desire to eat.  He still tries to push himself to eat something.  His weight has gone done to 121.9. 

His CEA tumor marker test had gone down the last time to 41.0 Today his CEA tumor marker test was 53.1.  This number can flucate due to the liver problem he is having.  Hopefully when we get his liver back in check his tumor marker number will go down again.

Matt was put into the hospital and at 4:15 today he had a ERCP test done,  This is a procedure where they had to put Matt out and put a scope down his throat into his liver to see what could be blocking things.  The bile duct to his liver is being pressed on and making it very small for fluids to flow through.  The doctor put in a temporary stint to hold it open.  Hopefully in a day or two Matt's liver will function normal and his yellow will go away.  Tomorrow Matt will have a CT-Scan and hopefully it will show what is going  on with Matt's liver.   What they suspect is the small nodule of Cancer that is on his liver might have grown and be the culprit pressing on his bile duct and causing all the problems.  If this is the case then in two weeks Matt will come back to UW-Hospital and they will put in a permanent stint.

Matt has gotten some sleep earlier today and I hope he  gets a good night sleep tonight.  He is up two to three times a night to go to the bathroom or he just can't sleep.  Sleep will help Matt a lot if he can get some.

Thank you to everyone for your continued prayers. Please say a prayer that the nodule is the problem and nothing else.  I pray that when this gets cleared up Matt will be able to start phase 2 of the clinical trial.  He was supposed to start that today but due to the liver problem that is put on hold. They said it usually take at least two phases to see that it is shrinking the cancerous tumors. 

Matt doing okay

Matt has been taking both of his chemo pills.  He has been getting very tired easily.  Matt does not let that get him down.  He is still going to work most days. He had a
wedding one weekend and he has been to 2 Brewers games.  Matt has also been
keeping busy trying to help Casey get ready for her kindergarten classroom.

Matt still has pelvic pain which he takes around the clock pain medication.  If it gets real bad he has a quick 4 hour pain medication he can take on top of the 12 hour pain medication he takes already.

Matt has a doctor appointment with Dr. Le Conte on  Sept 12 with labs first and appointment second.  This will be day 28 of the clinical trail.  We will find out
how things are progressing.  If the new drugs are shrinking the cancer in Matt or
not.

I believe in the power of prayer!! Thank you so much for your continued prayers!

Third Hospital Stay & CEA tumor marker score

Matt is in the hospital for his third and last hospital stay.  This is day 15th of the trail.  Matt has developed a rash on his face, back shoulders and chest.  They told us about a moisturizer that will help with it that we will need to get.  If the rash worsens they want Matt to call the RN in charge of the clinical trial.  Matt has also developed some nausea but not bad enough for him to take medication for it.  Matt has a touch of the diarrhea.  They are going to give him a prescription to help him with that. If any of these symptoms worsen he is to call the Nurse of the clinical trial.

Now for the trail Matt has to see Dr. LaConte once a month for a physcial and he will go to Johnson Creek monthly for labs.  Every other month they will have Matt have a CT Scan at Watertown Hospital.  As long as Matt is tolerating the medication and the medication is working he can stay on the trial.  If he is not feeling well and wants to get off the trail he can.  God willing the new drugs are shrinking the cancer that is inside o f
Matt.

The nurse came in and told us Matt's new CEA tumor marker score.  His last marker was done on 4/15/11 and the score was 56.2.  They did labs right before Matt started his clinical trial for a base line and it was 41.8!!! Yeah!!!!!! Hopefully it continues to go down!!!!

Thank you to everyone for your continued thoughts and prayers.  I pray to God that these new drugs work on Matt's cancer!

Second trip to Hospital for Clinical Trail

Matt and Gavin playing basketball while waiting for his next blood draw.

Matt, Casey and Gavin went wandering and checked out the UW Children's Hospital.

Gaving learned how to make Uncle Matt's bed go up and down,

Matt has done real good for the first week of his trail. Matt has been able to continue to work all week.  He felt nauseous just a few times for a very short period.  Otherwise Matt has been a little tired but he doesn't let that stop him! Today he started taking Lapatinib.  It is a very big pill for Matt to take.  He is not fond of large
pills.  He has to take  4 pills of Lapatinib once a day every day.  He will have to take MK-2206 every other day.  For both pills he has to fast two hour before and two hours after.  Matt has started a routine of eating supper then waiting two hours and taking his pills, watch a movie then go to bed a little while later.  They said all his labs came back good.

Today Matt's nephew, Gavin came to keep him company for a while at the hospital.  Matt got his Lapatinib at 8:58 this morning.  They have to take blood draws at 8:58,9:28, 10:58, 12:58, 2;58, 4:58 and 8:58pm.  Then he has the evening and night and they take the last blood draw at 8:58 Friday morning. Of coarse during the night they check on him and take his vital signs and make sure he is doing well with the Lapatinib.
Then Matt will do this for a week and then he has his last hospital stay on be August 17.  They want to check how he is doing with both drugs.  They will ask a lot of questions to see if anything change with Matt.  They will ask how is he eating, if anything has changed with his bowls, if he had any pain and anything else that might be different than usual.  They will keep him on the same regiment of taking his pills and doing all the blood draws with a few extra draws and they will do an EKG to make sure his heart is still working at the baseline EKG he took two weeks ago before he started the clinical trial.   If Matt continues to do good he can continue to take these drugs and hopefully they will shrink his cancer that is in his body.

Thank you for your continue prayers for Matthew.  He continues to be strong and smiling a lot!

Clincial Trail

Matt is doing really well.  He arrived at UW-Hospital at 8 in the morning.  They checked him in right away.  He had a team of doctors that asked a lot of questions.  At 10:30 he got his first dose of the MK-2206 medication.  He will take this medication at home on the 5th, 7th and 9th of August.  Then on August 11 he will go back to UW-Hospital and stay over night again.  This time they add on the second trail drug...Lapatinib.  On the 11th, 13th, and15th he will take both drugs.  On the 12th,14th and 16th of August he will only take the Lapatinib.  Then he is back at UW-Hospital on August 17.  At these hospital stays the make sure Matt is tolerating the drugs.  They also take blood draws 8 times while he is there on the first day. He stays over night and has more blood draws  before they will release him at about Noon.  He is back in the hospital on August 17th.  He will only take the Lapatinib on the 18th, 20th.  On 17th, 19th, 21st he will take both drugs.  He will continue this pattern as long as things are working for Matt.

So far Matt feels good since he took the drug.  He is not feeling nausea or tingling or itching. He has been eating well, walking around and catching up on his sleep.

Thank you for your continued thoughts and prayers.

Clincial Trial starting tomorrrow!

Tomorrow Matt has to be at the UW Hospital at 8:00 in the morning.  They said he is going to start with the two new drugs.  They want to see how Matt's body reacts to the new medications.  They will be doing tests on him and they said they will let him go on Thursday at noon. During the first 4 weeks of this trail Matt will
have to go into the hospital again on the 11th and 17 of August.

I praise to our Lord that this trail will help shrink the tumors in Matt's  body and go away!! I will let you know how the trial is going.

Thank you for all your prayers!!