Colson Update 10/1/05

Dear friends and family,

This week's chemo treatment has been the smoothest thus far. I was admitted to UVA on Tuesday around lunchtime, and I was released by 4:30 Wednesday afternoon. This was also my shortest stay thus far, as my typical stay lasts at least 48 hours, and I was very blessed to have only minimal, easily manageable instances of nausea and fatigue. Aside from needing a few meds for the nausea and the occasional catnap, I am feeling pretty good.

I was a little shocked when I called up to see if my room was ready for me, only to find out that my usual place of stay, the Hematology/Oncology ward, was full, so they placed me in a private room on the next hallway, which is normally reserved for bone marrow and other transplants. While it was really nice to have a private room and the view was great, I was a little worried that I may have missed some important information when they placed me on the transplant ward (Did I miss the memo?). Fortunately, the nursing staff assured me that this was only because all of the normal beds were filled. (Which was very comforting news!)

Another blessing came this week when I spoke with my doctor about my liver. He had contacted several leaders in the oncology world about the problems that we have been noticing with my liver, and had gotten a response from a doctor at the Mayo clinic who had written the protocol for the liver disorder that he had suspected we were noticing. The expert, Dr. Arnt, said that the symptoms we were noticing were very likely not a result of the suspected liver disorder, but instead were just signs that my liver was taking longer than most to fully digest the toxins from the chemo. This was good news on many fronts, as it meant that there is less imminent risk to my liver and that there is the possibility that my liver could adapt to be able to better handle the chemo.

These insights are very important for a number of reasons, but most importantly because my doctor now understands better what is going on in my liver, and he knows that it will be OK to increase my doses of chemo in order to treat the cancer as aggressively as we would like. In fact, Dr. Grosh believes that he knows which one of the chemo drugs is causing the trouble with my liver, and studies show similar success rates between full and half doses of the drug.

We will still be monitoring the numbers, but just knowing that the doctors have shed some light on this mystery is a huge comfort to us all.

Thank you for all of you who have been praying for Tim. Unfortunately, this time there was no room on Tim's hall for me, and I only saw him one time, just as I was leaving. I am hoping that there will be more opportunity for us to talk this next time.

All of your prayers are invaluable to us, and I know that it is because of them that God blessed us in so many ways. Your prayers, cards, calls, dinners, and emails have been so valuable to us. Thank you for standing with us in this. Please continue to pray for wisdom for us and our doctors, for strength for all of our family, especially for Cynthia, for physical healing, and for spiritual healing for Tim. Please continue to pray for Cynthia- she is an amazing strength, friend, and rock to me, and always does everything she can to make sure that I am taken care of. She is nothing short of wonderful!

God bless you all,

Joey Colson