Eric Making an Update!

Hello ladies and gentlemen,

I am finally making an update to the blog.  My dear wife has done such a good job doing this and I sometimes forget that this is the only way many of you get updates on my status.  Anyhow, as posted before about 3 weeks ago it was decided that we were going to do blood draws to see if my tumor markers would continue to decrease.  The tumor markers are measuring whether the cancer is active or not, so an increasing number is bad.  The update for today was that my count started at 52, then dropped to 42, and Tuesday's reading was 36.  This is positive; however, the number still needs to be down to about 10 to be considered normal.  Considering that this particular marker was over a million to begin with, meaning it was spreading fast, things are looking positive.  I am supposed to meet the doctor again on Tuesday, but it sounded like we will continue to do blood draws either until it is a normal count or the numbers increase.  Surgery will be required regardless of what happens so hopefully the counts will go down so that no chemotherapy will be required beforehand.

Over they past three weeks I have heard the comment "your color is so much better, even from a few days ago."  To be honest I have much better over that time period as well.  I am almost to the point where I don't get light-headed when I stand up quickly.  I would also say that my muscles feel much more solid and I don't feel like such a weakling anymore.  I am about 2/3 strength of where I was before as far as number of push-ups, pull-ups, and weights; but my body is recovering much quicker now that I'm off Chemo.  My hair is growing, though the hair on the top of my head is much slower for some reason...hope i'm not bald on top.
I did a sprinting workout for the first time this week to try to boost lung capacity.  I still feel quite a bit of restriction and I suppose that is caused by the remaining tumors.  I weighed 142 lbs this week which is a positive gain of about 3 lbs a week for the last two weeks.  I have noticed improvement in my hearing the past week and my right eye has returned to normal.

Once again I appreciate the support that everyone has given me.  I think the emotional battle can be just as difficult as the physical one, so it is imperative to feel the support.

It is certainly fun to play with Tayvia and not get tired.

Our family is blessed to have so much support.