Jen & I celebrate our anniversary and more importantly... Another Stable Scan!!!

First, the great news - Jen had her latest scan this week and it was again stable!  She began her 10th cycle of chemo on Wednesday night following the scan results.  This means we are now approaching 1 year of stable scans.  As I mentioned previously survival time is based on the date of diagnosis, which is now over 12 months.  However, between her diagnosis and the beginning of her actually beginning to fight the cancer with radiation and chemo about 3 weeks lapsed while she recovered from the surgery.  During this time, the cancer tripled in size.  I still believe a lot of this rapid increase was due to the steroids that Jen was taking in order to manage the swelling following the surgery in combination with a typical hospital diet rich in carbs and sugar.  In fact there was a new study completed in just the last couple of weeks that concluded that patients taking steroids did not fare as well as those who didn't.  This is something we had come to intrinsically believe through research on our own about a year ago.  This is the same rationale for the Ketogenic diet that Jen is on.  Cancer loves glucose and steroids increase glucose levels a lot.  In fact, while she was on the steroids in the hospital they had to give her insulin injections in order to help counter the elevated glucose levels.  It is common for patients to continue taking steroids, especially throughout the radiation as this also creates swelling.  We worked with our doctors and fought to avoid taking steroids unless absolutely necessary for Jen's health.  So as we approach 1 year of stable scans, we count our blessings and are grateful that Jen has continued to do so well.  I absolutely believe her resolve, attitude and choices have helped to make it so.

This week, just prior to Jen's latest scan, we celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary.  Jen and I have been married for 8 years, but we have been together for 28 years.  We got away for a night and spent it just relaxing at a motel right on the ocean.  This is the place where Jen and I got engaged.  We both had a great time and then receiving the news of the scan this week made a perfect gift.

The view from our room

Relaxing by the ocean

This was our dinner table for our anniversary.  Can't beat the view.

In case you can't read it - Jen's shirt says "Never Give Up".  It is gray in support
of Brain Cancer awareness and was a birthday gift.  Thank you Jen Langford.