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4:30pm…

I left Sandy at the hotel this morning so she could relax and have some much needed time alone before we leave tomorrow. I went for a 4-mile walk on some trails in the rolling hills above the Stanford campus. It was beautiful and peaceful up there in the warm sunshine — dry golden grass with small groves of oak trees dotting the landscape — and big views of the entire area from San Francisco in the far distance, the campus, through the Silicon Valley and out to the hills east of here. Lots of hawks and meadowlarks up there too. It’s not the North Cascades, but in this urban sprawl it was paradise.
Tomorrow morning we’ll pack up, check out and go to the appointment with Sandy’s oncologist. He will go over the pathology reports and map out the chemo treatments Sandy will start soon.
Many people have assumed that Sandy’s brain surgery to remove the tumor is the end of the story and she will be fine now. Unfortunately this may not be true because with the type of cancer she has now - a high grade, faster growing type - all the new active area of the tumor could be removed, but not all of the old tumor can be removed surgically. This means that there is always a chance that areas of the old tumor could become active and grow again. The surgery was just the first leg of the journey. So the need for the chemo treatments is to break up the DNA of the cancer cells so they cannot continue to replicate. She will be on a brain-specific chemo drug, probably able to take it at home in pill form for one week out of every month for an unknown length of time, depending on its effectiveness. Further surgery and / or cyberknife radiation may also be used in the future if needed. Having said that, we still have a lot of hope and belief that she can get through this. Her doctors say everything is in her favor - she’s young, healthy, has a great attitude, and they caught this change in the tumor early on.

This has of course been a difficult journey here, but a big part of what has kept us going is all the love and prayers from everyone. Words cannot express our gratitude and thankfulness for the powerful connections this has created. The love and energy we have felt flowing our way has really been a life support system for both of us. The hardest part of this journey is that there is no quick finish line, but the medical professionals have given us a lot of hope and confidence in the treatments to come.
I may not be able to update this blog for two or three days as we travel on the train and head for home. But I will keep this wonderful blog thing going….

"Be strong, go with your heart, and believe in miracles because anything… anything can happen." - Marlo Javidando

Good night,
Dan

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