Lori and I drove over to Seattle on Sunday.  This is now our plan, driving over to Seattle on Sunday afternoons with treatments on Monday.  We also plan to leave Seattle on Mondays after her treatments to return to Spokane on Monday evenings.  Believe us when we say that Dr. Picozzi is worth the 600 mile drive. I keep trying to get Lori and I to fly but she prefers to drive for now.

On Monday Lori received her first Chemo treatments.  Since this was her first treatment we were put in a private room where Lori, her sister, her brother-in-law and I were comfortable for the 8 hours we where there. It is our understanding that next Monday we will also get a private room, but after that we will be in a room with a max of two other patients where Lori will receive her treatments in a lounge chair.  We also understand that her next treatments will take only a few hours.

Lori received the treatments without any ill side affects.  The doctors explained that only a few patients now get noxious after the treatments so Lori is one of the lucky ones who felt great after the treatments. We elected to stay in Seattle Monday evening to make sure Lori was comfortable and to ensure she took the treatments well.  Great News !  She is feeling great.  As a matter of fact Lori has put on a couple of pounds and is in great spirits.

We understand that the treatments can cause some joint discomfort a couple of days after the treatment so we have been prescribed lots of happy pills if this happens. Our treatment plan is two weeks in Seattle with one week off.  This schedule is as follows: Seattle May 12,19 June 2,9,23,30. On June 30th we will take additional CAT scans to see if the treatments are stopping the spread and shrinking the tumor. At this point we will review the chemo plan and potentially radiate. Dr. Picozzi is still not 100% sure of the origin of the cancer we are dealing with so we are starting the chemo plan to shrink and stop the spread. We are full of hope so keep your prayers going, they are working !

On our way home from Seattle today the secretary from Ashton's school called on our cell phone to let us know she fainted and was throwing up. A friend of ours picked her up from school and took her home.  We then called to talk to Ashton at home where she feeling pretty bad.  We then called my brother Gary who took off to take Ashton to the doctor's.  After Ashton saw the doctor, Lori's doctor called to let us know Ashton had a viral infection and that she needed to stay away from Lori until Friday.  Needless to say this upset all of us but Ashton's friend Alex and her family agreed to have her until Friday. This is just a precaution to protect Lori from having to fight off any other infections while the Chemo is doing its thing.

 Last weekend we went to the lake and had a great day.  The sun was shinning and everyone had a great day.  Tony and Ashton went Jet Skiing while Lori, her mom and I took a cruise to a nice bay with some Maverick friends. Gary Dawes put our boat name on our boat, he said it was a mothers day present for Lori but I also think he got tired of us talking about putting it on for the last 6 years !

Thanks for everyone's thoughts and prayers.  The power of prayer is working !!!!