Since the last update Louie and Marianne have been quite busy! They have participated in 2 cancer walks and raised over $2300.00 for Selma's Cancer Support. They also went to Relay for Life in Lake Elsinore and spent time with Marianne's sister, Karen and her team called faith and hope for a cure. They had an amazing time. Marianne and Louie have really begun to understand what a great need there is for fundraising. The cost for cancer care and treatments are extremely expensive, even if you have medical insurance. They would like to encourage everyone to donate regularly even if it's just to save your pocket change every month.
Louie saw Dr. Flam almost a week ago on October 15th. He is gaining weight and his blood pressure was good! His surgical sight is continuing to heal and the side effects from the radiation are beginning to dissipate. Dr. Flam said Louie no longer needs the Herceptin, he justified its use during chemo and radiation when it would be most effective. He said that they weren't able to use the Herceptin as early as they should have because they couldn't get approval from the insurance so he used it as a precaution.
Although the doctor told Louie he would need to be on the Herceptin for 1-2 years that has changed because Herceptin use in Head and Neck cancer is different then in Esophageal or Breast cancer. There is a greater risk for spread in those cancers and the recurrence in Head and Neck is 90% in Louie's neck and 10% in his lungs.
They also asked about a pet scan and the doctor would like for Louie to rest for 12 weeks so that they don't receive any false positives. The doctor says he believes that Louie is cancer free. Marianne asked for evidence to support that and he said "Believe me, I know what I'm doing..." Let's join together and pray that this would be true in Jesus' name!
Louie has an appointment for a second opinion at Stanford University so Marianne and Louie are currently working with a patient coordinator. They are getting all of Louie's records from the diagnosis to date for a Head and Neck specialist to review. They will wait for Louie's petscan results before heading up there for his appointment.
In the mean time Louie is gaining his strength back, his taste buds are beginning to wake up, and he is feeling better and better with each day.... he is looking forward to this time to reflect and recover. His testimony continues to grow with each passing day and he doesn't want to become complacent and forget what God has done.
He wants to remind everyone of the important things in life; love each other, forgive, pray, fellowship, say you're sorry, be kind, reach out, pay it forward, be the hands and feet of Jesus, say thank you, don't let the enemy steal what is yours, declare God's Word and dare to believe!
As always, a big thank you to everyone for helping Louie and Marianne on this journey... they are so blessed and then some!
