Amy's 'momentary trouble'

Amy’s day started off a little rougher than yesterday as she couldn’t keep her breakfast down and she again experienced this stabbing pain in her stomach while on her way down to treatments. I will be taking Amy to her treatment tomorrow and we will also be seeing her oncologist. I will be asking about these stabbing stomach pains that she gets.

Amy’s regular oncologist has been gone for the past two weeks and I have emailed him several times to ask various questions (the poor doctor probably dreads reading email for fear that I may have yet another question!). One question was, Amy’s switching from the oral Chemo (Xeloda) to this pump form, will/can it effect the outcome of her treatment? He said no, but in Amy’s case, because she had such a difficult time with the oral in keeping them down, we can be assured that she getting the full effect of the drug with the pump. We have had SO many people suggest one treatment over another, or in one case offer to sell us herbal supplements that have been shown to reduce the size of the tumor, that this whole idea of alternative medicines had gotten me completely confused. There are: Conventional treatments, Clinical trials, Unapproved FDA drugs, Herbal supplements, New Age methods (think yourself well..uh, yeah) and yes, we could even attend seminars on treatment options. Just looking into the clinical trials is a very confusing maze because you can have: 1 of about 8 different chemo drugs, or a combination of 2 or three, or 1 to 2 along with radiation, or if it’s a blind trial, you may or may not even get the chemo drug. Some trials only take a certain number of people, or only if you cancer hasn’t spread, or if it’s not past stage 2, or if you haven’t gone through chemo before. Some trials are only offered in certain areas of the country and only for a set period of time. Which one is right? Which one will be successful with Amy? Personally I think the New Age approach is a joke. And looking at site after site wanting to sell us a combination of supplements that cost $100 per bottle and as far as I know could be sugar pills, just shows me that some people are still willing to buy ‘snake oils’ & ‘Dr. McGrew’s Cureall.’ So, with all of that said (and MANY hours of research) I told Amy’s oncologist, ‘I have to know that we are treating Amy with the best methods that the medical world knows that will give her the best chance possible to defeat this.’ And he replied, ‘There are many avenues that are being tested now in treating pancreas cancer, but I believe we are treating her with the best available method currently known.’

Please pray for this stabbing pain that Amy is getting now and then and please take a moment to pray for her doctors that they might be lead by the Great Physician while treating and bringing Amy to a cure.

This is Amy's story as seen and told by me - V