Pictures

Here are the pictures I promised:

This is Andrew receiving the hyperthermia treatment as well as chemo

Andrew in the hypberbaric oxygen treatment

I was able to visit Andrew today for the afternoon. It took me 1 hour, door to door, so it was a quick and easy trip. Andrew had his treatments this morning, so when I was there about noon he said he was feeling the best he'd felt all week since being in Canada. He said he felt good after the treatments and didn't feel so groggy. The antibiotics have really helped his sore throat. He continues to have fluid build up in his feet, so I was able to massage some of the fluid out while I was there. He is extremely exhausted though, and would doze off during our conversations. Which is amazing considering the volume level of my children. He told me again how peaceful he feels up there, so I was really glad to hear that. It's been easiest for him to sleep in the living room on the fold out futon, so he lays next to a big picture window and is able to look outside to the beautiful fall trees.

That is all for now. I hope everyone is having a great week.

How Andrew is doing this week

Hi All!

I have to apologize for not updating the blog this past week. We've had a busy schedule around here, a packed weekend and some serious Halloween activities yesterday. Life with two little ones is full! I will continue to keep you posted via this blog, so please remember to check here when looking for an update. We want Andrew to stay as relaxed and stress-free as possible!

This is going to be a long post, so don't say I didn't warn you!

The biggest question people want to know is: is the treatment in Canada working??? This is something that can and may take several weeks to know. So far, on a day to day basis, not a whole lot is changing with Andrew and the way he feels. His treatment is going well and he is pleased to be there and receiving the treatments. He has run into a few problems, but this has to do with his ascites and he also just recently came down with strep throat. He started on amoxicillin on Monday and he woke up today feeling much better. Andrew is still slightly jaundiced but his eyes seem to be a little less yellow and has been up and walking around the house and outside fairly well. Because of the nature of the treatments he's receiving, he has been draining his abdomen every day. This has helped not only the treatments but he doesn't seem to be filling up as quickly and was even able to skip a day of draining. His thighs are not as swollen and the TED hose that he's been using have really been helping.

Andrew receives two treatments each day, 6 days per week. This is what he is getting:

Hyperthermia treatment: He lays on a water bed which helps to conduct the heat from the contraption that they place on his liver one day, then the next day place on his lower stomach. Exposure to the higher temperatures damages and kills the cancer cells and leaves the healthy cells alone. It also makes the cells more sensitive to the Ukrain (the chemo) and any other IV injections they choose to treat him with. Next week they plan to inject selenium and vitamin C along with the Ukrain. Andrew doesn't feel anything during this treatment and has even been able to nap and listen to music.

Hypberbaric Oxygen Therapy: This is oxygen therapy at greater than atmospheric pressure for a total of 1 1/2 hours. The first 15 minutes acclimate him, then he receives treatment for an hour, then the last 15 minutes bring him back to the correct pressure. The idea behind this treatment is that cancer cells flourish in a less oxygen rich environment, so they hopefully will slow their growth. Another goal is the oxygen therapy helps to heal injury. The chemo Ukrain works better in an oxygen rich environment so the Ukrain is given after this treatment.

Andrew had a foot massage the other day followed by an ion cleanse. He put his feet in water with ions which is suppose to pull toxins out of your body. He watched the water change colors which they said was from the incredible amount of toxins leaving him. He didn't quite believe it, but tried it anyway. And he loved the foot massage!

One more medical tidbit...if you want to totally nerd out you can check out this website and read all about Ukrain, the chemo they are giving Andrew. http://www.ukrain.ua/present/ukrain.html. It is a power point study with great results.

On a slightly different note, I heard from Andrew's friend Stacey in St. Louis that the dancing fundraiser she did for Andrew raised $300! Wow, thanks Stacey! And thanks to everyone who donated. Hopefully you had a fun night of dancing. Here in Seattle this past Sunday was another fundraiser put on by Brian & Nicole Lawrence, great friends of Andrew. A special thank you to them for organizing this. They did a Seahawks game parking & tailgate party. They raised $1910. Amazing! Again, thank you to everyone who showed up for this tailgate party and who donated. We can't express enough how grateful we are. Every single dollar counts and matters and is put towards healing Andrew.

That is all for now. For some reason I'm having a hard time with photobucket and it's way past my bedtime, so I'll have to post some pictures in the next few days. I have a few of Andrew at the health clinic that our mother took. Andrew is very encouraged about the treatments but he is in need of a lot more sleep. So if you pray, please pray that he can sleep for long stretches at a time. Currently he is only sleeping in 2-3 hour increments.

Thank you!

First day in Canada

Ryan Hueter, of The Daily, wrote a great article about the MVP 5k race that was published today. Click here to read it or find it in The Daily of the University of Washington. Thank you for the nice article!

Andrew arrived in BC last night and completed his first two treatments today (oxygen therapy & hyperthermia therapy) at the health clinic. I'm waiting to hear how it all went, but I did receive an awesome picture of Andrew receiving his oxygen therapy. He looked like a spaceman with a helmet-like contraption and hoses hooked up to it. I know, not very medical sounding, but I'm only receiving second-hand information so I will try to get some more technical information and post when I can!

I found a nice cottage for Andrew to stay in that is just a few minutes away from the clinic. He is very pleased with the accommodations so far. It is peaceful and in a quiet neighborhood. The owner, who lives next door, is a professional gardener so the garden space is gorgeous. It is serene and peaceful and just the place for Andrew.

Video from Saturday

Take a few minutes to watch this great video that our friend Mr. Kiang took on Saturday. It really shows how awesome the turnout was on Saturday. Thank you for this footage, we love it! And by the way, did you know that the overall winner of the race, Jim Savage, is our cousin? How cool is that? I think his time was around 15 minutes. Wow! Way to go Jimmy! A special thanks to that side of the family who came all the way from across the sound in Hansville, WA to be there. I'm sure that was a very early morning in order t0 catch the ferry. And of course thank you to everyone else who was there and made the effort. We even had a bride (got married at 5:30 that night!) and most of her wedding party in attendance. Talk about support!

Andrew was feeling pretty good all day but has been very uncomfortable and in pain this evening. The fluid build-up in his legs, feet and abdomen cause pain and he often will feel dizzy, bloated and lots of pressure. He was able to drain off some fluid yesterday by himself, so that brought some relief. Andrew is scheduled to start treatment at the Integrated Health Clinic in Fort Langley, BC on Wednesday. He will leave tomorrow to head up there. Click here to read more about the clinic. He is slated to receive treatment for 4 weeks, but we will take it 1 day at a time and see how he feels. We found accommodations for him just a few minutes from the clinic in Fort Langley.

I will continue to keep you posted!

Success!

We had an amazing turnout this morning at the 5k. Thank you to everyone who came out to run and walk. We can't express enough how grateful we are for each and every one of you. We truly are blessed to have so many wonderful people in our life. I will post a few pictures once I'm back home and on my computer. I wasn't able to take too many pictures...so if you have a picture from this morning, please email it to ekdenton@gmail.com. We would love to see all your pictures! I also hope to get a few of the facts and share those with you...how many attended and how much we raised.

Andrew had a rough night & morning, so we are thrilled that he was able to attend. He enjoyed seeing all of you and hopefully you got a chance to say hello to him. He's spent the remainder of the day resting and watching football. Poor Huskies!

Thank you again.

5k Walk/Run Tomorrow!

We just wanted to say thank you to everyone who is taking the time to come out tomorrow and support Andrew. We are so excited for the event and to see all your smiling faces! We apologize for the confusion on the website the last few days about registering for the race. If you have not signed up yet, don't worry, you can still register! Just show up tomorrow morning before the race starts and you can register. Registration opens at 8:30am. The start and finish line will be near the basketball courts and Evans Pool.

Click here to read Andrew's article on the Ron & Don show on 97.3 KIRO FM. You can hear the audio clip by clicking here.

Catheter Procedure

I wanted to let everyone know that Andrew's catheter surgery went well today. It was very quick and painless and Andrew was home by 5:30 tonight. We all have to learn in the next few days how to help him drain it, so hopefully this will bring him some more relief. He is fairly sore from the procedure and continues to be in pain and cramping.

Andrew hopes to be able to attend the race on Saturday. If he is there he looks forward to saying hello to everyone he can. If you don't get a chance to say hi to Andrew, please know he is so thankful for your support. You may have to get through the Moritz sister body guards to get to him!!!