Long overdue

I know that an update has been long overdue.  However, there has not been much to report.  Matthew has continued chemo.  He has struggled with blood count problems.  At one point his red blood count was low enough that the doctor recommended a transfusion.  However, Matthew resisted because he didn't have any symptoms.  His blood counts have come back up.

He was able to come visit (along with the parental unit) for Amelia's baptism a couple of weeks ago.  We were glad to see him, he was tired, but in pretty good spirits.

He had some scans done to check his status this week.  Matthew is considered stable.  The tumors showed no significant change.  One of them may have shrunk a bit, and another might have grown, but the changes were so small it could also be measurement error.  His blood counts were also good.  Right now, the course of action remains the same.  The doctor spoke of the possibility of participating  in some experimental treatments in the future.

For now, we are pleased to hear this news.  All of the crazy noodles will be together for Christmas in just a few weeks.

Not Many Words

I don't have a lot to share, or say otherwise today.  Matthew met with the surgeon at MDA yesterday.  The panel decided he was not a good candidate for the surgery.  He will continue to do chemo.  That is all we have right now.

 Matthew celebrated his 34th birthday this week.  He has been in good spirits which is nice to see.  Mom and Dad closed on a house in Lake Jackson on Monday.  They will be moving over the next couple of weeks.  We are hoping hat they get an offer on their house in New Jersey soon.

Will share more when I have something more.

A New Mascot

Emily recently participated in the Color Run in Matthew's honor (Matthew does like to paint). In case you are wondering, WSHR stands for Wall Street Hood Rat. Do we have a new mascot for The Fighting Noodle?





Matthew had his appointment with the new doctor that performs the HIPEC procedure. http://www.hipectreatment.com/documents/hipec.php
This procedure involves using heated chemotherapy solution during surgery. It is not considered standard-of-care for colon cancer, so there are some hoops to jump through. The doctor has ordered a MRI, which will take place in two weeks. After the MRI, the doctor will take the results to a panel of doctors, who will make a decision about the procedure. We Are expecting the decision toward the end of September.

 Matthew has continued his chemo (minus the drug that was affecting his liver). His platelet counts have dropped a bit, but have remained high enough to continue.  He recently completed round 9.

Matthew's fight continues...please continue to pray.

August update

We are overdue for an update, but previously, there was not much to report. Matthew has completed 7 of his 12 chemo treatments. His platelet counts have been staying strong. He has been feeling ok, but his hair has gotten much thinner. He also doesn't have to worry about shaving. He had some scans this week at MDA and got his results on Friday. The good news is that one of his 3 tumors shrunk, and the other two stayed the same. Shrinking is great, but not growing is good. The only negative is that his liver function was slightly off. Three different measures came back as being slightly high. This most likely means that the chemo is affecting his liver. As a result, they will take one of the drugs out of his chemo cocktail. He also was referred to another surgeon. At this point, this is a consultation to see what the options are. They seem to be optimistic about the fact that they found no more spots, and he only has 3 small tumors currently. In another note, I would like to take this opportunity to wish our parents a very happy 40th wedding anniversary. We love you and wish you many more years together.

Keep on trucking....

Matthew's platelet count was 120 today so he received his 4th round of "Chemo Take Two." He has gotten all chemo on schedule so far this time around. The first set of treatments was really spread out due to low platelet counts, so he only made through 4 treatments in 12 weeks or so. He reports that this "chemo cocktail" doesn't make him feel as badly as the first one did. In other news, Mom, Dad, and Isaac are headed to Jersey to pack up the house. We are hoping for safe journeys and that all goes smoothly.

Chemo take 2

Matthew had his 3rd round of chemo today. His platelet count was 85, which is definitely lower than we would like. They have been up and down quite a bit. Last week they were 124. He is doing fairly well with the treatments. His hair has thinned, but it hasn't all fallen out. Now it is just more like the thickness of most people. :-) His spirits are pretty good in general. I will post more when I know it.

185

I had lots of ideas for a brilliant blog post yesterday. However, if you aren't aware, I have a baby that is 4 weeks old today, and she had other plans for me. So I apologize for the delay. Matthew had his follow up at MDA yesterday. His platelet count was 185! That was higher than we have seen since this all began. He still is suffering from some abdominal and back cramping, but overall is improving. He is supposed to start a new regime of chemotherapy as soon as possible...most likely next week. Thank you for all of the continued prayers.

Waiting..

Sorry this is a bit delayed. Matthew was released from the hospital. He has been quite uncomfortable. His back has been cramping a lot. He has an spot at MDA tomorrow. Hopefully, his platelet count will be up! More to come...hopefully tomorrow.

Hello....Grey's Anatomy?

Since ER is off the air--Grey's--we might have some script ideas for you....  As our sister, Emily, says, "I am almost convinced my brother wants to be the muse of a medical drama writer."

Matthew is still at MD Anderson.  He is off of the pain pump, and on regular Tylenol.  Why Tylenol?  They use Tylenol to treat the fever that keeps spiking (last night 102).  Another issue is his resting heart rate, which has been 100 (upon entering the hospital it was 60).  This is down from previous numbers that kept setting off his alarms.  All of his tests, scans, and ekgs, have come back clear.  He has been up and walking around, and my Mom says that overall, he seems, "Much better."  They are thinking about starting antibiotics.

Another night

Matthew is having some trouble with pain/ pain management.  Therefore, he will be staying another night.  There are no other complications, and no other news at this time.

Overnight Stay

Matthew is having an overnight stay tonight, but unfortunately, it is not in a posh hotel.

The good news is, Matthew's procedure (partial splenic artery embolization) went well.  They were successful in getting his pain under control, and he was sleeping when my mom called around 8:00.  He has to stay overnight because the procedure requires that he lay flat for 6 hours.  This is because the procedure is done without any staples or stitches.  Although the procedure went well, we won't know the outcome (whether or not the platelet count rises) for a while yet (I don't know the time frame).

Thanks for the thoughts and prayers.  If all goes as planned, he should head home in the morning.  I will update when I know more.

What doesn't kill us...

A couple of developments have occurred since my last post.  First, and most importantly, Matthew had a PET scan, and we found out that he was not in remission.  He has 3 tumors  in the colon area.  One of these is the spot that we had been watching and was not clear previously.  The report came in the mail without any additional information from the doctor.  Dad contacted MD Anderson, and has been waiting for more information.

 Today, they received final clarification on a procedure that is scheduled for Monday/Tuesday 4/23 and 4/24.  They will do a "partial splenic artery embolization" on Tuesday.  From research, and our understanding, this is a procedure that will hopefully result in decreasing the amount of platelets that are stored in his spleen, and possibly cut some of the blood flow to the tumors.  They are hoping that this procedure will help address his low platelet counts, and will allow for more chemo.  The procedure is supposed to be done with a catheter and should be outpatient.

So, unfortunately, the fight continues.  Pray that this procedure brings good results.

Nothing New....

Some of you may have seen a Facebook post or heard some news about Matthew bleeding and a low platelet count.  Fortunately, it turns out that both of those are a problem. 

Matthew started bleeding from his stoma on Sunday evening.  The stoma is a result of the colectomy Matthew had last May.  My Dad took him to the emergency room because of the fear of excessive bleeding as a result of his low platelet count.  The bleed stopped, and they did scans to check for internal bleeding, which came back negative.  However, they told Matthew that his platelet count was a 20--which is extremely low.

A couple days later Matthew went to the oncologist. The oncologist tested his blood and found that his platelet count was in the 60's.  His thoughts were that they did not test Matthew's blood quickly enough, and his platelet clotting occurred causing the count to be inaccurate.  He sent him to LabCorp for another count (immediately after testing it in the office) to test his theory.  The blood count from LabCorp came back as too low to count.  This confirmed his theory that the hospital's count was inaccurate.  He also told Matthew that bleeding from the stoma was very common (which nobody had mentioned before). 

Therefore, despite the scare.  Matthew is still in the same place he was in last week.  His counts haven't gone up yet, but the doctor doesn't seem concerned.  So, we just hope that he needs more time.  The next step at this point is scheduling his colon resection.  This is not on the books yet, but they are hoping for the end of April. 

Thanks for the continued thoughts and prayers.

Remission!!!

Matthew's scans were clean!  They saw no cancer!  His platelet count was still low (74), but hopefully, with time, they will gain some more ground.  He will go back in 3 months for another set of scans.  He still needs to go through his resection surgery.

For now though, we are relieve, and thankful......

Happy Dance--at least a small one!

We can do a little happy dance this week.  Matthew's platelet count went up to 74 --all on its own!

  This doesn't change the fact that chemo has been discontinued.  However, we were a bit concerned that the marrow may have been permanently damaged.  So, this is excellent news.

They also had a meeting with the surgeon that will do his resection.  The doctor basically said that he wouldn't do surgery if there was still cancer present.  So, the next step is appointments at M.D. Anderson.

These were already in the works, but it has taken a while to get them all straight.  Mom has gone back and forth with them on scheduling things in the right time frame (and right order) several times.  March 22nd Matthew will have his next round of scans at M.D.A.  These (Hopefully and with lots of prayers) should show that all the cancer is gone.  He will get the results from the scans with the M.D.A. oncologist on March 23rd.  He will have a follow-up with the liver surgeon on April 2nd (he has to have several meetings a year with the surgeon).

So, in short, the prayers --and time--are working so far.  Please keep them up  They are much appreciated.

More Trouble with Platelets

Matthew got some bad news today.  The doctor has discontinued his chemo treatments.  Even after all of the "boosters" he has gotten in the last few weeks, his platelet count has dropped from 55 last week to 49 this week.  The plan was for him to receive 4 more treatments.  As of this point, we don't know what exactly this means for the long term.  We don't know how effective the last several treatments have been.  It is possible that all of the cancer is dead.  There was actually very little of concern left after the last surgery.  We probably won't know more until the next round of doctor's visits and tests at MD Anderson --appts TBD.

The doctor said that Matthew could schedule his colon resection.  However, we are unsure about the timing of that because of the low platelet count.

We are also hoping and praying that rest, without treatments or medicines, will allow his body time to recover.

.....and so we wait some more.

The Little Platelets that Can?

  So the news this week wasn't good. Matthew went last week for a platelet count.  Following what has been the normal pattern, Matthew's platelets were low (59).  So, they put him on a steroid pack, which has also been the normal pattern.  However, this week, when he went back for another count, his platelets had actually dropped to 55.  This could possibly be because he has an infection from an ingrown toenail.  He is currently taking antibiotics for this infection.  They gave him a shot to help boost his platelets, and he is expected to receive another shot next week.  His platelets haven't given up yet, but they aren't making it up that hill.  Those little platelets could sure use all the cheers they can get.


I think I can, I think I can, I think I can, I think I can, I think I can...

Round 4

I am a few days behind.  Matthew did have chemo this week.  His counts were up this week.  White and Red were with within limits.  The platelets were 79, which is still low, (goal of 100) but they will do chemo in this range.

So, he has now finished 4 rounds (out of 8)..So, he is halfway done  .I think.  I might have pregnancy brain today, so please forgive any errors.

Still Struggling

Matthew went for chemo today (3 weeks later) and his blood counts didn't make the cut.  His platelet count was 49 (100 is goal), white blood counts were low, and red blood counts were marginal.  The doctor attributes this to the chemo and trauma to the body in general.  They put him back on steroids and told him to come back next week.

In general, he is doing Ok.  He is tired a lot, but does not feel any worse than he has.  He is able to do things around the house (today he was mowing the yard and painting some old flower pots).  I know he is anxious about the time this is taking though.  

Ok...this slide show is long (like 6 minutes), but it is of all the family pictures we took during our Family Photo shoot in December--you know there are lots of us, therefore, a lot of pictures. 

Haluska Family Pictures 2011

New Schedule

Mathew did get chemo today, but it did require some hoop jumping.  When he went to the office they decided to send him to the hospital to have his platelets tested.  This allowed for a more accurate count (remember the platelet clumping throws his counts off).  His platelets were still low, but since they were in the 70's, they went ahead with the chemo.  Based on the last two rounds, they also made a decision to change to a 3 week schedule.  They said that finishing the rounds was more important than the time period, and each time it has taken at least 3 weeks for his platelet count to come up to a reasonable level.  If he can stick to this schedule, he will finish his chemo mid-April!  Three down five more to go!

Holiday Recap

The holidays have come and gone.  Our family was fortunate enough to be able to be all together for Christmas.  We had Christmas all together here in Dallas.  There were 12 people here in the house.  I don't know how my grandmother did/does it.  (She had eleven children)  Matthew (along with Mom, Dad, Jeffrey-who flew in to Houston, and Isaac) came in Thursday afternoon.  Friday, Matthew and Jeffrey took Evan, Isaac, and Claire to play Putt Putt golf.  Saturday, Matthew spent some time with the kids making a gingerbread house.  The video is a view of the finished product. The video is courtesy of Emily.You can hear and see some of the Christmas morning chaos in the background.

Monday after Christmas we got together to take family pictures, which was a gift from the kids to our parents.  (Putting everybody together in color-coordinated outfits could be a blog post of its own).  After pictures, we came back for some left-overs, and then they took Emily to the airport and headed home.  They headed home on Monday because Matthew was scheduled for chemo on Tuesday morning.  Unfortunately, his platelet counts were in the 40's again, so he was not able to get his treatment.  They gave him another steroid pack, and he will go back again tomorrow.

In other news, when Mom and Dad are able to get back to New Jersey--which will most likely be the end of next summer, they will be putting their house on the market.  My Dad has accepted a job with a new company call Sterling Smartware Solutions.  A big part of the decision to take this job was based on the ability to work from where ever he chose to live.  So, when the house sells, my parents will be relocating back to the Brazoria County area.  He is currently continuing to work as a contractor for the previous company as well. 

I will do my best to try to update tomorrow.  If you are interested in Hebert family happenings, you can check out my family blog at   katehebertfamily.blogspot.com