Starting Chemotherapy

Since it was so late by the time we were finished, they made us an appointment for first thing Tuesday morning to get a pic line put in for his chemo.

We left the Cancer Treatment Center about 6:30pm and checked our phones and we had several messages telling us not to come home as a big storm was headed toward our house. We immediately called our son who lives about 5 miles from us and he said he thought the worst was going to be north of us so we headed home.

About 10 minutes later, he called us and told us to stay put...don’t come home as it was now headed right for them and then hung up!!!!!. You hear about those silly people that stand on their porch and watch a tornado head for their house? Well, that is what my (I-thought-I-raised-him-better-than-that) son did! He watched one drop out of the sky then ran back in and got him and his wife and my precious grandbabies in the bathtub and pulled a mattress over them. Thank God they are okay. Blew everything off their porch and into a nearby field, but left their house untouched.

The closer we get home the more I had to drive around trees and debris in the road and even seen an electric pole snapped like a toothpick with downed power lines right beside the road. We were doing a LOT of praying. When we finally made it home...our house was fine, but the power was out EVERYWHERE!

Kevin is on the wound vac and after all day at the Treatment Center, his battery was almost gone, so I had to start calling to find us a place to stay that had electricity. My son did not have power, my sisters and brother were in the dark, even my mom and dad were out. I finally tracked down my daughter, who was at a nearby school for shelter. We met her at her house and thank God...she had power!

Had to get up early the next morning and head back to Tulsa for his first chemotherapy. It consisted of leucovorin and oxaliplatin which was injected into his body by way of drips, and then the 5FU which is injected into his body through his pic line for about 48 hours...so he gets to carry around another bag for a couple of days. He goes back Thursday afternoon to get disconnected from it.

Due to the cold-intolerance that comes with the drug oxaliplatin, He cannot drink anything cold or even touch anything cold for at least 72 hours. He is also very tired, but he did not get very sick...just felt a little nauseous...so overall he is doing very well. God is good and still in control! Appreciate the prayers...please keep them coming :-)

Living and walking each day in faith.

May 14: Kevin did alright Tuesday while he received the first dose of chemo till he got ready for bed that night, and then it hit him hard. He barely had enough energy to empty his ilieostomy bag and drag himself to bed. He was very tired Wednesday, but still wanted to go to church. He made it through most of the service, but was so tired when we got home that he was physically sick.

Had a hard time getting him up Thursday morning. Was glad they were disconnecting him from the chemo pump that day.

He is even worse today. He is feeling very nauseous and it so tired. He also has no appetite now and has to force himself to eat. Please pray for him. He was feeling and doing so good. It is hard seeing him like this again.

May 17: He is much better today. He still has his moments when he gets really weak and nauseous, but overall is feeling much better. We go back to the Cancer Treatment Center tomorrow for out-patient surgery. Kevin is getting his port put in for his chemo treatments.

I am feeling much better too:-) I kind of got my eyes on the boisterous winds last week and started sinking. I did not know the chemo would affect Kevin so much and it scared me. But Jesus grabbed my hand and pulled me back on top of this trial. The wind and waves are still scary, but with Jesus walking back to the ship with me...I am better than fine:-) Thanks for the prayers!

May 19: The port-placement surgery went well and we received some really good news yesterday. Kevin's tumor markers (CEA) were down over 10%! Tumor markers are substances produced by tumor cells or by other cells of the body in response to cancer. A decrease is usually a sign the patient is responding well to the prescribed treatment. Since Kevin has only had one chemo treatment, we know it is God that made it decrease by that much.

Trusting in Him with our whole hearts!

We start our annual camp meeting at our church tomorrow and Kevin has been praying he would be off the wound vac before it started. God answers prayer!

Because of our annual camp meeting, Kevin asked to put off the chemo for a week. His Oncologist grudgingly agreed. So he has another week to regain more of his strength and enjoy revival meetings. Thank you for the prayers!

May 25: Enjoying camp meeting! Getting refreshed, rejuvenated, and revived! Kevin is doing sooo well. He mowed our front and back lawn the other day and even helped me weed the roses. It felt good to do "normal" stuff together like working in the yard:-)

May 31: Happy Memorial Day to those of you living in the United States. Hope wherever you live...you had a nice day today :-)

We had a very blessed day. All of our grandchildren and all but my oldest son were here enjoying the day with us. Kevin charcoaled chicken and hamburgers. He is doing so good!

Kevin looked and felt better than he has in quite awhile. We even went for a walk in the park after the kids all went home. God is so good!

Please keep us in prayer tomorrow as Kevin goes through another round of chemo. Feeling safe and secure in His arms.

June 3: We went to the Cancer Treatment Center Tuesday for Kevin's checkup and chemo. As soon as the oncologist came into the exam room, he went to his computer and pulled up a chart. It was a graph with a line at the top that went straight across for a little bit and then started declining and then showed a sharp decline for the last three weeks.

He asked us if we knew what it was with a very serious look on his face and when we gulped and said no and braced for more bad news...he started grinning and said it was Kevin's tumor markers!(The markers that show how the tumors are reacting to treatment)

They had started at 1725 which is very high and reflect all the tumors in his liver when he first started getting treatment over a month ago. It showed his markers had dropped to around 1500 a week after he started chemo, but even more shocking for the Oncologist was the dramatic drop in the last 3 weeks.... the markers had dropped to around 1100!!!! It had dropped 400 points with no chemo treatments (we put off the second round of chemo a week so Kevin could attend our annual campmeeting at church).

I pointed out that the biggest drop on that chart was with no chemo just attending church every night this past week! He said...umm yeah...just keep doing what you are doing as the tumors are definitely dissolving.

Keep doing what we are doing???

Yeah...you better believe we are going to keep doing what we are doing....praising and worshiping our Merciful Lord, trusting in our Great Physician, and resting in the arms of our Loving Saviour. Thank you for all the prayers! Please continue to remember us in prayer as we "continue to do what we are doing"!

June 5: Wanted to give you a quick update. Kevin's last chemo treatment really hit him hard. He was nauseous and very fatigued for three days after his chemo.

This is day 2 after his second round of chemo and besides being a little more tired than usual...he is doing great!!!!

He is suffering from a little cold intolerance this time from the Oxaliplatin. He has to drink or eat anything at room temperature and he learned the hard way not to grab a cold piece of chicken from the fridge and eat it :-)

But overall he is doing sooo much better than last time. Thank you for your prayers. God is a Rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. We are definitely being rewarded.

June 10: Kevin is doing very well. I share all your wonderful encouraging emails with him, so he wanted to add his own message on here:

Hello, this Kevin Boatright, Vickey’s husband. I want to thank everyone for your prayers. I have learned that prayer is the biggest weapon against Satan. I have a lot of weapons. I pray God’s blessings on everyone.

June 14: Been raining all day here in Oklahoma...Kevin is going to have a lot of grass to mow when it finally dries out :-)

Youth Camp 2010 began last night at our church. We have kids from Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi, and of course Oklahoma attending. There is a service every night till Friday...so it is going to be a long...wonderful...week!

Last night was the first night. The kids did several skits that were very good, but the best part of the evening for me was the cardboard testimonies. They had several people come out and hold a cardboard up with their testimony. I cried through the whole thing. One was a young girl whose cardboard said: Lost my Mom when I was 14, Confused and Hurting. She then flipped the cardboard and the other side said: Jesus took my hurt and gave me hope and joy.

Then Kevin came out, his cardboard said: Diagnosed with stage IV colon cancer in March. Flipped cardboard over and it said: Tumors dissolving. Doctors amazed! There were many more, some said "addicted to drugs" hopeless, etc. then other side said Jesus set them free, Gave them hope, etc. But the one that made me cry the hardest (besides Kevin's) was a woman and her husband that starting coming to church about 2 years ago.

Her cardboard said: 2 girls brutally murdered 2 years ago. One was my daughter. Thought life ended. Flipped her cardboard and it said: Through daughter's death found salvation. Life now worth living with Jesus. Her husband was holding a poster with their precious daughter's pictures (Skyla) and her friend that was killed with her.

It was a very emotional and uplifting service. Can't wait for tonight!

P.S. Kevin goes for his third round of chemo Wednesday, so if you think about it, would you say a prayer for us?

June 18: Third one finished...only 9 more to go. Then the Oncologist wants to give him a break and let the surgeon reconnect him. He then plans on starting Kevin on another type of chemo...but we do not think we are going to need that additional chemo because... (drum roll please)...Kevin's tumor markers are down again! They are at 925 now...that is down 800 points from when he was first tested on May 10, 2010! Please keep the prayers rolling in...they are so needed and appreciated.

There were a lot of people there that has not seen Kevin in awhile. Some had not seen him since before he was in the hospital.

All of them could not believe how good he looks. Kevin told them it was only through the grace and blessings of God.

He is definitely a walking testimony of faith and the power of prayer. Thank you for those prayers!

June 27: Tomorrow is Kevin's appointment with the Oncologist. If you think about it...would you say a prayer that his test results will come back with positive results? He will then be going in Tuesday for his fourth round of chemo.

He is tolerating the strong chemo surprisingly well. Well not surprising for us...we are blessed to have people all over the world praying for Kevin and I KNOW that is what has made the difference in his results.

He did wake up yesterday and today with hair all over his pillow, so it looks like he is going to lose his hair...but as Kevin said...that is a very tolerable side effect of the chemo.

Thank you for caring enough for us to keep reading my updates. I started these pages to keep the wonderful people who email me all the time...updated on how we are doing...but I have found a very precious and healing outlet for my feelings in writing this mini blog. I pray that God will richly bless each and every one of you who faithfully follow our walk down this path God has chosen for us and hold us up in your prayers.

June 29: Prayer changes things!!! Kevin's tumor markers were down to 695! The wound on his stomach has completely sealed up and the Oncologist wants to start him on Avastin next round. It is suppose to cut off the blood supply to the tumors and get rid of the tumors even quicker, but I think they are dissolving pretty fast now! We will pray about adding this strong chemo treatment to his regimen. If any of you have taken Avastin or know someone who has...will you contact me?

July 13: Went for 5th round of chemo and was told he could not get chemo because Kevin's blood platelets are very low. The Oncologist told him to come back next week and they will test him again to see if his platelets are up and can order more chemo.

Kevin wasn't too disappointed about not taking chemo...especially when he found out his tumor markers were down to 319!!!!! Praise God!!!! We are very excited about what God is doing! Thank you for your continuing prayers!

July 22,2010: Went to the Oncologist Tuesday. Blood platelets were not back to normal, but were high enough to safely take 5th round of chemo. The doc reduced the oxaliplatin by 25 percent. Kevin tolerated it better at that level.

Best news...drum roll please...Kevin's tumor markers were down to 198!!!! It went down over 100 points in one week...with NO chemo!!! Now is that not proof that it is God doing this miraculous healing...not chemo or doctors...nice as they are. We give all the praise and glory to our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

August 6, 2010: Kevin's blood platelets were down again so no chemo this week...but his tumor markers were down to 99!!! That is half of what it was 2 weeks ago! Doc is going to stop the Oxaliplatin which he thinks is what is killing the blood platelets and stating him on a new chemo next week if platelets are back up.

I asked him what happens when the CEA (tumor markers) hit zero...will the chemo be over? Doc said it will never be "over" and he will always be on chemo. I said why would you give a healthy man chemo and he said I didn't understand...that Kevin has an incurable disease and the best we can hope for is a strong remission. Well thank God...that is not all I can hope for! My God is an awesome God and He reigns! He has the final word and I'm believing it is "My Son be thou made whole"!!!!!

Prayer Changes Things!!!!

Your Sister in Christ,

Vickey

Next Page: September 2010: God still does miracles!

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