Happy Mother's Day! (CAT scan, MRI day)

So, today Steve and I had to get up at 6:30 (that's never fun!).  We got Ashlynn ready and took her to moms house. (Sadie spent the night with her cousin.) I also brought mom her mother's day presents and dropped off Ashlynn and Sadie's stuff and we were on the road by 8:10.  My mom is keeping the girls overnight since Steve has an appointment at 8:15 tomorrow morning.  We went ahead and got a hotel room close to the hospital so we wouldn't have to wake up at 5am tomorrow and then battle rush hour traffic.

Today, we had to be at MD Anderson at 8:45 for Steve to get started.  First he had an MRI.  The MRI ran really smoothly and we got out of there pretty early.  We were hoping since we made it to the CAT scan appointment early that we may get out early.  But no, instead, we got there at 11:00, his appointment was at 11:30 and he didn't go back until a little after 1:00.  As always, while sitting in the lobby we met several people.  One guy we met, was about Steve's age, and there with his parents. (Here is his Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/PYN4C?ref=ts) He lives in Dallas, but his parents live in northern Louisiana close to where Steve is from.  So, we got to chit chatting and turns out this guy has melanoma too.  He found a "mole" that he wanted to get checked out in 2010.  The dermatologist did a biopsy and it came back as stage 2 melanoma.  He is now at stage 3b.  He has had several large lesions removed from his body and has had to have skin grafts to repair those areas.  Several treatments he has had have not worked.  The latest treatment he did was "Yervoy".  http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/26/business/26drug.html Yervoy was just approved by the FDA in March of 2011.  Yervoy has been the only treatment that has "worked" for him so far.  He has not had any issues with his tumors in 6 months.  He is not cancer free, but the tumors are not spreading aggressively like that had been.  His mother showed me photos of his tumors prior to removal.  They were baseball size or bigger, blackened, dead skin areas.  Similar to this http://www.google.com/imgres?um=1&hl=en&biw=1440&bih=809&tbm=isch&tbnid=lJo8A7eAOaQnvM:&imgrefurl=http://www.visualphotos.com/image/1x8803367/melanoma_on_arm&docid=yk2GtHkMNZYBYM&imgurl=http://www.visualphotos.com/photo/1x8803367/Melanoma_on_Arm_7Y5935.jpg&w=650&h=444&ei=JFmwT4rPDI2s8AT0-LSLCQ&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=248&sig=115157324366500708412&page=1&tbnh=143&tbnw=204&start=0&ndsp=25&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0,i:75&tx=150&ty=63  It turns out, he and Steve share the same doctor (Dr. Kevin Kim).  It's always nice to meet and talk to other people that are going through the same thing, especially melanoma specifically.  It's nice to hear how well Yervoy is working for this guy.  Although these drugs are hit and miss from person to person, it's great that they are making advancement in the melanoma world.  There are still several  promising clinical trials in late stages and I sure hope for even further advancements in melanoma.  I will be doing the AIM for a Cure walk in Houston in September and you guys can help Sadie and I raise money to help this "hope" become a REALITY!

Steve trying to fake a smile.  He was not happy to have an 1 1/2 hour wait for the CAT scan!  He wanted to get it done and over with!

Me, sitting in the recliner.  If it wasn't FREEEEEZING in there, I probably would have fallen asleep in the comfy recliner!

Steve and I got to the hotel around 3:30 or 4:00.  Steve was not feeling well.  I think he had a reaction to the dye this time around.  He has been really cold since we left the hospital.  Really cold as in we have the HEATER on 79 in the room.  He started feeling a bit better, but not enough to go out for dinner. (I wasn't feeling going out for dinner either!!)  So, we ordered room service.  We had a schmorgesborg!  (Don't we always??)  We had chicken wings, shrimp quesadillas, cesar salad, and a crab cake dinner.  The crab cakes were sooooo good.  Now we are just hanging in the room watching TV.  Hopefully Steve won't have any trouble sleeping and we will get some rest.  We have to be up early tomorrow to get the CAT scan/MRI results.  I will update sometime tomorrow and let everyone know how it goes.

Our yummy dinner. 

Happy Mother's Day to all of the Mother's out there!  I miss my 2 monkeys today!  We are going to have our own "Mother's Day" tomorrow :)