Chemotherapy and Thanks

Kevin is still making very slow improvements in Santa Cruz. He’s happy to be someplace with edible food, and we’re happy he’s closer to home. Kevin had a chocolate shake from Betty’s Burgers and loved it—we need to start the rankings back up again!

Kevin’s platelets were high enough to restart chemotherapy over the weekend. Last week, he stopped one of the many medications he was on, and voilà, his platelets are now higher than they’ve been in months! Medications do have the ability to lower platelets, and while most medications say it’s an extremely rare side effect, we’ve found that if there’s even a chance of it occurring, it’ll happen to Kevin. Kevin is very susceptible to medications’ side effects. Regardless, we’re happy that chemotherapy has restarted.

The course of chemotherapy is scheduled differently from radiation. Each chemo “course” lasts 28 days, followed by 14 days off. This schedule is supposed to continue for a year.

Other than restarting chemo, the main issue recently has been Kevin’s energy level. He’s able to do what the therapists ask of him, but he tires very quickly. His potassium levels are critically low, which can drastically affect his energy. Our best guess is that this has been caused by the prolonged use of steroids, which have been used to decrease swelling around the tumor. Kevin is almost off the steroids—he’s at a very low dosage now. The doctors have been giving him potassium supplements, and Mom will start bringing in smoothies packed full of fruits high in potassium. We hope that as his steroids decrease and his potassium intake increases, more energy will return.

Thank you to everyone who attended, organized and helped with trivia night Monday night at Donovan’s Pub! I heard that the night was an amazing success. What a wonderful outpouring of support from Colgate’s community. We continue to be impressed by you all!

Also, I want to send Relay for Life walkers belated thanks for joining the fight against cancer. Congratulations to our cousin Patrick at Virginia Tech and the participants at Colgate for fundraising, walking through the night and finishing!

Aunt Robin and Uncle Craig’s brain tumor walk is this Saturday, so I’m putting out the last call for anyone who would like to donate to “Kevin’s Team,” with proceeds going to the National Brain Tumor Society. Thank you to the many of you who have already donated—Aunt Robin and Uncle Craig have reached their fundraising goal! Of course, further donations are always welcome. Follow this link, then click on either Aunt Robin or Uncle Craig's name to donate. As of tonight, Aunt Robin is #9 on the Top 10 Participants fundraising list—good work, everyone!

Thank you again to everyone for your incredible support. If you’d like Kevin to see your lovely face and hear a message of support in your own words, take a digital video of yourself saying hello and send it to kickingkevinscancer@gmail.com.