Journal entry by Andrea Gallegos —
Hello,
I've been getting some requests for a "Derek update," and I completely understand...it was in January that I last wrote.
Derek has been stable and has continued to follow his doctor's orders. He continues the chemo pill every night, the monthly immunotherapy infusions, and the tri-monthly (is that a word?) bone infusions. Yes, you can say he stays busy with all of this; in-between everything, he has multiples scans to keep track and of his cancer throughout his body.
Currently, his doctors are watching his Thyroid. There have been abnormal readings and lab work. He started new medication for that. He will get another scan for that next week and a meeting with his doctor the following week to hear more about what they see.
Beyond all of that....our family took a trip to Spokane, WA to see his brothers (and families) and some good friends of ours. It was time well spent with people we love talking, talking, eating, eating and some ax throwing mixed in. Yes, Derek could even throw the ax! It was wonderful. Derek kept saying how nice it was to be out of our house!
After our trip, he developed a sinus infection which caused some major headaches and hearing loss. If you have recently been trying to reach him, he cannot hear his phone ring but he will read your texts--keep those coming.
We saw an ENT yesterday for this and he did a small procedure to help get his fluid moving along, but he said it will take some time to regain full hearing of both ears.
Enough about Derek ( 😏 ), Ruby started running on the middle school track team and doing the long jump. She has had 2 meets and has done fantastically. She is still doing her club soccer with games coming up this weekend.
Winston is cutting all assignments close as every junior should...:)
Hope you are all well and we hope that we will see you all soon!
I've been getting some requests for a "Derek update," and I completely understand...it was in January that I last wrote.
Derek has been stable and has continued to follow his doctor's orders. He continues the chemo pill every night, the monthly immunotherapy infusions, and the tri-monthly (is that a word?) bone infusions. Yes, you can say he stays busy with all of this; in-between everything, he has multiples scans to keep track and of his cancer throughout his body.
Currently, his doctors are watching his Thyroid. There have been abnormal readings and lab work. He started new medication for that. He will get another scan for that next week and a meeting with his doctor the following week to hear more about what they see.
Beyond all of that....our family took a trip to Spokane, WA to see his brothers (and families) and some good friends of ours. It was time well spent with people we love talking, talking, eating, eating and some ax throwing mixed in. Yes, Derek could even throw the ax! It was wonderful. Derek kept saying how nice it was to be out of our house!
After our trip, he developed a sinus infection which caused some major headaches and hearing loss. If you have recently been trying to reach him, he cannot hear his phone ring but he will read your texts--keep those coming.
We saw an ENT yesterday for this and he did a small procedure to help get his fluid moving along, but he said it will take some time to regain full hearing of both ears.
Enough about Derek ( 😏 ), Ruby started running on the middle school track team and doing the long jump. She has had 2 meets and has done fantastically. She is still doing her club soccer with games coming up this weekend.
Winston is cutting all assignments close as every junior should...:)
Hope you are all well and we hope that we will see you all soon!
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