Not what we were hoping for

Dear Family and Friends ~ Thanks for checking back in with us. We have received some recent scan results and unfortunately they were not what we wanted to hear or what we were hoping for. A CT scan of my Dad's lungs shows that he has at least 10 new tumors there. Clearly the sutent has not worked to beat this beast back and we were so very disappointed to hear that he had not stabilized. On top of this, my Dad has another infection that has just totally wiped him out. He is weak and tired. The last two days he has been receiving IV antibiotics in the Oncologist's office, along with some saline to re-hydrate him. He is responding and starting to feel better, which is a big relief to us.
Further treatment options are currently on hold until he is feeling better and able to tolerate treatment. He also needs to have a full body PET scan so that we can determine if there are any other areas where the cancer might be materializing. One treatment possibility would be to move on to a chemo drug called Torisel. It is a chemo that is often tried next when the sutent has failed. It doesn't have an overly high success rate, but as we keep telling ourselves, someone has to be in the percentage that it helps -- so why can't it be my Dad! We won't know until we try and at this point my Dad is willing to give it a go once he feels better. So if we were to be asked what the major concerns and prayer requests are, that would be one of them - that he begin to feel better so that he can tolerate chemo. Another issue that has surfaced is that his remaining kidney is beginning to show signs of distress. He has been experiencing high levels of creatinine and so today he saw a kidney specialist. She is removing one of his blood pressure medicines that could be causing this, and we hope that a little bit of tweaking will keep him far away from having to start any dialysis.
I'll end this rather discouraging post with a glimmer of good news. The existing tumors that are on his skull have not grown, nor have any new ones developed. We are very grateful for that.
Thank you to all of you who have recently showered us with your kind words of encouragement. They are so welcome and are like a balm to our weary hearts. We are a strong family, but oh man we feel deeply. We vacillate between brave fronts and tears regularly these days. And so, it is comforting to us to be uplifted and surrounded by so much support as we soldier on. One of my dearest friends wrote to me today to tell me what my Dad means to her. She said that she has never met a more kind, wise, thoughtful and caring man than my Dad. I couldn't agree more.