Four down...Two to go!

So Beau finished his fourth round of chemo Saturday night...and got to go home (to Sam's house) Sunday! Mom said he did unbeliveably well this round. He never actually got sick! He felt pretty nauseous a couple of times but they stayed on top of the nausea medication and were able to fight it off. One of Beau's nurses told mom that he had seen a few patients that were able to adjust to the chemo and actually did better towards the end of their treatments so hopefully, Beau will be one of those kinds of patients. With the number of people that have been praying for him and the positive attitude he has had, that wouldn't surprise me at all at this point!

I've been thinking alot about this since Beau was diagnosed and in Sunday School yesterday, Mr. Washburn reminded me of it again...we have soooo much to be thankful for in this situation. It may not seem like it to someone on the outside looking in, but we really do. Things could have been so much worse than they are...

Things to be thankful for:

1. Beau's cancer was only found in his lung. I now know far more about synovial sarcoma than I ever would have imagined and according to my (and Dr. Brown's) research, it RARELY ever shows up in the lung first. In fact, from what we could find, Beau is only the 24th case in the world where it originated in the lung. Usually, synovial sarcoma originates in an extremity and metastasizes to the lung. If that had been the case, Beau's prognosis would have been MUCH worse...something like 2-3 years...because once it metastasizes, it becomes much harder to control. When Beau went out to M.D. Anderson, we were thinking there was a good possibility that he had a tumor somewhere else...thank God the one in his lung turned out to be the only one!

2. Beau was able to get into M.D. Anderson and be treated by the #1 specialist in soft tissue sarcoma. Dr. Benjamin is the chair of the sarcoma department at the University of Texas and M.D. Anderson and according to Beau, he literally wrote the book on sarcomas...

3. Sam and Dave Mosley: Dave Mosley and his wife Sam (friends from our church in Macon) moved out to Houston a few years ago and, then very shortly after that, moved to Hunstville, AL for Dave's job. They just so happened to still have the house out there in Houston and very generously offered to let our family use it for as long as we needed. Coincidence? I don't believe in those....(by the way, if you get the chance, I highly recommend reading the book "When God Winks at You" - it's a bunch of true stories of what some people call coincidences...but I believe they are much more than that.)

4. Beau's response to these treatments has been nothing short of amazing, really. The chemo that they are giving him is some of the strongest stuff out there (doxorubicin and ifosamide if you care to do your own chemo research). It's terrible for your kidneys and your heart but they have been giving Beau heart and kidney protectors with each dose and he has been doing great. He talks about feeling really weird and he has gotten pretty sick a few times but it hasn't been as horrible as he thought it would be. Everyone told us that the worst part of it was the nausea but over the years, they have made drastic improvements in the medication available for dealing with that. There is a drug called Emend that has worked wonders for Beau...Dr. Benjamin said Beau could be a commerical for that drug since it has worked so well for him. Maybe Merck (the drug company that makes Emend) wants to sponsor a race car...you think?

These are just a few things we have to be thankful for...and this is my list. I think once Beau gets done with all of this and can look back on it with some clarity, I might get him to make a list. His will be much more meaningful, I think...

Thanks so much for the continued prayers for Beau...he's on the home-stretch, now!

And please keep the pictures coming!! beaupictures@gmail.com