September 26th

I just wanted to let everyone know that Kirk will be going into the hospital in Bristol on Friday to have surgery. The stent that he had put in at Cleveland is open but for some reason his stomach doesn't seem to empty the way that it should. They are going to go in and try to either take the part with the stent out and reconnect, or do a bypass by pulling up another piece of the intestine and making a new opening in the stomach. Hopefully this will help relieve the bloating and fullness that he has all the time. The same doctor that put in his port-a-cath is going to do this surgery and we feel comfortable with him.

All of Kirk's other tests have been very good. The biopsy that he had done when they did the endoscopy was benign and all his other tests were good as well, so hopefully this will get him all straightened out. I will keep you posted on how things go. They said that he would probably be in the hospital for 4 to 7 days. As always, please keep him in your prayers as he is really dreading this.

Thanks to all and God Bless!
Kirk & Laura

September 10th

Hello everyone, well we went to see Dr. Swan today. Last week Kirk had a PET study and a bone scan and we got the results today. Dr. Swan wasn't sure about the bone scan because it actually stated that things seemed to have gotten worse but Kirk has had three scans so he thinks that they were talking about the second one because the PET study showed that the bones were healing and that he had responded to the treatment very well. His blood marker was below normal today at 143 so Kirk got an excellent report. The PET study showed something around the stent area and suggested that he have another endoscopy with the light in his stomach to check that out but Dr. Swan said that this could be just some irritation or scar tissue. He scheduled an appointment for Kirk this Wednesday to have that done. For now Kirk doesn't have to go back to the Dr. for three weeks. He still has to get his shots for bloodcounts and his trial study injections but if this last test is clear he is good to go for a while. He has done really well and I'm very proud of him and I know that all of you are too. He has been through a lot and kept on going. Right now he is at Chase's football practice being a coach which he loves.

As soon as we know about the last test I will post to let you know to. I hope everyone had a wonderful summer since it is coming to an end so soon. Thanks again for your support and prayers.

God Bless!
Kirk and Laura