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08/30/07- Dirk had a MRI and a appointment with Dr. Carlisle on this day. Dr. Carlisle saw no new growth and thought that it looked better! The radiologist had not viewed the slides yet. Dirk is feeling fine. They gave new prescriptions for the same plan (CCNU & Procarbazine). They plan to wean Dirk off of the steroid (Dexamethasone) by the end of September! We pray that this next cycle goes as smoothly as the first! Thank you for continued support and prayers (we know they are working!!) We are scheduled to go back for another MRI as well as another meeting with Dr. Carlisle on October 18.

09/26/07- Sorry it has been so long since I have updated this site! No news is good news! Dirk has handled this round of pills very well. He is off of the steroid. We did get a copy of the radiologist report and it said "stable to slight improvement"! Yes! Another change with this round is that he does not have to have his blood drawn every week. He will need to have it drawn on October 11th so they will know for his October 18th appointments. Again, thanks for checking in and keep those prayers and positive thoughts coming. The Good Lord is listening!

10/18/2007- We were in Iowa City today for labs, MRI, and then a appointment with Dr. Carlisle at the Holden's Comprehensive Cancer Center. This is such a busy place. Makes me sad that there are so many people of all ages battling. Makes me glad there is such a place to go for treatment! We flew through the lab work and MRI but had to wait for a long time to see the doctor. Dr. Carlisle is great with his patients because he takes his time and listens to what they are saying. This tends to put him behind in his schedule, but we don't mind because we feel he cares and we appreciate the time he spends with us. He was a little perplexed with the preliminary radiologist report and with what he saw on the MRI and with talking with Dirk. Dirk has made great progress since starting this latest PC (no V) chemo. We were concerned that within the last 2-3 weeks some word searches were troubling Dirk. The MRI report thought there might be one area that was more of a concern, but the doctor wasn't that concerned with it and saw improvement in most of the other areas. I had mentioned in the last update that Dirk had been weaned off of the steroid, and that is something that the radiologist wasn't aware of. All in all, Dr. Carlisle felt that this was the right treatment plan for Dirk right now. He did start him back on a very low dose of the steroid, Dexamethasone, again. One other concern is the way Dirk's labs are slow to rebound. Instead of starting the next round right away, Dirk will be getting labs done next Tuesday and if all is well he will be starting again next Thursday (same dosage as before). The good news with this is that he has two weeks of unrestricted diet!! He can have some cheese! We brought my parents back with us. We will be going back to Iowa City on Saturday for my cousin Allison's bridal shower. It is fun having some time with them! Thanks to Mike for getting Laine to school and thanks to Natalie and Lily for the chocolate cake. Thanks to all of you for checking on us and for your prayers! We do not go back to Iowa City until December 20th due to the delay with this cycle.

12/22/07- I will be updating a new website from now on. In addition to being better to look out (my daughters think this is ugly), it is much easier to update! Please check www.caringbridg.org/visit/dirk for updates! Merry Christmas!!