Connor Update

From Connor's Mom:

Wednesday, April 22, 2009 3:14 PM CDT Connor is hanging in there. He has moments of weakness and moments of strength. I love it when I see moments of the old, goofy and energetic Connor. It just warms my heart and lightens my burden. Praise God for those moments of sunshine. His feeding tube issues seem much better now. He's not in nearly as much pain. Thanks for the prayers.

He will get another dose of cetuximab tomorrow and then we will finish up the chemo on Monday night. He will then have a week or 2 off, depending on his blood counts. Please pray that his bone marrow will make his counts rebound quickly. We will complete another round of this (3 week period) and rescan after that round. PLEASE PRAY THIS TREATMENT IS WORKING. We haven't seen any more evidence of a rash. I guess it is all working behind the scenes. As always, God wants to see our faith in action. Who needs physical evidence, right? haha. It would be nice sometimes, though.

PLEASE CONTINUE TO PRAY FOR GUIDANCE. We are looking into several different avenues right now and waiting on lab results (labs that are looking at Connor's tumor to find any markers - ways to do targeted therapies). PRAY THESE LAB RESULTS WILL SHED SOME LIGHT AND DIRECTION ON OUR PATH. Connor is truly a pioneer for this new cancer.

We are also communicating with the surgeon in New York again. Dr. La Quaglia is the surgeon who was going to operate on Connor in March of 2007. The surgery was canceled indefinitely, due to Connor's low platelet count at the time. Anyway, he does a special type of interoperative radiation, where he uses radiation during the surgery. Connor's new cancer is ironically caused by radiation and destroyed by radiation. He cannot have a large enough amount of traditional radiation to the tumor, but interoperative radiation may be an option. If he could remove all the resectable tumor and use this radiation on the inoperable part of the tumor, we may be looking at a new option for Connor. Our doctors in Houston will be talking with him, hopefully next week. PLEASE PRAY THAT GOD WILL EITHER OPEN OR SHUT THIS DOOR - WE NEED HIS GUIDANCE MORE THAN EVER.

We have been studying Psalms this week. What beautiful, raw emotions are expressed in this incredible book. I found so many words that struck home to me. Here are some verses from Psalm 13

"How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I wrestle with my thoughts
and everyday have sorrow in my heart?
How long will my enemy triumph over me?
Look on me and answer, O Lord my God.
Give light to my eyes...
BUT I TRUST IN YOUR UNFAILING LOVE;
MY HEART REJOICES IN YOUR SALVATION.
I WILL SING TO THE LORD, FOR HE HAS BEEN GOOD TO ME."

Thanks for your prayers.