September 16

Hi Everyone,

We are currently enjoying a short reprieve back to the way life used to be. Denny is at school, teaching a full load during the day and correcting papers at night. I am back to job-sharing my position at Xavier, which allows me to have two days each week when I can just do what I want to do! We know we only have a few more weeks of this right now, so we are enjoying these days.

Currently the only medicine Den is taking is an antibiotic because his immunity system is still compromised from the chemo he took for those six weeks during his radiation therapy. He's still a little tired but he tries to rest after lunch and he sometimes naps before supper. He's eating well and feels good.

Yesterday we met Denny's new radiation oncologist, Dr. Steve Howard. His specialty is brain cancer radiation. He comes from the UW Hospital where he works with Dr. Mehta, the specialist we will be seeing again on October 14. Dr. Howard goes to Madison every Friday, so he will be part of the team that will treat Denny there, should there be stereotactic radio surgery (gamma knife) in the future.

We found Dr. Howard to be very caring, patient, and perceptive. He was patient and thorough with our questions and seemed to be quite optimistic about Denny's chances to have the gamma knife procedure. He estimated that at 50/50 right now, but indicated those numbers could change if more chemotherapy is the course of treatment first. He also told us that there are some experimental treatments being done that are having very positive results. He said that we would want to consider those since Denny is in such good general health.

Dr. Howard also explained the gamma knife procedure in more detail. He has done over 200 of these and Dr. Mehta, who is considered the nation's expert, was actually the doctor who perfected this treatment. Dr. Mehta has done well over one thousand of these procedures. On October 14, Den will have his first MRI since the biopsy and we will meet with Dr. Mehta the same day to find out the results and learn what the course of action will be.

We continue to feel very blessed for the outpouring of love, concern, prayers and support we have received. As we thank God for that each day, we pray for continued
health and happiness for you and your families.

Hugs to all,
Carla