And Exhale...

I feel like I have been holding my breath for a couple of weeks. Today we got to exhale and breathe again. The bad news is that the tumor has grown a bit. The good news is that the growth is very small. Since October it has grown 1 centimeter in width and 2 millimeters in height. So, technically, the disease is progressing but at what the doctor terms as a "glacial pace." While it didn't shrink and it isn't unchanged, we are okay with the slight progression. It has not spread to other organs and remains slow growing. The small increase should not keep us from getting surgery. Deep breath. Exhale. Sigh.

Thank you for your continued prayers and concern for us. We are kind of numb and tired tonight from the stress of the week. Amazing how much worry can take it out of us. I guess that's why God tells us not to do it -- one of the several reasons, I suppose. Go figure.

We continue to have lots to pray for: Details of the trip, concerns about the operation, logistics to work out, etc. I will update here some refined requests in a few days. Tonight, though, I am going to ask for some special prayers for a new friend. We met her up at the hospital when Marc was getting treatment. They are the same age (six days apart). She has two children (ages 2 and 5). We have enjoyed visiting with her and her husband over the past few months. She has been in treatment for three years now, being diagnosed just after her son was born. She had a CT scan this week, too. Only hers shows new growth and spread. They are starting her on a new regimen next week. Please pray for this family. While we were comforted today by our news, it is so hard to rejoice knowing that someone else didn't enjoy the same encouragement. So much about this woman has touched my heart. It could be that she and Marc are the same age with a very similar disease -- hers is just a more aggressive monster. Perhaps it's the fact that she is a mom with kids she wants to see grow up. Or, it might be the look of sadness and desperation on her husband's face. I know that look. Simply put...we know in some small part what these folks are going through. It's brutal and ugly. While we covet your prayers in the coming weeks, we would be honored if you could spare a few for "Our New Friend"

With love and gratitude...

CT Scan

We would appreciate your prayers this week. Marc has a CT scan tomorrow to check the status of the tumor. We get the results Wednesday morning. We are praying desperately that the tumor remains stable (or has shrunk!) until surgery in March. Being at the upper limits of what the surgeon wants to do makes us nervous. We would be very sad to lose this opportunity in Washington D.C. Thank you for taking the time to keep Marc in your prayers. We are grateful!

I will do my very best to post an update on Wednesday!

Washington D.C.

The coordinator from the doctor's office called today. The doctor has reviewed all of Marc's info. While Marc's tumor is at the upper limits of what they prefer, they consider him "do-able." Not the polished description we would have chosen, but it's good news nonetheless!

While that news is very encouraging, we are somewhat disappointed by the amount of time we have to wait for his initial appointment. We won't be heading out for the initial consultation until the first week of February. Surgery won't be until March or April. We were somewhat deflated by the delay, but have faith that at no point in this process has God let us down. We are anxious to get back there and get this monster removed, but if we have learned nothing else in the last ten months it is that there is a good reason for everything...even booked surgeon's schedules.

In the meantime we are going to practice some faith and patience. We have a lot yet to arrange and come to terms with. If you are praying for us, here are some of our praises and requests:

• We are grateful to have found a place for me to stay while Marc is in the hospital. I was dreading living out of a hotel room in an unfamiliar city. Suzy's folks have offered me a place in their home. We are grateful for the accommodations and a friendly face in a strange place.
• We have been offered airline miles from some dear friends. This is a huge help!
• We have decided the kids will stay here while we are gone. This has been a tough decision. My hope was that we could be together as a family to encourage Marc and each other; however, the logistics and expense are just overwhelming. My folks have kindly offered to take over duties here. They are courageous! I anticipate they will need lots of support and help. I also anticipate this will be brutal on the kids' emotions as well as ours. We are not looking forward to being apart for weeks. Lots of prayers needed in this department!
• We have learned from the coordinator in Washington that while Marc's hospital expenses will be paid by our insurance company, they will deny his surgical expenses. We are not deterred by this and plan to have an appeal written before we even start the process Please pray that our appeal will be granted and they will pay for the cost of the operation.
• Again, selfishly, we are hoping that he can have surgery sooner than March or April. The waiting is hard. If we do have to wait, we are praying that the tumor remains indolent and unchanged. If he is at the upper limits now, we don't want any additional growth.

Those are the major issues at hand this week. There remain lots of other little details that need to be addressed, but we are slowly working through them. We just remain grateful for the opportunity to have this surgery. As complicated as the process is, we are so excited that he is a candidate for this procedure.

Thank you all. You have been so generous with offers of help. Many of you have told us that you don't think you have done enough. Just remember that the seemingly small helps are enormous to us. Our cup overflows right now. Our burdens have been lightened so much by every act of kindness and generosity. We cannot express in words how humbled and grateful we are.

We'll keep you posted on any developments!

With love and gratitude...

Happy New Year!

As we say goodbye to 2009, we want to thank all of our family and friends for their support and love this year. It's been a tough one and we couldn't have done it without all of you. Thank you for the prayers and encouragement along the way. You are all much appreciated!

Happy New Year! May God bless you and keep you all in 2010!

With love and gratitude....

The Griffiths

P.S. No chemo this week! Marc gets a break to start getting ready for surgery. We are hoping chemo is done and in the past. We are praying that we will enjoy a cancer free 2010! We'll keep you posted on our progress....We anticipate a very busy January and February.

Pseudomyxoma Peritonei

I apologize for not updating here last night. I had many reports from friends that said they checked back repeatedly for updates last night. I am so sorry. Yesterday was an incredibly full day at the doctor's office and clinic. We got out quite late and then headed to the kids' school for Julia's Christmas program. It was a very full day and my mind was numb by the time we got home. I just ran out of steam! Anyhow....

Pseudomyxoma Peritonei. Big words. Rare cancer. After almost two rounds of chemo and ten months, the doctors believe they have a refined diagnosis. Pseudomyxoma Peritonei (PMP) is a rare, slow growing cancer, that usually originates from the appendix. It typically does not spread through the lymph system and is treated most successfully with major surgery. So...we met with the surgeon and we are going forward carefully with preparations for surgery. The surgeon at OHSU is willing to operate; however, he is wanting us to consult with a group in Washington D.C. that does these procedures on a regular basis. We are gathering our wits and our records and will be taking the first steps in what will hopefully make Marc cancer free.

We are cautiously optimistic at this point that we have a diagnosis that makes sense. We have run this race so long now and are wary of getting too excited (or upset) by any news we receive. Allowing all this information to soak in has been tough. We have prayed so hard that he could be cured of this. All the information until now has indicated that would take a miracle. I'll go with that and accept this news as such. People can actually survive this stuff and go on to live normal lives. If what they suspect is true, Marc has a good chance of beating this.

With that being said, the surgery is MAJOR. The operation can take all day. He will be in ICU and on a respirator for several days. It will take him, if all goes well, a month to recover from the surgery and even then there are risks of infection and complications. Fortunately, he remains strong and healthy and will hopefully be able to tolerate it relatively well.

Right now we are making initial plans for all of this to take place. While the doctor in D.C. is looking at his file, we will also be going forward with the doctors here. His last chemotherapy treatment of this round will be in two weeks. He then gets January off to recover and distract himself with work. He has a CT scan scheduled and possibly a laparoscopy. The laparoscopy would be done to assess the tumor in case we can't be treated in D.C. The surgeon here would like a look around to get an idea of what the surgery will entail.

As we are taking these initial steps, we would appreciate your continued prayers. There are lots of details to work out, tests to complete, and information to gather. We need to make wise choices and ask hard questions. If you have time in the next few weeks, would you pray for us? Here are some of the major concerns:

• This new diagnosis is correct
• The tumor is operable. His CT scan is the first week in January. We hope it remains unchanged.
• We are able to have the surgery with this group in Washington D.C. We are hoping they find him a good candidate and accept him.
• Our insurance will cover this surgery -- here or in D.C.
• The logistics work out. We have a lot to organize if we are to be gone from here for a month or more.
• Ultimately, if Marc is able to have the surgery, we pray that it is a huge success and not a difficult recovery.

Thank you for all of your prayers and support. I hope you are as encouraged as I am by all that God has done for us. Please drop us a line if you would like more information. If you are curious about his diagnosis you can find information on Wikipedia -- just type in Psedomyxoma Peritonei. It's pretty amazing.

With love and gratitude....

Thanksgiving Memories...

Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!
For His mercy endures forever.

Psalm 136:1

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving together with family and friends. We made some really great memories and had a lot of laughs. Highlights were Marc's sister, Jenni, and her family making the long haul from California to be with us. We loved the chaos of six more people in the house. Great times cooking together, eating, and catching up. We also enjoyed the company of several friends -- Ruth & Steve, Diane, and Tony. Thanks for being part of our day! Then there was our local family. I LOVE tradition, so it's always a blessing to be able to stop what we are doing and really enjoy being together. Even though we see each other often, the holidays give us a reason to do nothing but just visit and enjoy a yummy meal. We have so much to be thankful for this year, but many of our biggest blessings were sitting around our table last week.

So here are some pictures from our cozy and crazy day!

THANKSGIVING...GRIFFITH STYLE

Enlist the help of willing workers.
Stuff the turkey....

Massage it well...

Take one mother....


Add another...

Add some sugar...

...and a few hugs.

Thanksgiving!
It's about sweethearts...

Enjoying big brothers...

and little brothers.

Aunties that spoil us...

...and uncles, too.

It's deep conversations...

and laughing hard...

... then spreading the joy!

When the day is done and all have departed....

Clean it all up in style!

We hope you all enjoyed your own special day this Thanksgiving. Thank you for supporting us and praying for us!

With love and gratitude...

Doing Well...

Sorry I haven't been back to this place for a few weeks. Thanksgiving was a wonderful, but busy time for us. We enjoyed good family and friends...and an extra week away from the chemo clinic. It was great! More on that later...

Marc had his 7th chemo treatment up at OHSU today. We met with the nurse practitioner first. Nothing new to report -- he remains very stable. The day was very uneventful. We are anxious to meet with the surgeon on the 16th and find out what we will be doing next. We are holding our breath for good news!

We are excited around here. The kids will be getting their swine flu and seasonal flu boosters tonight. I was also able to get a swine flu shot yesterday. This is a huge praise! While it doesn't protect us from every little bug, it certainly helps to reduce the risk of bringing home two viruses that could hurt Marc. We have been staying away from a lot of our regular activities, trying to avoid the flu. We feel a bit more confident about getting out and about now that we are vaccinated. Given that it's the Christmas season, we would really like to participate in all the parties and gatherings.

Thanks again for the prayers and encouragement. We rely heavily on it! I am hoping to post some pictures from Thanksgiving. We had a really wonderful week! We had, and continue to have, so much to be thankful for!

With love and gratitude...