Keep Calm and Carry On

It's been awhile since the last update, but we are still here.

 The last month has been pretty uneventful.  About a month and a half ago Bennie was taken off of his medicine for a couple of weeks because of his kidney function.  After his last scans and bloodwork his kidneys were still not functioning properly so they reduced his dosage from 3 pills twice per day to 2 pills twice per day.  Then about a month ago that wasn't helping so they further reduced it to just 1 pill twice per day.  Well... that is a bit scary because research shows that the lowest dosage to go down to is 2.  So for a month now Bennie has been down to one.  The good news is that the side effects have gone down... and he has a little bit more energy.  The bad news is that we don't know if his cancer is still being controlled because of the very small dosage he is on.  So, we go back this week for another followup at MD Anderson, and then in another month for another round of scans. 

We went on a nice camping trip in the Hill Country and floated the Guadalupe River for Bennie's fathers 50th Birthday.  We rented a 30 foot travel trailer for the first time:

It was nice to get away for a weekend, and it was nice that Bennie enjoyed himself and felt great!!  He was able to stay out of the sun for the most part and covered up everything and wore sunscreen, but the sun only got to his hands... and they burned.  If he was on the full dose of Zelboraf I'm sure this would be much worse:

 

Here is Colby with the fish he caught:

We have had a nice summer, and we have enjoyed staying indoors away from the brutal Houston heat and sun at the movie theater!  We have seen all of the kids movies that have came out!!!  We are really blessed to have this time where the treatment that Bennie is currently taking hasn't really affected him all that much! 

Also, in about a month I will be walking for the Aim for the Cure Melanoma walk at MD Anderson on September 21st.  It will be fun to raise money for a charity that will fund research to help find a cure for this awful disease!  There have been so many advancements in the last two years in the field of Melanoma, and we pray that more will become available to help Bennie and all those suffering with this cancer. 

Here is my fundraising page if anyone would like to read more about that:

Sponsor JANET LUNSFORD in AIM for the CURE Melanoma Walks

I will update more on Tuesday after the followup appointment!