Recent scan shows….

No re-growth thus far!!!

The Doctors say that as far as they can see there is no apparent re-growth or changes in the cavity where the tumor once was.  They are attributing his recent seizure activity to after-effects from receiving radiation therapy to the brain.  Travis is going to switch anti-seizure medications in hopes to become seizure free ....(for at least 3 months so he can DrIvE).

His next scan will be in three months....

Thanks again for all of your kindness as we continue the fight against cancer!

It’s a Crap Shoot…..

Medication changes are a Crap Shoot....

After the last blog post of Travis's seizure activity they increased his dose of his anti-seizure medication.  That increase made him SO TIRED it was hard for him to speak and/or stay awake....so....I called up to the Doctors and they decreased that medication and put him on an additional med.  The combination of these two meds should do the trick!

However, there are always side effects involved.  Travis has been having 'tremors'.  At first when he experienced these 'tremors' he thought it was the onset of a seizure.  His lips quiver, his hands shake and his over-all 'self' is just spacey.  After a few of these he realized that they were manageable.  .  . and they say the 'tremors'  CAN go away once his body gets used to the drug....(hence the Crap-Shoot).  I am also sad to report he had yet another seizure last night   which is yet another side effect when you switch medications.   So we/he are just trying to get this medication situation under-control.

What works for some people doesn't work the same for another....C-R-A-P  S-H-O-O-T!  (words of wisdom )

Have a Fabulous Holiday Weekend!!!  We are looking forward to time with friends, family and fireworks!

Karla

No Posts was a GOOD thing…

Many had been asking "why have you not posted in-forever?"  Well...to tell you the truth it is because all was well   Unless of course this were a daily blog about the trials and defeats of raising two three year olds (that would be a never-ending blog).

Any-hoots I am blogging today to report Travis had yet another scary seizure on Saturday morning (never on a weekday when I can call his Doctors).  This time I did not witness the entire seizure. I was in our family room with the boys letting Daddy sleep in (yes I am a wonderful wife) and all of a sudden I hear two large BANGS.  As many things went through my head as to WTF could have just happened, one of them was perhaps Travis fell ? (clumsy poop!) I listened for a minute to see if I could hear a cuss word or the floor squeak because then I would know he was okay....and when I heard nothing I went up to check things out and there he was at the foot of the bed on the floor super confused.  I ended up taking him to the ER due to the fact he was unable to talk to me again (like after surgery) he was very disoriented and kept doing awkward things like laying down, getting blankets on then getting up and going into the bathroom (but not going TO the bathroom), walking out and laying back down....and while all of this was going on I was trying to get him to tell me his name...where he was...my name...or What the FREAK he was doing???

I decided to call my sisters (Thanks Jodie and Abby) to come watch the boys because Travis's behavior post-seizure had never been this awkward and I needed to take him to the ER.   Half way to BryanLGH West Travis turns to me and says "I think I had a seizure"...."ReAlLy?" yA ThInK?    I was happy he began to recall the situation and he was able to speak again

In the ER they gave him yet another dose of his anti-seizure medicine ...so he was a zombie on the ride home and then slept all day and night.

We will call his Doctors in Omaha tomorrow and see what they want to do...probably UP his anti-seizure meds

Hope all of you Dads out there had a wonderful Fathers Day

Thanks again for all of the support   It means a great deal to us!

Karla

One more thing to CeLeBrAtE!!!

Nothing new to report on the scan today   Things  had moved around a bit but the Doctors seem to thing that is all due to radiation and such.  Travis will have another scan July 14th to make sure those evil little cancer cells mind their own business!!!

So with that said we are ready to CeLeBrAtE with all of YOU!  Please come down to Barry's Bar and Grill this Saturday night for Beers, Nachos, Friends and to support Brain Cancer Awareness (don't forget to wear your Team Travis shirt or any gray shirt you may have in your closet)!

You may see name-tags at the gathering.  It has been suggested it might be interesting to see just 'how' everyone is connected to Travis.  So please fill out a name-tag with Name (DUH) and how you are connected to Travis   For examples- co-worker, wife, sister-in-law, team-mate, grade-school buddy, HS friend, Doctor, pediatrician, BFF...you get the picture

Can't wait to see you all on Saturday!  Thanks Again!

Karla

A bump in the road….

With all this good news we are sad to say Travis experienced another seizure last night

He is tapering off of the Decadron (steroids) and last night was the first night he did not take a p.m. dose...and his body and brain did not like that very much!

We are advised to try again a little slower now and also up his Keppra (anti-seizure medication) to try to prevent this from happening again.  This is just a MINOR set back but Travis (understandably) is devastated (not only about the seizure but the not driving for 3 months

I did call 911 (and it took like 6-7 rings for them to answer WTF) again but did not let them take him to the hospital as I figured (beings how I am so medically minded) that is was the steroid taper that caused it and he would be fine   The boys were sound asleep in bed and did not see or hear anything

Thanks again for all of your support!  We will try this taper thing again with better results to be reported

Have a great weekend!!!

Travapalooza….

First and foremost I must announce Travis got the okay to DRIVE today!!! YAY! YAY and YAY!!!  We went up to Omaha today to see a Neurologist and he agreed that everything was going well and that Travis being seizure free for 3 months is all he needed to give the 'go-ahead'....So.....he had the wheel on the way home!!!  Such independence (not only for him but for us Taxi drivers as-well)

Onto even more fun things......Please don't forget Travapalooza (a.k.a "Cancer can Lick My Taint party) at Barry's Bar & Grill in downtown Lincoln...May 15th 7-close...This party is to not only CeLeBrAtE the end of Travis's treatments but also to THANK all of our FRIENDS and FAMILY for your compassion and support!

I also must give a shout-out to all of the employees (a.k.a friends and family) at Kenexa, Complete Children's Health, Advanced Chiropractic, Dr. Richard Thompson's Office, Wittmania Marketing....oh and not to forget those awesome ladies from Birthday Group!

Thanks once again to you all,

Hugs....Karla

SAVE THE DATE!!!!

There will be a grand CELEBRATION Saturday May 15th to honor not only Travis and his ending treatment but to Thank all of our friends and family for their tremendous support

So mark your calendars for MAY 15th 2010 party will be at Barry's Bar......details to follow!

P.S. for all of you whom have purchased Team Travis T-shirts there is a way to link photo's of you sporting your new duds on Travistuesday.com (hover over the t-shirt link and a drop down will appear)...if you can't figure that out just upload them to Facebook and 'tag' Travis in the photo and we will upload it to the Gallery here on Travistuesday   Can't wait to see all the creativity

((HUGS))- Karla

And we thought his head couldn’t get any BIGGER…..

There is a NEW link on the Travistuesday site...TEAM TRAVIS T-Shirts!  Check it out!

New Chapter….

We met with the Radiation Oncologist  yesterday and it looks like Travis will be able to receive his treatments here in Lincoln

He is going to have a CT scan today at 1:00 to start the mapping process for radiation therapy.  Dr. Yiee is hoping to start treatment on Monday.  Travis will start another round of steroids (which they say has worse side-effects than the radiation alone)  on Sunday and have to take them the duration of radiation to prevent brain swelling.  They are estimating at this time his treatments will be Mon-Fri for 6 weeks.

Travis is improving at Out Patient Therapy at Madonna every day!  He will be tested again at the end of this week and I think he will go down to 2 or 3 days a week instead of 5!

Travis  has been helping out here at home a lot more.  We are currently trying to potty train the boys and it can be quite a challenge yet very humorous at the same time   I just hope we win this battle soon as-well

Thanks again for all of the encouraging words and continued support

Be Well,

Karla

Kickin’ him Out :)

Travis is kickin' Ass and taking names ...so they are kickin' him out of here tomorrow at 10a.m.   YaY!  Travis will do intense outpatient therapy starting on Thursday....so he has  a whole day OFF tomorrow to rest in his favorite recliner.

Travis will be open for visitors this weekend at home

Thanks again to all of you for all of the Support and Love   We are so excited to have him home!  The boys are going to bring on a huge headache!!! (but a good kind)

Smiles

Karla