Latest News

Apologies for not posting over the last month, but we have learned throughout this journey that it is like a roller coaster ride. Sometimes you are feeling very high when receiving good news and obviously sometimes you are feeling very low when receiving bad news. For this reason we waited to post on what is going on until we really knew and understood what is occurring.

Vann was able to start the 12th Round of Chemo yesterday and will possibly be going for the 13th Round in a couple weeks. The 11th Round proved to be the hardest Round for Vann. During the infusion, Vann had a reaction with hives, shortness of breath and slight chest tightness. After the administration of medications to counteract the allergic reaction she was able to receive the rest of the infusion. During the 11th Round Vann was much more fatigued than the previous rounds.

During the 11th Round Vann's tumor marker numbers were not responding how the Oncologist expected them to. At this point the Oncologist ordered a CAT Scan to get a better idea of what was occurring. The results from the CAT Scan were suspicious and questionable to both the Radiologist and Oncologist so a PET Scan was ordered. Okay, now to the good news-the results from the PET Scan showed remarkable improvements in the primary tumor and the tumors within the Liver. When compared to the PET Scan when Vann was diagnosed, it was obvious even to us how much the tumors had shrunken. In addition, the PET Scan clearly showed how much less metabolic activity was occurring within the tumors.

Our Oncologist felt very comfortable with the results from the PET Scan and informed us we will continue with the FOLFOX Chemotherapy and the Avastin. During this appointment we discussed the next step was for Vann to be evaluated by several Liver Surgeons for possible surgery. We have gone to one appointment at St Johns Cancer Center in Santa Monica and will hopefully be making more appointments this week. After meeting with the different Dr's we will be making an informed decision with our Oncologist with how to proceed.

At this point the game plan sounds like surgery will be performed sometime in December. The first surgery would likely involve removing the primary tumor in the colon and performing the surgery on the liver. Vann is expected to be in the hospital for one week following the surgery. The dates for the surgery will depend on if Vann can continue with the Chemotherapy and also how long it takes Vann to regain her strength to endure the surgery. As you can all see, a lot of variables are involved in how this is all going to proceed.

Think that about brings everyone up to date. Please if anyone has any questions feel free to e-mail us. This has been a pretty tough time, but definitely could not have been done without all the help. It is very difficult to put into words how much it has assisted us through this time. We really appreciate all the sacrifices our family, friends, co-workers and neighbor's have done to assist our family. Thank you!

The Tenth Round

Hard to believe but Vann was administered the tenth round of Chemotherapy today! The past couple weeks have been pretty tough with Vann battling to keep her White Blood Cell count up. The toxicity of the Chemotherapy has obviously been compounded by each round and her immune system is having trouble recovering. Vann is now receiving a medication called Nupogen, which basically is designed to help her White Blood Cell count.

Our Oncologist continues to be optimistic on getting Vann ready for Surgery and the tumor marker numbers have continued to go down. The CEA Tumor Marker is down to 188 and the CA 19-9 is down to 56. We are very happy to receive these results and are hoping to see the numbers decrease even more. We should have some news shortly in regards to the surgery.

Vann is keeping busy between either her Chemotherapy, Target Therapy, Daily Hydration, Acupuncture, Massage Therapy and Yoga. The combination of this approach has proven to help minimize the side effects and been a testament to how strong Vann is. Apparently being active has the biggest impact on keeping the blood platelet count up. We are trying to accomplish this with all the treatment options and of course the activities with Ryley and Taylor.

Quick note on the girls. Ryley has made the transition to Kindergarten at Eastbluff Elementary School. Ryley is enjoying meeting new friends and shows a genuine interest in learning. Taylor has moved up a class at Child Time Preschool and is still very free spirited. We have been very lucky to keep them going to schools right next to each other. The staff at both schools have helped make this transition as normal as possible for the girls. Thank you to you all for taking such good care of our girls.

Thank you all once again for the continued support. We have been truly blessed to receive all the help!

Heading towards the Ninth Round

Sorry its been a little while for an update, but we just had our appointment yesterday with the Oncologist. To give everyone a better idea of how well Vann's Cancer has responded to the Chemotherapy (FOL FOX) and Target Therapy (Avastin), we decided to share the current tumor marker numbers. The Cancer Antigen CA 19-9 was at 507.7 (U/mL) at the highest point and is currently at 99.7. The Carcinoembryonic Antigen CEA was at 1798.7 (ng/mL) at the highest point and is currently at 221.8. To give a reference, the normal limits for the tumor markers are: CA 19-9 (0.0-33.0) and CEA (0.0-3.0). So as you can see we still have a ways to go, but considering where we were at the news is great!

Vann was able to receive the seventh round of Chemo a week later than scheduled due to her blood platelets being too low. We are trying to do what we can to keep the blood platelets up and Vann was able to receive the eighth round on the two week schedule. Vann is on schedule for the ninth round of Chemo to start next Tuesday.

Long term wise our Oncologist is expecting Vann to tolerate somewhere around 12 cycles of Chemotherapy and Target Therapy. For now the tracking method will be the tumor marker numbers instead of exposing Vann to the radiation associated with scans. We should know in early November what options we have for surgery and will proceed from there.

Thank you to everyone for the help, love, support and prayers. We have been so fortunate for the meals being delivered, the guys at the fire station working for me, the support from our family/friends and all the help taking care of our girls. Its very difficult to express in words how much this has helped and meant to our family. At times I am left speechless, but please know we truly appreciate everything everyone has done to help us out. Thank you!!

Quick Update

Vann went in on Friday to her Oncologist and things are looking better. Her blood platelet count has rebounded and is currently over 100 now. In addition, it seems the fever has passed, although we never really figured out what was causing it. Who really knows when you have two little ones around you all the time! So now we are looking at starting the seventh round of Chemo on Monday. Vann was given the Avastin on Friday, but due to logistical reasons the Fol Fox will be administered on Monday.

Should have a update coming next week. As usual the questions for the Oncologist are building up again. Thank you to everyone for the support and prayers!

Seventh Round of Chemo

As usual I will briefly discuss how the last cycle, the sixth round, went for Vann. Things were a little bit tougher this round due to the cumulative toxicity of Chemotherapy. Vann has been able to maintain her weight, but her blood platelet count is starting to be low now. She is also having a lot more difficulty in sleeping now compared to the other rounds. Hopefully we will find an alternative to let her get some rest this week.

Prior to administering each Chemo round is when the blood tumor marker levels are checked. Both tumor marker numbers went down again by about one third. Vann has not been able to start the seventh round of Chemo yet due to her blood platelet count being below 100. In addition, for some reason she has had a fever and an elevated heart rate for the last 4 days. Her Oncologist has ran a couple culture tests which came back negative, but as a precaution she is on antibiotics again.

So, in the big picture of things, good news is the Chemotherapy is being effective in controlling the Cancer. The tumor marker numbers continue to decrease and we hope this trend can continue to get Vann to surgery. Her Oncologist is pleased with the results and had discussed the possibility of going to three week cycles rather than the current two week cycles. This would allow Vann's body more time to recover and maintain her blood platelet count above 100 before the next cycle is administered. At this point it is unknown how many more rounds of Chemotherapy Vann will have to do.

We will post an update on when Vann is able to start the seventh round. Right now we need to figure out the fever, the elevated heart rate and get her blood platelet count above 100.

Thank you to everyone for all the support and help! We honestly could not have done this without the generosity of our family, friends, co-workers and neighbors. Thank you all for making this tough time manageable and as normal as can be for Ryley and Taylor. We love you all and are blessed to have you in our lives.

Round Six of Chemo

First a quick update on how the fifth round of Chemo went. Vann has been feeling better and her energy level continues to improve. We now realize the Cancer was taking a lot of Vann's energy away before she was diagnosed. So far it seems the toughest rounds of Chemo were when Vann was recovering from surgery and was limited to a liquid only diet. We are hoping Vann can maintain her energy level and minimize the side effects on the future rounds of Chemo. We still can not figure out the hives and some other skin irritations, but this round was better than the fourth round.

We just got her blood tumor marker results back yesterday while the sixth round of Chemo was being administered. This cycle will be the fourth round that Vann also receives the Avastin. We are very happy to let everyone know the Cancer Antigen CA 19-9 and Carcinoembryonic CEA markers have been cut in half once again! The tumor marker numbers are actually lower now than they were when Vann was first diagnosed. We feel very fortunate for the response we are getting and are doing everything we can to ensure Vann keeps on track.

We also want to express how much we appreciate all the support from everybody. A lot of Vann's success during her treatments have been made possible by all the help from our families, friends, neighbors and co-workers. Its amazing how helpful the delivery of the meals have been and have enabled us to keep up with all the appointments and to have quality time with the family. Thank you to everyone for the outpouring of support and love!!

5th Round of Chemo

Vann tolerated her fourth round of Chemo very well and has been able to enjoy more time with our family. During this round there was no more fever and Vann's energy level was definitely up compared to the previous rounds. A couple new side effects have been hives and nausea. We are trying to pinpoint the cause of the hives, but it has proven difficult. We were able to enjoy July 4th as a family which was a great feeling! Thank you to our family and friends for making that all happen. Attached is a great picture of Ryley visiting Big Bear with her friend Luke.

Today we got the tumor marker results back from Vann's blood draw. We are extremely happy to say that the Cancer Antigen CA 19-9 and the Carcinoembryonic CEA numbers were cut in half from the last blood draw. We have not discussed anything with our Oncologist yet, but at least we know the Chemo is doing exactly what it is designed to do. We hope this trend continues and ultimately pray for surgery later this year.

Thank very much to all our family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers for all the help and support. We really appreciate what everyone has been doing for us and want everyone to know how much it has helped.

Fourth Round of Chemo

Just a quick update on how Vann is progressing along. We had a week that was full of opposite emotions, but ultimately came out looking very positive! When Vann went in for her fourth round of Chemo we were told some depressing news from her blood draws. Apparently the CEA numbers had dramatically increased during her third round of Chemo. This pointed towards the Fol Fox Chemotherapy not being effective for Vann's particular Cancer. At this point it was determined to stop the Chemo and perform a CAT Scan to get a better idea of what was occurring.

Upon the review of the CAT Scan, by our Oncologist and the Radiologist, it appears the tumors in the liver are responding by shrinking. In addition, the CAT Scan did not show any spread of the Cancer in any other areas. According to our Oncologist the CEA numbers are elevated at this point due to the Cancer actually being cut off from its blood supply and ultimately dying. Of course the discussion about this was explained in much more detail, but for most of us we just want the bottom line.

Vann received the same Fol Fox Chemotherapy treatment after the meeting with the Oncologist and will be receiving Avastin this week. We also got some very encouraging news in all of Vann's liver enzyme numbers. All the liver enzyme numbers have been roughly cut in half since Vann's diagnosis. Her liver is functioning better now than it was when she was diagnosed in early May.

The game plan from here will be to focus on gaining some weight and doing some mild exercise. Vann needs to keep on a two week cycle for the Chemotherapy to be most effective. Hopefully we can get the liver tumors and colon tumor to shrink enough to make surgery a possibility. At this point everything is pointing in the right direction to accomplish this.

Thank you for all the prayers, love, and support!

Quick Thanks To All

We want to say thank you to everyone who has been supporting us, in one way or another. Vann's second family at Costco has been such a help to us. With Vann's treatment schedule and taking care of our girls, we are finding very little time for our normal routine. The meals being delivered and the supplies being brought by have made things a lot easier on the whole family and we really appreciate the support.

To all our neighbors, thank you for constantly watching our girls and helping out whenever needed. We are very lucky to have such great neighbors to help us out in this time of need. It is such a comfort knowing the girls are in good hands when we are not able to be with them.

Also, Vann and I, are very thankful for the support from LACoFD. We can't imagine how it would have been without them. They have helped give me so much needed time to be with Vann and our girls, Ryley and Taylor. It has been a huge relief for both of us. We could not have done this without all of you stepping up to help us out! In addition, The Firefighter Cancer Support Network has helped Mark and Vann through this tough time.

Lastly, we must mention our beloved friends, The Watson's for all their support and help. Gordon and I have been friends since the third grade and have experienced a lot in life together. Although we never ended up working on the same Fire Department, we truly are brothers! Thank you Gordon and Heather for the tremendous support!

Vann's Spirits

After reading the posts we realized we needed to give some insight into how Vann is doing. As most of you already know, Vann may be on the petite side but is a very strong girl. We have been fortunate throughout this to find a extremely good team of Doctors to help navigate Vann's treatment. We have a lot of confidence in this team and feel we could not be in any better hands. Vann has tolerated the surgery and treatments with a very positive outlook and has been extremely strong on wanting to exercise when she can. Surprisingly the Chemo Cycles have gotten a little more tolerable each time and we are trying to figure out how to keep this going. We need to keep Vann eating small portions throughout the day and keep up her strength for the Chemo Cycles ahead. We also have turned to acupuncture and massage therapy to give Vann as much comfort as possible.

Third Round of Chemo

Vann started her third round of FOL FOX Chemotherapy on June 15th. Since we had to wait for Vann to recover from her surgery we were not able to start the drug called Avastin until this round of Chemo. Avastin is not actually a form of Chemotherapy, it is called a tumor starving therapy since it literally starves the tumor of what it needs in order to grow and spread.

On Vann's last meeting with her Oncologist we received some good news from her physical examination. Vann's left lobe of her liver is no longer enlarged and her right lobe of her liver is not as enlarged. In addition, Vann's abdominal wall is now soft and no longer distended. Our Oncologist is very happy with Vann's progress and with how well she has been handling the Chemo cycles. We need to focus on keeping strong in order to remain on a 14 day Chemo cycle and hit this cancer hard before it realizes what is going on.

Positve News From Genetic Mapping

In the middle of May, after recovering from her Colostomy Surgery, Vann began FOL FOX Chemotherapy on a 14 day cycle. During Vann's 2nd round of Chemo, the genetic mapping results came back. Without getting too technical, the results that came back were the first piece of positive news we had since the diagnosis. Vann's particular cancer showed it was not a hereditary type of cancer and that it should be very responsive to the FOL FOX Chemotherapy. Our Oncologist went over the results and every part of the genetic mapping pointed in the right direction to fight the cancer. This was quite a joyous moment for us knowing we now have a good chance and also a relief for our girls Ryley, 5 years old and Taylor, 3 years old.

Getting The Blog Started

Thank you for coming to The Hewison Family Blog. We want to say thank you to everyone for the tremendous amount of support and prayers. It has truly been a blessing!. We have a lot to catch everyone up on since Vann was diagnosed with Stage 4 Colon Cancer on May 3rd, 2010. Since Vann was diagnosed the doctor appointments, consultations and treatment options have been coming at a feverish pace. We are now starting to get a routine down and trying to find some normalcy to our lives.

In order to bring everyone up to date we will briefly discuss Vann's diagnosis and then move on to the positive news. Vann's diagnosis revealed a large primary tumor in her Sigmoid Colon. Due to the tumor size and the fact that it was pretty well anchored, surgery was not an option at this point. In addition, the cancer has spread to Vann's liver and shows about 7-8 tumors on the surface area. During Vann's Colostomy Surgery there was some evidence of abdominal studding in her peretenial cavity. Shortly after, the PET Scan results showed the cancer is also in her thorax region. According to the pathology reports, the primary tumor is approximately 2 to 2 1/2 years old and the remainder of the cancer is recent.