Today was our visit with Dr. Lin and number 12 of 14 IV antibiotics. Jon's liver function labs are improving but his AFP (tumor marker) is rising. Therefore, Dr. Lin wants to move forward with resuming IV chemo. Jon will start with Gemzar on April 9th in combination with Xyloda. He will have a second Gemzar chemo on April 16, continue Xyloda for 14 days then have a month off and do it all over again. The Gemzar will be low dose to spare any more damage to Jon's liver. He remains tired with a fair amount of pain. We are hoping for a better week next week as he will be done with his antibiotics and off xyloda. Dr. Lin increased the dosage of his long-acting oxycotin so I'm hoping his pain will be controlled without too much short-acting to fill in the rough spots.

We also saw Dr. Reilly today for a naturopathic visit. He only has Jon on a few supplements since he still can't eat very much. His ascites seems slightly better in the last day or so and he will continue on the diuretics.

After all the doctor visits Jon wanted to go to Cabelos to look at wall tents. Since we can't backpack right now he's planning on more car camping this spring and summer and wants to do it in style. It's good for him to have things to look forward to and be excited about.