The 10 o'clock News.

CEA levels went down from 13 to 9. Clearly the infections raised the levels significantly from the 6 it was the week before. But 9 is still high indicating an increase in the disease. Dr Kemeny has decided to wait until after the lung tumor removal surgery to resume chemo. Clearly chemo must be resumed to keep disease at bay.

We are here.in NYC to see the pulmonary specialist. Eric was conditionally cleared for surgery next week as long as the wheezing in his lungs had subsided. We are here today to get a complete clearance. Mondays pulmonary function tests revealed that.Eric's lung functions have decreased 35% since last year. Not a good thing, and clearly demonstrating how the metastasis of the disease to the lungs has effected him.

The first of 2 lung tumor removal surgeries is scheduled for July 20th. They will remove disease from the left lung. Approximately 2 weeks later (date to be determined) he will have surgery on the right lung. Both surgeries at this point in time have been denied coverage. We have decided to go forth with the surgeries regardless and appeal the coverage denial. We risk paying out of pock for these surgeries (tens of thousands of dollars) but I don't want to gamble with Eric's.life and face the possibility of the disease continuing to spread while we wait for it to be covered. His CEA level continues to steadily increase clearly indicating that the disease is spreading. I want every tumor visible to the eye to be removed and chemo to resume ASAP so that we can finally get ahead of it.

As always thanks.for the.love and.prayers

And for a little laugh, here is E's facebook status after today's clearance: