11/20/2011 update

After a brief hiatus I am back with news of John. Good news at that!

We spent the week at MD Anderson seeing leading specialists in kidney and pancreatic cancer. John went through a few more tests. It turns out that the kidney is not a problem. It is a cystic lesion-not malignant.

We had known earlier about the pancreas, but were reluctant to mention it because of the implications, especially at the time of Steve Jobs demise. However, John has a neuroendocrine tumor of the pancreas. Anderson has some of the world's best doctors in this cancer. They believe that John's condition can be treated with drugs and not require surgery, radiation or chemo. In fact, two of Anderson's doctors developed the drugs used in this treatment and will be available for consultation.

We will be returning to Houston the week of December 4th. John will have an endoscopic ultrasound biopsy. This will be done by inserting a tube down the throat and a super-fine needle to extract tissue samples from the pancreas. If the diagnosis is confirmed, John will be able to proceed with the drug treatment before the end of the year.

We are thankful to the Lord for his blessings and all of you who have had John in your thoughts and prayers.

On a lighter note, we had a delightful evening with John's family in Houston including spirited card games.

The trip to Austin-3 hours away with Jackie at the wheel, was enjoyable. We were able to see Jackie's neice and nephew and families. Our only regret was it was all too short. We were brought up to date on the activities of the children-horseback riding, volleyball, cheerleading, etc. One is already off at Texas A & M in a tough course of engineering and cadet corps. Another is thinking of going to Duke-John's alma mater!