I know God will not give me anything I cant handle. I just wish he didnt trust me so much. - Mother Teresa

It appears Alec has truly baffled the medical team at MGH with his latest diagnosis. We met with Dr. T this week who will be Alec's hematology oncologist and he gave us the low down on his B-Cell Lymphoma. He said B-Cell Lymphoma is a "good" type of cancer to have and although it is aggressive, it is very curable. In Alec's case however, figuring out a treatment will be a little more difficult. Since he has already started chemo for the colorectal cancer, the doctors must now re-group and figure out which cancer to tackle first.

He can not receive both treatments at the same time, since that would weaken his immune system too much and put him at risk for infection.

He will go in for a PET scan next week, and this will determine if the B-Cell Lymphoma has spread elsewhere in his body. He also had to have a bone marrow sample taken from his back (ouch!) and they will run tests on the marrow to make sure it has not spread into the bone.

We will know exactly what the next step will be in 2 weeks. The team of doctors are meeting up on Monday to re-evaluate his treatment and determine which treatment regimen would work best in this scenario. They have seen patients before with 2 types of cancer, just not this particular pair of cancer (colorectal and lymphoma).

Dr. T was very optimistic and said the good news is he has 2 types of curable cancer!
The bad news, he has 2 types of cancer and will have double the chemo and double the fight.

We are staying positive and looking forward to a relaxing weekend. We bought a new front loader washing machine and we are both very excited to do our first load. Funny how its the little things that now excite us! (Funny or pathetic?)
We also now have CABLE! Woohoo! 200 channels and Showtime. Alec is watching the fishing channel, no surprise there! And, Lyss and Steve sent us all their xbox games! Steph and Steve sent him an xbox card so he can play with other people, he is never going to leave the couch. Thank you!

We also got a great book from Steph and Steve, "Stronger than Cancer" By Connie Payton whose husband, Walter Payton, fought liver cancer. I have been reading it all night and there are some great stories, very inspirational. I liked the quote by Mother Teresa (I used for the title) It is how we are feeling right now :)

And this one,

"When it hurts to look back, and you're too afraid to look ahead, look beside you- your best friend will be there" - Vicky Gundlach

So true...thank you Steph!

I had a much needed girls night out last week, even baby Julia was able to join. I was tempted to put my new red lipstick on her when Tina wasn't looking, but refrained. (My lovely friend Lisa sent me some lipstick by Poppy, love it, thank you!!) And, thanks to my girls for a great night out. We saw Ben Affleck, who was filming a movie next to Bobinas place. We also met a man on the street after leaving the bar who had this giant clock that he picked from the trash and was bringing home to mom. He had 7 kids and was celebrating his 1 year sobriety, only I think he was drunk. Only in Southie!

I will update as we learn more. Have a wonderful weekend and thank you for the prayers. We need them!

All our love,

Heather, Alec and Millie