The Dad Update

So my dad had his weekly blood draw as usual, and this week his CEA numbers were up. This is an indication that the chemo regimen he's on is no longer effective. My dad had an appointment with the oncologist on yesterday, and they discussed some options on where to go from here. The former regiment which included Iressa, is now going to be changed to an Avastin based regimen. Avastin was approved earlier this year by the FDA for use in colo-rectal cancer, along with the F5, the tradition chemo treatment for colo-rectal cancer.

Avastin does have a known side effect similar to Iressa of gastrointestinal perforation, so we'll need to monitor closely for stomach pains, since my dad's already had one perforation of the duodenum.

Marie is as active as ever looking up alternative treatments for cancer, so kudos to her for being proactive.

On the baby front, Michaela was given four shots on Monday at the hospital, and was in pain the whole day. She cried almost non-stop until bed time. Unfortunately for my parents they had to try and calm her all day, and on top of all this, their car broke down on the freeway on the way home from the hospital. Luckily, they were able to pull off the freeway without an incident. But a screaming baby and a broke down car certainly are sure to fray the nerves, especially when you're already worrying about a high CEA count. Michaela did recover nicely from her shots, and was agreeable and happy all day yesterday.

The car's alternator had failed, and I had it replaced yesterday, so my parents are back out on the road. It does also make me revisit the idea of replacing their vehicle with something newer again. Surprisingly enough Buick ranked second behind Lexus for this year's reliabilty report from J.D. Powers. My original idea of getting my parents a Buick doesn't seem so far fetched any more. Another reason for wanting something newer is car baby seats. Yes, believe it or not, worrying about car baby seats makes a difference on how old the vehicle is.

The US Government mandated a new standard a few years ago, called LATCH, that makes it easier to install a baby seat into a car. All new baby seats have the LATCH system. Unfortunately none of our vehicles are new enough to have LATCH. In fact, even the minivan, which is a 2001 model doesn't have LATCH, and is one of the most difficult vehicles to put in a rear-facing baby seat. LATCH wasn't introduced until 2002 on our model minivan (Mazda MPV). So my parents continue to use the Oldsmobile, since it has a middle row seatbelt that is easiest to install a rear-facing baby seat without LATCH.

And strangely enough, none of us has a vehicle newer than 2001, so none of the cars in my family in the Bay Area have the LATCH system. So, I've got my eye out for a newer Buick (2003 or 2004). We'll really need it if we ever need to put two baby seats in one car.