On St. Patty's day we are looking for a little "luck o the Irish"

 Well it has been a couple very eventful weeks in the Haas' household. On Sunday March 7th our warrior woke up to find some bumps on her chest wall which looked suspiciously similar to the ones she found last fall. During the examination the following day while receiving chemo the doctors and P.A's. determined this needs to be looked into because of the previous history. Thinking back to the recent pet scan we held out hope this was just some dying tissue but we were scheduled for another pet scan and needed to have the tumor markers drawn. So another anxious week was in the forecast.
During the week of testing Reenie and I were blessed with the news that we are grandparents to be, Shannon and her boyfriend Vito are expecting and we are truly excited about the newest chapter in our lives. It has been fun to see the family get some exciting news for a change.

The emotional roller coaster has continued this week (for the record I HATE roller coasters, mechanical and especially emotional); Monday we received the results of the scans and markers. Both exams showed an increase in cancer cell activity, which means the treatment is not working, the cancer cells have become resistant to this particular therapy treatment. Devastated and disheartened we listened as the doctors explained that yes this happens and yes they have a plan, start a new medicine Tuesday and begin 6 cycles of the new drug Ixempra. This drug is given every 21 days and we are going to begin immediately.....so we thought.

Our pink warrior determined to fight but without a doubt disappointed and as I said earlier disheartened, woke up scared but dedicated to the battle Tuesday looking beautiful as always walked into the infusion room stronger than I ever could. The new drug will take 3 hours with a prep time of at least 1 hour with anti-nausea, a steroid and Benadryl to counter any possible reactions. After about 1/2 hour of receiving the new drug Ixempra Reenie's face became flush, and she started to feel anxious so they paused the treatment. The redness went away but not the anxiety so they gave her something to calm her down and resumed the treatment. The feelings were progressively getting worse and the flushed face returned and treatment had to be discontinued. She was having an allergic reaction so more disappointing news we can't use the new drug. She did have 1/3 of the scheduled dose so we need to wait a couple weeks before a new treatment can be started. Monday the 22nd we will consult with our oncology team and a new treatment will be decided on then.
Thanks for all the well wishes and prayers "keep em coming"  thanks to all our angels who are preparing unbelivable dinners and providing rides and visits everyone should know you all are playing a part in our warriors recovery process...love to all