The past few weeks since my last visit to MD Anderson have been filled with activities and new beginnings. Last week we celebrated Matthew's 4th birthday with pizza, firetrucks, and very, very red cake with candy flames on it.

Matthew blows out his birthday cake candlesAs exciting as it was to celebrate another year of my son's life, it was a difficult day for me. It's hard to have celebrations like this without wondering whether or not you'll be around to celebrate the next birthday with them. These intrusive thoughts can certainly put a damper on what would otherwise be a joy-filled celebration of growth and learning.

The academic year has started back up at University of Dallas, and I'm teaching a full load of classes. It is really good for me to be back in the classroom. I miss teaching so much over the summer, so being back with my students really does give me some much-needed structure and a sense of accomplishment at the end of each week. I've switched my chemo calendar to better accommodate my teaching schedule. Instead of receiving infusions on Mondays, I'm now receiving them on Wednesdays. This means that I just have to make it through my Thursday morning classes after chemo, and then I have until Tuesday to recover before I'm back in the classroom again. For this first week, it seemed to work OK. The chemo symptoms have been getting more severe and of longer duration with every round, but I was able to teach both of my classes on Thursday without any major problems.

Friday after chemo was a rough day - I spent almost the entire day sleeping, and still have very little energy even now on Saturday morning after a full night's sleep.

Mostly, these past few weeks have just been characterized by waiting. We know that the cancer is growing (albeit slowly) even with this current chemo, but we are waiting for the genetic sequencing results and for the possible opening of an immunotherapy clinical trial before moving into a second-line treatment. The waiting is difficult, but we know that God is in control, and ultimately, my care is in His hands.

For those of you who are praying for us, thank you for your continued petitions on our behalf. Please remember the following requests:

• For continued effectiveness of the Oxaliplatin and 5FU at keeping my cancer at bay.
• For sooner-rather-than-later results of the gene testing of my cancer.
• For a second-line treatment that will be uncommonly effective at fighting my cancer.
• For patience and peace as we wait.