Jeff's Sarcoma Journey
For those of you who don't know Jeff Brewer, let me give you a little background information.  Jeff
is my husband, best friend and partner.  We met when I was 16 and he was 19 and have been
together for 17 wonderful years.  We have 3 children, A.J., Alex and Ashlyn.  Jeff has always been
active, either riding motorcycles or working.  In December 2005 he thought that he had injured his
back.  After seeing his doctor, he was told that he had pulled a muscle or had irritated his sciatic
nerve in some way.  He did all of the things the doctor had ordered and still had no relief from the
back pain.  The pain got more severe over the next several months and he went to see a number
of specialists.  All of them said the same thing.  There was a problem with a pulled muscle or
sciatica.  All of his spinal MRI's and X-ray's were negative.  Jeff had a lot of really bad times with
pain through this and we were at our wits end.  In January he was taken to the hospital and
admitted for urinary/bowel retention and severe pain.  Again, they did X-rays and ultrasound's and
could find nothing wrong.  He was sent home after 4 days with a new family doctor.  The pain did
not get better and now he had numbness in his right thigh.  He followed up with our new doctor
and had some more tests done outpatient.  Early in March 2006, I took him to the ER with severe
pain.  There was nothing they could do.  They took an x-ray of his sacrum and gave him an
injection of pain medicine.  We were to follow up with the chiropractic neurologist in 2 days.  That
visit came and went with no more answers.  The weekend of March 12, 2006, I contacted his
doctor and asked her to please admit him, that something was terribly wrong and we needed to
find it.  She agreed and we were off the hospital.  Jeff was admitted on March 12th and on March
15th we received the worst news of our lives.  A pelvic MRI finally revealed the source of his pain,
a large mass that was wrapping around a nerve bundle on the right side.  It was suspicious for
cancer and the doctors wanted to transfer Jeff to The James Cancer Hospital in Columbus.  We
spent 18 days at The James.  They scanned every bit of him and took 2 biopsies.  They were also
able to control his pain which was a huge blessing.  We can't say enough wonderful things about
the staff of 8 James.  They became like family to us and were as concerned about Jeff as we were.
 Jeff's pathology report is still pending, but we do know that it is a type of Spindle Cell Sarcoma.  
His doctors decided to send some tissue to Dana-Farber Cancer Institute for a 2nd opinion.  
Sarcoma is a very difficult cancer to diagnose and is sometimes misdiagnosed.  The pathology
diagnosis is where the treatment begins.  Please keep you prayers for Jeff coming.  We believe
that the Lord will heal him as he is The Great Physician.  We believe that He is working through
the nurses and doctors and all of our praise goes to Him.  
4/10/06
Jeff goes back to The James for an oncology appointment and to (hopefully) find out the results
of the pathology.  Praying for good news.

4/14/06
No news yet.  The pathologist at Dana-Farber couldn't be 100% sure on what he was looking at
and recommends another biopsy (this will be the 3rd one).  We go to The James next Tuesday
to get a game plan.  I can't believe that this type of Sarcoma is so difficult to diagnose.  I'm
learning way more than I ever wanted to know about it.  Lord, please hear our prayers.   

4/23/06
We still don't have any news.  Jeff and I spent the night at The James last Tuesday after his
appointment.  They were sure that they got enough tissue.  Now we're praying that it's viable
tissue and not necrotic.  Jeff has a lot of pain now and is taking another medication for it.  The
steroids are starting to take their toll on him.  He says that he just feels crummy.  We figured
that this time would come, but had 3 weeks of feeling pretty good.  Just to be sure that we didn't
have a boring day yesterday, Bella decided to have her puppies (2 in the car)!  We have 3 girls
and 3 boys!  Way to go, Bella!  Keep those prayers coming!  Thank you, Lord, for another
beautiful day.  Please help us to keep patience, peace, faith and love in our hearts.  
May 2, 2006
Well, we're back from an 8 day stay at The James.  Jeff received 72 hours of straight
chemotherapy and is doing very well.  The pre-meds they give are such a blessing for the
nausea.  He had a low grade fever that is coming down and almost kept him there.  I'm so glad
that we are back home because he's so much better here than at the hospital.  We go back
May 17th for round 2.  He even asked for a steak for dinner which I ran right out and picked
up.  Thanks to my doodle friends for perking  me up over the weekend.  No news on the 3rd
biopsy yet.  The Lord is good and is keeping our spirits up and filling us with strength.    
May 5, 2006
I think that we may finally have an answer.  Dr.  Mortazavi called to say that he spoke with Dr.  
Fletcher at Dana-Farber and he thinks that Jeff has Ewings Sarcoma.  We were told early on
that this may be a possibility, but thought that is was at the bottom of the list.  I'm so thankful
that he was able to pull an answer from all of the tissues.  Getting sarcoma diagnosed correctly
is imperative.  Without that you don't know just how to treat it.  It seems that Ewings (PNET)
may be more sensitive to chemo than other sarcomas.  It seems to be primarily a pediatric
disease with a very small percentage of people (< 5%) being in their 30's-40's.  We should
know soon if it's working to shrink the tumor. They will be adjusting he chemo to include 3
additional drugs for a total of 5.  On a lighter note, take a look at what I came home to
yesterday.  My mom called and said, "He's mowing the lawn"!  I couldn't believe it!  I was almost
home so when I got there I ran in to get my camera.  By the time I got to the barn he had put
the tractor up, but I did get some good pictures right after.  He seems to be saying "Who, me"?
May 10, 2006
So far, so good.  Jeff is hanging in there and adjusting to the chemo.  Other than fatigue
(which is severe at times), he hasn't had too many side effects.  No nausea, yeah!  It's been
super busy around here with 14 new puppies.  We want to thank both of our families for being
so wonderful.  We don't know what we would do without you!  Here are some new pictures of
Jeff and Cory (Jeff's best friend).  Jeff was trying out his new doo-rag.   
May 27, 2006
Happy 13th Birthday Nick!  We love you!
Jeff finished his 2nd round of chemo with a few complications.  I guess nothing can ever go
really smooth.  He ended up getting 2 units of blood along with the chemo.  He's having a little
more trouble with nausea this time around and the fatigue is really bad.  His hair is already
starting to come back in.  We are hoping that they can rescan him in a few more weeks to see
what kind of shrinkage we've had.  We know there has been some already.  We want to
Thank everyone who helped out with the benefit at Lake Bailee.  You don't know how much
we appreciate everything that you've done for us.  The Lord has given us so many blessings
in you.        
June 7, 2006
Things seem to be going as planned other than Jeff picked up a cold.  The fatigue is still a big
issue.  You can't believe how tired someone can be,it seems unreal.  I'll say, "time to get up
Rip Van Winkle" and he'll say, "who's that"?  Went to the oncologist yesterday and we should
be able to re-scan him after about 5 or 6 rounds.  I'm thinking that will be end of July or
August.  Still having some trouble with nausea and little appetite.  I just wish he could do some
of the things that he likes to do again.  God willing he will.
June 12, 2006
Jeff is working on his 3rd round of chemo now.  This is the 1st time that he's gotten Cytoxin
and Vincristine on top of the Adriamycin.  There are 5 drugs that they are using to treat his
Ewings.  It's a 21 day cycle with one cycle of 3 days with the above drugs and the other cycle
is 5-6 days with Ifosfamide and Etoposide with a day of Mesna at the end.  The Mesna is not
a chemo drug, but is used to protect the bladder as the Ifosfamide can be very damaging to it.
 He also gets Mesna with the Cytoxin as it is in the same class as the Ifosfamide.  We asked
about home chemo and the doctors said that it would be too dangerous with the drugs he's
getting.  This round is when the nausea and vomiting came in.  It lasted for about a week and
he could hardly keep anything down.  That was a tough one for him.  They prescribed Zofran
and some other drugs to keep the N/V at bay, but keeping them down is a struggle all in itself.
 Hopefully we'll come up with a routine that works.  We are thankful for the shrinkage that
we've seen so far, but it's so hard for him to keep his spirits up sometimes.  Especially, when
he's sick all of the time.  It's going to get better soon, I pray for it every day.
In reply Jesus said to the disciples, "If you only have faith in God-this is the absolute
truth-you can say to this Mount of Olives, "Rise up and fall into the Mediterranean," and
your command will be obeyed.  All that's required is that you really believe and have no
doubt!  Listen to me!  You can pray for anything, and if you believe, you have it; it's yours!  
But when you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that
your Father in heaven will forgive you your sins, too."

Mark 11:22-23
The Book
What in the world is a Sarcoma??

~Jeff and Dr. Amir Mortazavi, one of his Angels~
March 2007