Monday: CT-Scan
Tuesday: Visit with doctor/CT-Scan results
- I was initially scheduled to start round 7 of my chemotherapy treatments, but due to the CT-Scan results we canceled my 7th and 8th round. My scan showed the masses were stable but they didn't decrease in size. My oncologist reminded me that overall I "had a great response to the chemo rounds". The chemo had done its job and now it was time to move forward and see what the next step is. Emotionally, I was a bit torn....the past round was extremely difficult for me physically and at one point I even conveyed to Kevin and my parents that I couldn't do this anymore. It was certainly taking a toll on my body. Yet at the same time, I had mentally prepared myself that I was going to begin another round that day....simply because I wanted to do anything and everything to shrink the tumors. So....in the end, I was reminded we are ready to move on to the next step. I have to believe it was a blessing in disguise. I certainly enjoyed not feeling sick this past week due to the side-effects of chemo. None the less, I have been a bit emotional and fearful of the unknown. My oncologist ordered additional scans so we could make the best decision moving forward.
- Upon arriving at the hospital I found out the PET-Scan was delayed due to insurance red-tape. The cost of the scan is $10,000 and the insurance company had to have a doctor/insurance peer-to-peer review due to the cost and the insurance company needed to make sure it was necessary since I have had countless scans in the last four months. In the end, it was rescheduled for this coming Wednesday. They did however approve my MRI for later that afternoon, so we stuck around the city for 4 hours (took a nap, tried to relax and enjoyed lunch at our favorite restaurant in the city).
This week in a nutshell:
Another week of trips to the hospital. We will get the results from my MRI on Tuesday....Wednesday will be the PET-Scan...Thursday I should get those results...and then Friday I will meet with my other oncologist at the University of Chicago for his advice on my next step. We are also trying to move up my appointments to see some of the top specialists for neuroendocrine cancer at Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston and MD Anderson in Houston.
Thank you for the continued prayers, thoughtful emails/cards, uplifting gifts, and the weekly meal deliveries from some amazing friends....I am truly grateful.
Looking forward to my parents arriving this evening...something about their presence makes the stress disappear and makes me feel more at ease. So blessed to have them in my life.
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| Brotherly Love...What Keeps Me Believing |
Peace, Love and Miracles
dawnbfox@hotmail.com
Strange coincidence; or no coincidence at all if you believe that everything happens for a reason... I do.
ReplyDeleteMy mother-in-law was just diagnosed with stage two lung cancer, but that kind of a search is not what led me to your blog site. It was actually me clicking on the Google images link for the image of your boys, directly above. More about that in a minute.
During my deployed time in Iraq (a rough time for me personally, but for far different reasons than yours of course) I took up poetry writing as an outlet to express my war-torn emotions, and my own personal, inward turmoil, and I think it was very effective for me. I say that simply to encourage you to keep on writing about your experience with this life-challenge, especially if it is an encouragement to you. It doesn't really matter if it is ever an encouragement to someone else at this point, so be honest in your writing. But I see that your last posting was July of 2012, so I hope that you are continuing to beat the diagnosis, and that you are still there? My prayers and hopes are with you and your family.
About the image... Precious! I am a man who grew up the son of an alcoholic father, and (long story short) suffice to say that I am still the son of an alcoholic father.
Among all of the other ways which that condition affected our family unit as I was growing up, it certainly affected my masculine confidence in many ways. One such way was a lack of some much needed fatherly validation and genuine affection. I thought I was a "sissy" for craving male affection, and it was not until I was much older that I began to understand my own validation issues and insecurities through the eyes of the way that dad's alcoholism had affected me personally. In short, I was intrigued by the display of innocent affection there in the photo of your sons sleeping, and it is always refreshing to see that innocence restored and validated.
As for my mother-in-law, I will be the emotional stability for my wife throughout this process, and so I am taking that role as it comes, and one day at a time. The prognosis is not dismal by any means, and we remain hopeful. The greatest challenge, ironically, seems to be responding to the negativity from other pessimistic family members, so that their own dismal outlook does not affect my mother-in-law and my wife's confidence.