March 27, 2012

I attended Dad's Oncology appointment today. It was a long meeting with lots of options for Dad to think about. The source of the Cancer - in his esophagus is active, but is still very small considering the size it was at diagnosis. The cancer in his liver is 6.9cm. There is also cancer in a lymph node next to the liver. It is about 3.6cm. So far, this is all they are seeing. However, he has basically tried every Chemo that he can try at this point. The Cancer responds very well to the Chemo, but his Kidney has taken quite a hit. Therefore, they are unable to give him the stronger Chemo treatments. They can only give him a diluted version of Chemo due to the condition of his Kidney. His Cancer is not responding to the diluted version. The Cancer center in Salina is willing to try a couple more diluted versions, however the Doctor doesn't feel like they will be effective. Taking the time to try them could potentionally take away from valuable time that could have be spent trying something new. So, this was option one. Option 2 would be to go to KU Med Center and have the bad lymph node removed AND have the Cancer in his Liver blown away with one of a couple different methods. This would require recovery time - not much. However, the Cancer would likely return in another part of the liver or in another organ or lymph node. So, once again, he would be taking away from valueable time that could be spent trying something else. Option 3 would be to get a second/third opinion from the Cancer Center in Chicago and/or MD Anderson in Houston. Both of these centers have a variety of experimental drugs that may have better odds than taking his chances with the few options that he has left. The Doctor wants Dad to make a decision by Monday. He said that he needs to get moving. Dad has already contacted the Cancer Center in Chicago and plans to talk to MD Anderson in Houston. Hopefully, he'll know what he wants to do by Monday.


Much Love,
Shanon

October 18th, 2011

Wow, I can't believe so much time has past since my last post.

Dad continues to fight his Esophageal Cancer. He's doing fabulous. Actually, quite amazing for someone that was diagnosed with Stage IV Esophageal Cancer nearly a year ago. Dad's most recent Pet scan shows no indication of any Cancer left in any of his lymph nodes. There is also no sign of Cancer in his liver. At one time, they were questioning a spot on his liver. This spot has now been dismissed. In fact, the source cancer spot in his lower esophagus/upper stomach is no longer showing on the Pet scan. This is truly amazing.

So, where are we? They are seeing one small spot in the middle of his esophagus at this time. This is a new spot that wasn't noticed before, but it is the only spot showing on the Pet scan at this time. His recent blood work showed an increase in his Cancer marker (CA 19-9). It went from 63-232. This is likely related to the new spot they are seeing. The doctor thinks that this spot is resistant to the current treatment, so he's going to change things up to surprise attack the last of this unwanted visitor. Dad will do his new chemo treatment once every 3 weeks until this spot no longer shows on the Pet scan. This new chemo treatment is in the same family as the last treatment - just slightly different, and a heavier dose. They will watch his Kidney closely since it has started showing signs of damage due to the chemo treatments. They have to watch his Kidney function closely because he only has one Kidney and it is very easy to get dehydrated with one Kidney. His new chemo comes with the usual Diarrhea side effect. This should only last a couple of days, so hopefully he'll be able to handle it. He should have a nice break in between treatments.

Dad continues to work as much as possible. He's determined to retire with full benefits. He's maintaining a very positive attitude and continues to want to fight this disease. He is pretty confident that he will be the odds. With God's grace, he will beat the odds!

Much Love,

Shanon

May 29th, 2011

It's been a while since my last update. Dad has completed 4 of the new chemo treatments. He had bloodwork and a cat scan done last Wednesday. The results were positive. The Cancer continues to shrink - in some places as much as 50%. There are no new growths. The bloodwork indicated that his cancer cells are decreasing. All of this is very positive. They have been watching a spot on his Liver. They noticed a spot about the size of a nickle 2 cat scans ago. They said that they get a lot of false positive responses, and just wanted to watch it. The next cat scan showed an increase in size to about the size of a quarter. Suspiciously, this doesn't seem like a false positive. However, the cat scan this past Wednesday showed no increase or decrease in size from the previous cat scan. They'll continue to monitor the spot. They really don't know whether this spot is cancer or something else. Dad has had spots on his liver in the past due to medication that he takes for his high cholesterol. So, the spot could be nothing. They'll continue to keep an eye on this spot.

The plan is to continue the current chemo treatment once a week for 4 weeks, then take two weeks off, and repeat the cat scan.

Much Love,

Shanon

April 25th, 2011

I talked to Dad about his new Chemo treatments. He's getting Chemo on a weekly basis, now. He will have treatments once a week for 4 weeks, then take 2 weeks off. Then, 4 more weeks of treatment, and 2 weeks off, etc. Dad only has one Kidney, so they can't give him the full strength treatments - they have to be broken out into smaller doses. He's extremely tired - can take up to 30 minutes to get enough energy to put his shoes on. The dreaded diarrhea is also giving him trouble. However, other then that, he's feeling pretty good and still has a positive attitude. He's working as often as he can. He doesn't qualify for disability, yet. I'm not sure how disability works when you have Cancer. If any followers know the answer, please post and let me know. I would think that disability would kick in to cover the time he is unable to work?

It is so hard to believe that 4 months have gone by since the start of Dad's treatments. The Cancer is smaller then it was 4 months ago, so we're feeling pretty good about things. He's definitely heading in the right direction.

Please continue to pray for Dad's health, strength, and a positive attitude.

Much love,

Shanon

March 30th, 2011

I talked to Dad tonight. He said that the Cat scan showed that the tumor in his neck had shrunk by 50%. The other tumors (in the esophagus, across the chest, and arm pit) had also shrunk. They did note a suspicious spot on his Liver, but said they weren't concerned about it. They said that the Cat scans show false positives often. They'll keep an eye on it, but didn't feel like Dad should worry about it. The Doctor was happy about the results, but wanted to get a little more aggressive with a new Platinum based Chemo. This will bring new side effects. The most noted side effect is diarrhea. Nothing like crapping the disease out! Hey, what ever it takes, right? The doctor didn't do any Chemo today. He wanted to get as much of the previous Chemo out of his body as possible. He'll have his first round of the new Chemo on April 13th (in 2 weeks).

Please continue to keep Dad in your prayers.

Much Love,

Shanon

March 20th, 2011

Overdue update...

There really isn't anything new to report. Dad is doing about the same with his chemo treatments. He's still doing the Taxotere chemotherapy once every (3) weeks. He always takes it with Dexamethasone and anti-nausea meds. He also continues to take shots to increase his white cell count. The side effects have been things like extreme fatigue, bone pain, diarrhea, swelling in the feet/legs, loss of taste or foods like hamburger tasting very badly. He's also having some pain in his fingers like someone smashed his fingers. He says that the pain moves around from one group of fingers to another group. His fingernails are also getting discolored with white spots. Dad has been able to continue working except the week following a chemo treatment. This seems to make Dad happy. He's talked about working in his garden, so obviously he's not letting this get the best of him. Mom and Dad are very happy that they didn't get rid of their Aflac Cancer insurance policy. Mom and Dad considered getting rid of the insurance when money was tight. They are very thankful that they decided to keep it. The insurance has come in very handy and has helped relieve a great deal of stress.

The tumors haven't spread, but they're shrinking a bit too slow according to the doctor. Dad will have another Cat scan on Wednesday. The doctor will review the results and determine where they go from there. He has mentioned moving onto a more aggressive chemo, but the decision hasn't been made at this point. It's great that the tumors haven't spread, but we really need to shrink the existing tumors in order to kick this Cancer's butt and put it into remission. Dad may have to switch to a new chemo treatment with worse side effects in order to get the process kicked into high gear. Slow and steady is not going to win this race.

Thank you for all of the prayers. Please continue to pray for Mom, Dad, the doctors, and everyone effected by this terrible disease.

Much love,

Shanon

February 16th, 2011

Dad had a Cat scan done last Friday. Today the doctor went over the results of the Cat scan. According to the Cat scan, there really hasn't been much change. The tumors in the lymph nodes have shrunk a bit, but the rest appears to be unchanged. This isn't necessarily bad news. It's still early. He's only had 2 chemo treatments. The positive news is that there is no new growths. The doctor wants to do 2 more chemo treatments - same as the last 2. Then, he'll do another Cat scan and decide where to go from there.

Dad received his 3rd chemo treatment today. We're hoping the recovery from this treatment is as good as the last treatment recovery. Overall, he did very good after his last treatment. He tires easily, but that was the worst of it.

Prayers for a smooth recovery and lots of cancer shrinkage!

Love,

Shanon