Treatment Schedule

At the request of several of our family members and friends, I am going to give you the days/times of Dad's chemo treatments. I know that we are all praying constantly for this entire situation, but knowing the exact days and times gives us an opportunity to pray specifically on that day for that treatment. Pray that they go smoothly and he takes them well. Most of all, pray that they work and we will give God the glory for all of it! As for how he is feeling..He tells me that his headaches have gotten better since Monday and his appetite seems to be better too. The throat pain has gotten a little more tolerable as the radiation treatments are coming to an end on the left side. He mainly struggles with low energy levels and really dry mouth. All of your kind words, cards and phone calls make everything more tolerable. Thank you from all of us! Here are the remaining chemo dates:

2/02/09 10:15 (2 hours)
2/09/09 9:15 (2 hours)
2/16/09 9:30 (2 hours)

Radiation therapy continues daily (Monday through Friday) until the left side is completed and the right side gets fully treated.

Tuesday

Several of you have asked how it went on Monday...so sorry for the delay in posting. He seemed to take the medicine well and did not have any type of reaction to it so that is good. It completely wore him out though. I think the three hour "sit" and then radiation treatment afterwards just did him in. He couldn't stand that he wasn't able to get to work! By the end of the day he was very tired and had a really bad headache. At this point we don't know if that was stress related or medicine related. We will just have to wait it out a little and see. Let's pray specifically that the treatments all go smoothly for him and he tolerates it all well. Thank you for your concern, we love you all!

Sunday

After all of last week's activities, we have all had a good weekend. Dad has felt just as good as he has been feeling, so all is well. I just wanted to remind you all to pray for Dad's chemo treatments starting tomorrow. He will go at 8:00 and it should take about 3 hours the first time. It is rare that someone has a reaction to this particular medicine, but it can happen so lets pray that he takes it well. This is the one we want! We can certainly feel all of your prayers to this point and we appreciate it so much. Callie even saw Papa do a little "dance" Saturday morning when she was over there and she asked, "Mama, have you ever seen somebody with cancer who had to loose most of their teeth and is going through radiation and that chemo stuff dance??" I told her.."No, but Papa can and we owe it all to God!" What a testimony to my precious little girl!

Have a great week and I will let you know how the treatments are going.

One more Awesome bit of news!

Dr. Holmes just called (5:30 Friday) and said he just got the pathology report and yesterday's cancer was SELF CONTAINED in the lymph node and had not tried to escape to the capillaries! Yeah Yeah Yeah!!!!!! It was not as aggressive as he was worried it would be. Yippee!! Same plan...we are good to go and on the right track.

Chemo Meeting

We had a meeting with the chemo doctor today and FINALLY understand it all and how it is going to go. Those of you who know about chemotherapy might have thought I was loony talking about a pill that had minimal side effects, but that is what we were told. It is so hard to meet with several doctors all telling you slightly different things without talking to them all at once. That would be easier!

So, there is a pill type chemo treatment, but the side effects are just as rough as IV treatments and really take a toll on your body. The medicine of choice by Dr. Holmes for Dad is Erbitux. This is actually not chemo, but antibodies injected intravenously that work WITH the radiation. They attach themselves to cancer cells and destroy them. All the doctors agree that since Dad's primary tumor is the only tumor found and some cells did attempt to travel, this is the best route. Erbitux AND radiation. The good news is the radiation he is in now will continue uninterrupted and he will move straight to treatments on the other side. Not exactly a pleasant thought for Dad, but good news from the medical standpoint. Whatever happened, we did not want to interrupt the treatments going on. Our best possible chance of getting all these cells is 1) surgically removing the cancers, 2) radiation therapy to both sites and 3) chemo treatments. So, he is down to start them Monday morning at 8 am. He will go each Monday for 5 weeks and it will take about 2-3 hours. The most excellent news of all is that the side effects are minimal and tolerable. No vomiting , no hair loss, no pain.....just a little rash which we can handle. (He always laughs at me for saying "we"...he likes to remind me that I am not the one doing it..hee hee!) I know he can do it! We just keep on getting the best news we could ask for! Praise God! He is so good to us and I am thankful. I will let everybody know how Monday goes.

Thanks to you all!

He's Out!

The surgery was a little late getting started but once they took him back he was done in 30 minutes! We are waiting for him to "wake up" and then we are headed home. Dr. Holmes said he did fine and the pathology reports that it is a cancer and he is SURE that it came from the original tumor. That is good news. I feel good about it. Dr. Holmes assured me that he feels very confident based on the CT and PET scans that his cancer is contained in the head and neck area. Pathology will review the biopsy further and we will talk with Dr. Holmes again probably Saturday or Sunday. At this point he wants to look at the node and make sure it hasn't eroded into the capillaries. We hope that it has stayed "within itself" much like air in a balloon. Regardless, all of that will just help the doctors decide on the definite plan of action. He has about 8 stitches and should get some good sleep for the rest of today. Praise God again for how he continues to take care of us and bring us through each and every step!

Whew!

What a long day and it is only 12:00! Mom and Dad went for the PET scan early this morning and stayed for what seemed like eternity. They brought the disc back and we all met at Dr. Hardacre's office about two hours ago. He looked at the PET scan and didn't see any evidence of anything suspicious ANYWHERE in the body except for the small area we have been looking at all week. That is good news! That being said, we still do not have any conclusive evidence that the spot is cancer, just that it lights up and is suspicious. Dr. Hardacre then did a thorough investigation inside his nose and used a scope to go down the back of the nasal cavity and down his throat. Often times when a cancer cell is found in the "head and neck" area without a primary tumor, if they look at the tonsils or the back of the throat and around the voice box they can find it. Once again, he didn't see anything in his investigation that looked anything but normal. That is good too! So, our plan is to have the "whatever it is" removed tomorrow at St. Vincents. They should do a frozen biopsy and be able to say whether or not it is cancer tomorrow, or at least by Friday. It is still the opinion of both doctors that this is a cell from the original tumor that has crossed over even though the chances of that happening are extremely rare. If the mass is cancerous, that is what we pray it will be. That is our best deal! Actually, we can pray that it is just an irritation from the radiation. Wouldn't that be awesome? You never know....all things are possible with GOD and it could happen!

We are still down to meet with the chemotherapy doctor of Friday. This is all scheduled as a precaution so that whatever the test results reveal, we will be ready to move. We did find out that he would definitely be a candidate for the chemo pill instead of IV administration. That is good news too! The side effects are much more tolerable!!! In fact, Dr. Hardacre told us that most patients usually experience a mild case of acne and that is it. So, if indeed it is cancer, we will encourage dad to go for the extra protection and take the pill.

Thank you for your prayers. Keep praying. I will be in touch after the surgery tomorrow.

One more call.....

Late this afternoon, Mom got one more phone call. This time is was from Dr. Holmes. Dad was on his way back from Athens so he got to talk to Mom. He has such a way of calming our fears and putting us at ease. Mom feels MUCH better after talking to him this afternoon. He explained in detail the conversation that he and Dr. Hardacre had this morning and how they arrived at the plan to cut it out on Thursday. God is so good to give her that phone call at the end of a STRESSFUL day with information overload! I will keep you posted.

PET Scan

Just as I sent out the update, the doctors called with a PET scan appointment. I wanted you all to know so you could pray specifically this. It is this Wednesday morning at 7:00 am. They have put a STAT on it so that we can have the results before the surgery on Thursday.

Monday, January 19

This morning Dad went for his treatment as usual. Dr. Hardacre and Dr. Holmes apparently discussed the situation with each other and some other doctors as well. The plan is to remove the lymph node, biopsy it and go from there. There are several different scenarios and "ways" this could go so we will just have to PRAY, wait and see. Our plan is this..tomorrow he will go for radiation treatment as usual. On Wednesday he will have a normal treatment as well and meet with Dr. Hardacre who wants to numb his throat and go in to look around. It is rare that this type of cancer would "jump" to the other side, so both doctors want to look around and explore further. Again, the lymph node has only been diagnosed as "suspicious" at this point, but we want to be very thorough in the investigation. On Thursday we will go to Birmingham to have the lymph node cut out by Dr. Holmes. It is an outpatient surgery done at St. Vincents. The surgery is scheduled for 1:00 and should take about 45 minutes. On Friday, he can choose as to whether or not he wants his treatment that day. If so, great. If not, they will most likely continue on Monday. He only has 12 remaining on the left side and Dr. Hardacre indicates that they should be able to finish them up without disruption even with this surgery. (That is good news.) We will then wait for the biopsy results and move to the next step. I do recall Dr. Hardacre mentioning that he wanted to set Dad up for another PET scan. I am not aware of that being scheduled yet. They are hard to go through and then you have to WAIT for the results. Also, Dad is meeting with a Dr. Becdoch on Friday afternoon here in Decatur to talk about the possibility of chemotherapy. I don't know much about chemo, but Dr. Hardacre did mention that if he did have to add it, it would most likely be a pill. Finally, we will go back to Birmingham on Monday to see Dr. Holmes for a follow up. Hopefully by then we will have the big picture and it will be bright.

It is overwhelming today and we will just have to pray and wait for everything to unfold. Again, God has His plan and He will reveal it to us. Please pray for this whole situation and our entire family. I will keep you posted. Thank you all!

Results

Well, Dr. Holmes just called Mom and Dad. The results of the biopsy showed "suspicious squamous cell carcinoma". It is definitely not a swollen saliva gland. The biopsy sample was not able to say DEFINITELY what it was. Because it came back "suspicious", it must be dealt with and taken out. There are a couple of different ways to deal with it...none good for Dad, but nevertheless it must be done. Dr. Holmes will speak with Dr. Hardacre in the morning to discuss the different routes. He (Holmes) would like to add the right side in to the course of radiation, not stopping the current treatment. If it is still there after treatment, it would need to be cut out. We learned that some radiologists might prefer to cut it out first then treat with radiation. If that happens, then it will halt the current treatment on the right side and we fear he would have to start all over. It is all a little confusing right now and I will let you know a definite course of action tomorrow after the two doctors have discussed the plan. Please pray for the doctors to make a wise decision and for Dad to obtain peace in this situation. Pray that THIS IS IT ....no more surprises! Pray for the side effects to stay manageable. It is SO hard for him to even THINK about adding more treatments. Also, keep your kind phone calls, emails and visits coming. You may never know how much it helps to know so many people are cheering for you! It really lifts him up.

In Him,
Michelle

No News!

Well, for those of you waiting to hear the results of the biopsy today, we did not get a call. I guess we interpreted that Dr. Holmes would know by Saturday and so would we. When I asked him when he would have the results he said, "hopefully by Saturday...I will call you." I guess we will have to wait until Monday. I will post as soon as I know.

Michelle

Dr. Appointment/Birmingham

We have just returned from the appointment with Dr. Holmes. He was immediately concerned with the swollen area and indicated to us that he did not think it was a salivary gland due to the location and the fact that Dad didn't have any pain in that area. Instead, he suspects a lymph node that may have cancer cells in it. Having said that, he did a biopsy and hopes to be able to identify that as the problem. In simple terms, he said that if there had been a cell left over after the tumor was removed, it may have tried to travel through the nodes on the left side and met congestion because of the radiation treatments. In response, it simply may have taken another route to a lymph node on the right side. If this is the case, the plan is to continue radiation treatments and include the right side of the face. If the biopsy is not able to accurately identify this as the problem, Dr. Holmes wants to go in and remove the swollen "whatever it is". The results should be back by Saturday and we will go from there. Dr. Holmes did indicate that he could be wrong and that it might indeed just be a swollen saliva gland, but he didn't think so. That being said, we have to be in prayer for a definite diagnosis so we can take care of it.

Although it is not the best news, I feel grateful that it has just appeared in the past week or so and we can identify it and move forward. I thank God for his subtle messages. It is like he gave Dad the swollen gland so that we and the doctors would know that we need to be treating a larger area. For that I am grateful.

Dad (and Mom) will need all of our prayers. Pray that their spirits be lifted and that they lean on God for every ounce of strength they need. Pray that they see JOY in all circumstances.

I will update once we hear the results and know the plan.

Love,
Michelle

Monday, January 12

I am writing to remind you all to continue to pray and lift up Papa during the days of radiation treatment. He is right in the middle of his treatments and things are pretty rough. His throat is severely painful and swallowing is almost impossible. Just about the time his appetite returned and he had worked up to eating mostly solid foods, we are moving back to liquids (soups and such) because they are just easier to get down. His spirits have been really good considering. Today was tough. Please pray that the treatments continue to be successful and are as easy on him as possible. Pray that he can see the end (16 more) and keep his head held high. It is NOT FUN!

Last week he found a swollen area on his right side down by the lower jaw. He showed it to Dr. Hardacre and he suspects it is a swollen saliva gland trying to overcompensate for the glands not working on the radiation side. He gave him a few things to try and see if he could shrink it. Today it hadn't gone down much so we are going to Birmingham tomorrow to see Dr. Holmes and let him look at it and go from there. Please pray that it is something simple like a swollen gland that can be fixed easily.

I will post and let you know.

Thank you all!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to you on behalf of our entire family! We had a wonderful Christmas and were so thankful for dad feeling well and that we were able to celebrate in our usual way. We gathered at Mom and Dad's house for Christmas Eve after church for Stephen's homemade pizzas. Dad ate them up just as well as we did! It was fun. We all headed to Mamaw's house for Christmas morning breakfast and then picked up Jordan and Patrick to head back to Decatur for the opening of gifts at Nana's. It was fun and yummy. Tonight we celebrated the beginning of 2009 with dinner at Nana and Papa's. As per Dad's request, we brought in the new year with spaghetti pie! Probably not your traditional New Year's feast, but it worked for us and we loved it.

The treatments are going well and as expected. Although they started about two weeks ago, Dad has actually only had 9 treatments (I think) because of the holidays. Mom and I went with him on Wednesday to hear a report from the doctor. He is tolerating them very well. His throat is getting really sore and stays a little dry all the time. You will see him with a water bottle at all times. This is good for two things..(1) It helps to keep his mouth wet and (2) it helps keep him hydrated which is very crucial. Dr. Hardacre prescribed him a mouth wash to use 30 minutes before meals and at bed time when the pain in the throat is the worst. It is supposed to smooth and coat with a little numbing medicine in it too. He hasn't used it yet, I guess he is waiting as long as he can before it is absolutely necessary. He also gave him some pain pills to have if he needs them in the coming weeks as the throat pain is expected to increase. At least we know what is coming and he is prepared. Dad told us that his taste buds are really starting to change too. All this is normal and will come back after a while. Mt. Dew is out and apple juice is in! Crazy, huh? The Dt. Mt. Dew King is not doing the dew! Coffee has also left the building! Oh well, that is not all bad. We could all do without the caffeine intake anyway!

Please keep Dad in your prayers as the next few weeks will be tough to endure. We are just thankful that we can fight it as unpleasant as it may be. Thank you all for your constant love, prayers and concerns.