Singing Praises!

THE BONE SCAN CAME BACK CLEAR! The cancer HAS NOT metastasized into the bone! The doctor came in and simply said.."the scans look good"..Mom, Dad and I all replied.."but..." and he said.."no but, they look good". (It was kind of like he was thinking... I just told these people last time that the cancer has metastasized into the bone and that was big trouble. I also told them that he was aspirating food in his lungs and I am wrong!) !

Apparently, in May the PET scan showed suspicious spots in the neck and lung along with the original spots in the neck still active with cancer. He ordered CT/MRI scans and they came back reporting that edema in the vertebrae suggested the cancer had metastasized into the bone and that the spots in lungs were infection due to aspiration. He then ordered a bone scan to confirm and a swallow test to see what the problem was with the swallowing situation causing him to aspirate. Well you can bet that we, along with many of you, have hit are knees hard! Our God is amazing as my faith in him will never waiver! First, the swallow test came back perfectly normal and the bone scan was entirely CLEAR!

The PET scan showed no new growths (Hallelujah!). There are two spots still containing active cancer cells in his neck on the left side and the spot ON the vertebrae still lights up as "suspicious". (Notice I said ON the bone, not IN the bone!) So, here is the plan. Two more rounds of chemo. (Not what Dad wanted to hear, but despite how much he wants to throw that pump in the river he hooked it back on this morning!) This will take 6 weeks starting today. After that, radiation therapy for the spots that are still there. We do not have any other scans scheduled before that as far as I know. The goal is to shrink these existing spots as much as we can and then destroy them with radiation. We have to remember that radiation of his neck is very tricky and risky because he has already had radiation in some of those spots before. However, the farther away we get from the last radiation treatment before starting more is good. So having two more rounds of chemo will also buy some more time in that area.

We do know that two more rounds of this particular regimen of chemo is all that he can have. 6 rounds is the max that has ever been given. So, we cannot waiver, we cannot stop praying. Please thank God for all that He has done. He is compassionate and merciful! Please pray for the next two rounds..it will be tough. Pray that the cancer shrinks and that the radiologists believe they can do what needs to be done to get rid of this cancer.

I am excited and hopeful! I am thankful to my great big God! I am also thankful for all of you and all that you do to help my parents during this storm. The friendships, the cards, the visits, the food, the support and the prayers. It all means so much.

Love,
Michelle