- Start a standard treatment immediately. I have an appointment with Highland Oncology next week to discuss some options. The first options is the drug Votrient. I blogged about this previously and I invite you to read about it. There’s no need to rehash those details.
- Do nothing and enjoy the next few months. This is mostly out of the question. I will enjoy the next few months, but I am doing things. This is not over.
- Contact Cancer Treatment Center of America (in Atlanta) and discuss options for treatment with them. I liked the people and facility in Atlanta, but I don’t know of any great advantage with them.
- Join another drug study. I spoke to the coordinator of several drug trials which are in Maryland. She emailed the forms to start the application process. Her name was Jessica and she was very nice. Dr Iyre (in Houston) suggested that we contact her. One disadvantage is that most drug trial require a ‘clean’ period before I start the trial. This rules out option 1.
Wednesday, April 29, 2015
I will consider this day 1 of my New recovery
Tuesday, April 28, 2015
It's Tuesday...
Monday, April 27, 2015
It's Monday!
Sunday, April 26, 2015
It's Sunday!!
Friday, April 24, 2015
Its Friday!!!!
Yesterday went well. They used a bronchoscope to examine my lung from the inside. They removed a piece of tumor which was was blocking my right lung. This is only temporary because it will grow back, but the extra breathing is wonderful. I forgot how nice it was to take a deep breath.
Now I wait some more. The tissue they removed and a biopsy from my lymph nodes went to a lab. Someone is supposed to contact me today with more information but it's 4pm and I have not heard anything so I am calling.
I know I should be scared, but I feel so good it's hard to feel anything but good. I know it will come back or they may remove that piece of lung entirely. At least I know what to expect with a partly unfunctional lung. There's some good in everything.
For now I am all smiles.
Thursday, April 23, 2015
One more long day
Wednesday, April 22, 2015
Things can happen fast
I took a real body blow today. The tumors are growing more slowly, which is incredibly good, but one of them is growing in a bad direction. I missed the importance of this detail in my conversation with Dr. Iyre, but it was slammed home today with Dr. Ramchandani, which is the thoracic surgeon.
One of the tumors was near, but not touching, one of my bronchial passages. We've discussed this point at work. The tumor has now infiltrated that bronchial tube and Dr. R is very worried about this. He is scheduling a bronchoscope for Thursday or Friday to visually inspect the tumor. He is also scheduling a PET scan for Monday. If the results are favorable then he'll schedule a lung surgery ASAP. If the results are not favorable then I search the country for a more aggressive treatment.
So, what does this mean? I will not be back this week. I am stuck in Houston until some questions are answered. Possibly I will not be back next week. A surgery on my lungs has always been in my future but I never really expected to be now. I always felt it was out there somewhere. It's like knowing there are bears in the woods and then walking up on one.
That's all I have to say about that.
Sunday, April 19, 2015
Another Sunday morning in Houston
Sunday morning. This is the week of truth. At 10:30 tomorrow (Monday) I get a fresh detailed CT scan for my cancer. This is a comparative scan against the CT scan from 2 months ago. This will tell us if this treatment is working or not. The appointment to discuss the results is at 2:00, which could be 3:00 since this is a doctors appointment. The time between the scan and the appointments will be a looooong few hours. For now I am eating breakfast in the Hampton Inn with my mother.
That brings me to this trip. April, my mom, and I drove here yesterday. It was a typical 10 hour drive and we arrived about 7pm. My sister flies here tonight and we get together for the appointments in the morning. We did see a few things during the drive.
1: We hit a traffic jam as we approached Dallas. The cause was a car/SUV which appeared to have hit head-on with a concrete barrier. The was a messed up car.
2: We drove another few miles when I noticed a policeman acting strangely on the side of the highway. My first thought was it was because of the accident we passed 5 minutes before. The next exit had a sheriff preparing spike strips. Then another sheriff races passed us and stopped on the side of the highway to lay more spike strips. We are still cruising down the road at 65 mph. Now I see the police lights a mile behind us. 5-6 police are chasing a dark red sedan. We slowed and pulled to the right as they passed us. The sedan has 2 blown tires and the chase was moving about 40 mph. We start our drive again and found them all stopped about 3 miles later. It's noteworthy that this was my seconds such involvement in a police chase. That is another story.
3: Another 10 miles later we pass another crash in the north bound lanes. It involved several vehicles. It appeared that someone cut in to the HOV lane without looking and was hit by another car. I saw at least 3 mangled vehicles.
4: Another 10 miles down the road we see a car engulfed in flames in the north lanes.. 2 fire trucks are there beginning to extinguish the fire.
This was all within about 20 miles. Our drive was smooth after that.
I have finished my breakfast and I am 24 hours from my scans. Today we go to a play with Denice and Charlette which should be fun. At the very least it is a wonderful distraction. Otherwise I will stare at the wall and ponder everything.
Monday, April 6, 2015
It's not a terrible day
Back for another treatment.
I am back for another treatment. This week my dad drove with me and it was the same long 10 hours on the road as every other trip. It was in the 50s and rainy nearly the whole way. Now I am waiting for my pre-treatment lab results to get here. Then I may have my weekly treatment.
I have my CT scan images from last week. Catherine, the nurse running the study, ask me to bring them. I may get an appointment with Dr Iyre to discuss my namonia and the images. Maybe he sees good things. Maybe he see bad things. As always I hope for the best.
My spirits are dampened today. It's slowly becoming harder to put on a smile for everyone. The stress is slowly getting to me as this progresses. I find myself thinking of bleak prospects and planning for unhappy events. Maybe todays news will reverse that.
Thursday, April 2, 2015
CT scan is done
My first related ER trip
Today I am in the Springdale ER. It started with chest issues a few weeks ago and I was treated for bronchitis. Last week the Houston doctor prescribed Flovent and Albuteral to help clear my lungs. These help for a little while, but my symptoms have accelerated in the past 3 days.
Around last Saturday I gained an occasional hard coughing fit, which lasted several seconds. This leaves me short of breath and tired. The recovery is a few minutes. The frequency of the coughing increased last Tuesday and Wednesday and the recovery tine increased too. The coughs began leaving me out of breath as if i had it knocked out of me. This is frustrating and frightening. It disrupts my work and everything I would call normal. I so miss normal.
Here i am. Sitting on an ER bed with an IV in my arm. This is completely not fun. i shared with the doctor my latest CT scan report and he is consulting with others.
Everyone, go outside for me and enjoy breathing. I've breathed my entire life. At times I have breathed hard. Other times I have breathed deeply. Sometimes I have held my breath and then enjoyed the sweet return of air. Everyone, please enjoy breathing.
What's coming? The next 2 weeks are regular trips to Houston. One trip with my dad and one trip with Terah. Then on April 20th I get a fresh CT scan! This is the scan which reveals if the treatment is working. That week April, my mom and I will drive to Houston. My sister will fly and meet us. It is a big few days.
Something just changed. The ER doctor had a chest X-ray done. It was inconclusive, so he is ordering a new CT scan. Results to come.