Tuesday, January 10, 2012

BACK AT IT

Dear Friends and Family,

The last entry here was at the end of Sept. b/c that was after Dan had his scans done. And since that time, no news has meant "good news". We had a wonderful fall and early winter which included: 3 weekends of training (Christian Discipleship and Counseling) at Grace Fellowship Church in Florence, KY, a wonderful Thanksgiving with the McCabe/Morris clans, celebrating our grandson, Matthew's, birthday and my birthday, a week-long visit to Mom's in Pompano Beach Florida in early Dec. and a truly wonderful family Christmas. We have so much to be thankful for.


Our Thanksgiving Centerpiece

Mom, waiting for the start of the John Knox Village Christmas Parade


Matthew at the Birthday Party he shared with two classmates.


Birthday Cookies for Matthew's class.



Christmas afternoon at Mimi and PopPop's house.


But all of that transpired over a 4 month span of time and since he is scheduled for a CT scan and a bone scan every 4 months, Jan. meant that it was time for the next round of tests. Yesterday was the day and he went into Jewish Hospital for both procedures.

Always before, he has waited and gotten a copy of the digital and written reports before leaving the hospital. (We learned early on that keeping our own records was highly advisable!) But yesterday, for some reason, they "could not" provide him with the written report of the CT scan.

Dan didn't think much about that, but I was wondering if that was because they were getting a second opinion on a questionable area. As a nurse, these kinds of questions tend to surface fairly quickly. A question that probably should have come to mind was, "Are they not giving him the report b/c there is bad news in it?"

So we had to wait until today for the results.

On the positive side, Dan looks great and has been feeling really well. We both have been working out at the gym to try to prepare ourselves for skiing (in less than 2 weeks from today!) and he definitely is gaining muscle strength and is back to a healthy weight. So life has been very good lately.

As you have already deduced, the news at the doctor's was not so positive. After the last scans in Sept. there was some question about an area on his 10th rib on the right side. The changes seemed minute and could possibly be the result of a different angle or a different radiologist's interpretation. We, of course, were hoping that was the case. The results this time, however, were not as ambiguous, and show some progression in that same area. There were no new areas of disease detected and for that, we are very grateful.

There isn't much available that is left to use in the chemo arsenal that is effective against renal cell cancer. So the first line of attack for right now is to possibly use radiation on that area and to add an intravenous medication that helps the bone fight against (slightly) or "inhibit" further metastasis and prevent against calcium loss.

We have an appt. for next Thursday with the radiologist to get his input and an appt. in two weeks with the oncologist to most likely begin the intravenous treatment. That drug will be given every 6 weeks.

I'm not sure either of us has fully processed this turn of events, but we know that we are trusting the same God who has been with us through all of it and who
has His Glory and our eternal good as priority #1. While life is still full of twists and turns, we know there is ultimate (eternal) safety in His plan for us.

Thank you for continuing to pray for us as we move forward.

Jodee and Dan

1 comment:

  1. Hi Jodee & Dan, Love this new website! Though I'm poor at communicating, you're in my heart & prayers. Sure would be great to see you while I'm in the US. Wonderful pictures! Love, Anne

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