We spent the day visiting doctors.
Doctor visit #1 was very encouraging. It was a follow-up with the surgeon. He said, "everything looks good" and cut me loose to do whatever I felt up to doing. And then cautioned me not to do too much too soon. Doctors --- go figure.
Doctor visit #2 was with Oncologist #2. Oncologist #2 was much more informative than Oncologist #1. Almost too informative. He told me things that I knew to be true, things that I probably needed to hear (again) but didn't really want to hear (again). But it goes something like this............ Well we know that the cancer got into at least 2 lymph nodes. And we know that to get to the lymph nodes the cancerous cells had to travel through your blood stream. Which means you have cancerous cells in your blood stream continuing to travel. (On a side note: wouldn't that be a great name for a 'gothic' band --- The Traveling Cancer Cells.:O) (sorry)
So because the tumor scored a 3 out of 4 and because the traveling cancer cells scored a 2 out of 3 on the 'how bad is the cancer scale' then we need to do fairly aggressive chemotherapy. Not the really aggressive chemo just the fairly aggressive chemotherapy.
So on Thursday April 10th they will surgically implant a port somewhere around my lower neck and collarbone area. The port has a catheter type tube that will be implanted into one of my veins. Starting April 28th I will go into an "injection" area where they will inject benadryl, some high powered vitamins, anti-nausea medicine and one of the chemo drugs into the port. Following the injection I will be hooked up to a pump, about the size of an old Walkman, and the rest of the chemo drugs will be injected through the port by the pump. After about 2 hours, if everything looks to be okey dokey, we will head home and the pump will do its thing for the next 46 hours. After the 48 hours we will return to have the pump removed.
We will do this every two weeks for six months.
None of the side effects sound fun and there are several to choose from. Would you please pray that I could get through this without being hindered too much by any of the side effects?!?!?!?
God can do all things!!
One of the Scripture verses that has meant a lot to us through this adventure is Isaiah 58:8
"Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard." (ESV)
Remember, regardless of your or my situation
God is good all the time!!!
jim
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3 comments:
We will continue to pray for your healing and strengthening of your faith, which we know sustains us all. Your steadfastness in bearing well what the King has allowed in your lives honors His Name and furthers His Kingdom in ways you aren't aware!
Dave Morehead
Jim and Pam, We will continue to pray for you and we wish you all the courage, strength and serenity to endure all of this as we pray for a healthy cancer free outcome! God Bless
The Trudeaus
Zofran. God's gift to the nausea sufferers. And it's SO much better when they just shoot it right into the veins! (I say this as if I speak from experience...sadly, I do. *sigh*) Love you, Dad.
Your Preggers D-I-L
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