I had quite the week with three doc appointments to go over my "future" treatment schedule. Last Wednesday I met with my Liver surgeon. He looked at the incision and said it looked good. There is one part still "healing" but he wasn't concerned about that. After his questions about weight gain and activity level he Asked if I had scans scheduled or had other Doc appointments. We told him about the Oncologist appointment the following day. He told us he wanted to see the following scan and see what that showed in it and meet with me in three months. My next meeting with him is end of July.
On Thursday I met with My Oncologist. He decided not to proceed with more chemo at this point. Studies show 12 treatments are effective but more are not usually any more effective than the first 12. I had 11 treatments which he said was close enough to 12 to suit him. He said the next step is to get a "clean" scan. His question was to whether to do this by CT Scan or PET-CT. He opted for the latter but pushed the scan back until late April in order to get an effective scan without showing "false positive" hot spots. He asked for the middle of May then scheduling made my doc apt with him May 8. My scan will therefore be sometime the week prior to that. I fear this may show a few hot spots on the liver which will concern my Liver surgeon but will likely be scar tissue.
Today I met with my Colo-Rectal surgeon. He said base on every one else's notes I am doing well. He wanted to see my "small" incision just like the other doctors did. He thought it looked good and thought my belly felt good. The pathology report came back with 1 out of 37 lymph nodes showing positive. I asked him if it was taken out. He said yes and during the conversation he got another book and showed us where and what the "nodes" look like. He claimed they were to small to see but the section he takes with a Colon Resection there are a bunch. He managed to "catch" 37 in my surgery. Pathology only found one of those that was positive. That means either only one was infected or the Chemo treatments worked that well that all the cancer was gone from the others. In most surgeries like mine he claimed they typically see 20 - 30 nodes as positive. He said with as well as I am doing my focus should be on gaining my weight back and eating healthy. Over all he said he would be watching my scans as they happen but until I feel like I need help from him, he doesn't need to see me any more.
My Doc today confirmed along with all the others, they are cautiously optimistic. Most people with Stage 4 cancer they would not say cautiously optimistic.
So back to "normal" life until my scan in May. And hopefully I can hear the words "cancer free".
--Kent
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Monday, March 18, 2013
Ha Ha Ha!!!
They say Laughter is the best Medicine. Since we are members of Gilda's Club of Grand Rapids we decided to support Gilda's through LaughFest. This past Saturday night we went to see Justin Willman at the Knickerboker Theater in Holland MI. For those of you who don't know who Justin is He is the host of Cupcake Wars. That is one show we watch as a family and Lydia loves to see. She was excited to be able to see and thought she would be able to meet and talk with Justin. Of course being realistic we told her we would likely not be able to see Justin up close other than him being on stage.
The event was set up with general admission so when we arrived we selected the second row for our seat. The show was entertaining and a lot of fun. During Justin's costume change he showed some video's of his work. The last video shown is embedded above, for the full you tube video with more of his work click here.
After this video was finished Justin came out with a balloon like the one in the previous video. Justin came down from the stage and walked past while picking Lydia from the crowd to help him out. They both walked up and sat on the edge of the stage while Justin proceeded to rip the balloon string into pieces and "trying" to hand them to Lydia. You need to watch this next video to see what happened. Lydia was grinning from ear to ear just from getting to spend some time with Justin. And well she got a little token to keep from the trick.
After the show was finished Justin said he was going to be available in the lobby to sign posters and to take photos and talk with people. You can imagine Lydia's excitement when she found out she could "talk" with Justin. She had seen him so many times on TV. We waited for what seemed to be like hours to meet him. Lydia bought a poster so he could sign it. Of course we needed to have a photo of the two "stars" together. Lydia was on cloud 9 when we left for the night. Justin Willman was "seriously funny".
That was the most laughter I had in quite some time. So if Laughter is the best medicine then I must be "Cured" right? Well we will surely find out what the Doctor's have to say. We meet with one of my surgeons and my oncologist this week. Early next week I meet with my other surgeon. By next week I should know what my future treatment plan should look like.
I secretly hope I get put on the wait and watch schedule.
--Kent
The event was set up with general admission so when we arrived we selected the second row for our seat. The show was entertaining and a lot of fun. During Justin's costume change he showed some video's of his work. The last video shown is embedded above, for the full you tube video with more of his work click here.
After this video was finished Justin came out with a balloon like the one in the previous video. Justin came down from the stage and walked past while picking Lydia from the crowd to help him out. They both walked up and sat on the edge of the stage while Justin proceeded to rip the balloon string into pieces and "trying" to hand them to Lydia. You need to watch this next video to see what happened. Lydia was grinning from ear to ear just from getting to spend some time with Justin. And well she got a little token to keep from the trick.
After the show was finished Justin said he was going to be available in the lobby to sign posters and to take photos and talk with people. You can imagine Lydia's excitement when she found out she could "talk" with Justin. She had seen him so many times on TV. We waited for what seemed to be like hours to meet him. Lydia bought a poster so he could sign it. Of course we needed to have a photo of the two "stars" together. Lydia was on cloud 9 when we left for the night. Justin Willman was "seriously funny".
That was the most laughter I had in quite some time. So if Laughter is the best medicine then I must be "Cured" right? Well we will surely find out what the Doctor's have to say. We meet with one of my surgeons and my oncologist this week. Early next week I meet with my other surgeon. By next week I should know what my future treatment plan should look like.
I secretly hope I get put on the wait and watch schedule.
--Kent
Sunday, March 10, 2013
12,13,14 ....
This coming Tuesday will be two weeks since I have been discharged from the hospital. It is hard for me to believe this has been only two weeks. I feel like it has been so much longer for me. Today (day 12) was my second trip to church in the two weeks.
This past week Leah and I went on a few walks. A couple of the later ones were 3 miles. Not bad considering I haven't done much in the line of exercise since last May. My goal is to get back to the point to where I can ride the 36 mile route on the Holland Hundred. It may not happen this summer but I'm looking forward to getting to that point by the summer after next.
Day 14 is Tuesday and the one benchmark I have been waiting for is the ability to Drive. The last time I drove was Wednesday February 20th. I like driving so I am kind of excited to get back behind the wheel again. Leah is ecstatic for me to start driving again. Imagine that!!
After Tuesday I have two benchmarks left to get to. The first of those is to return to a regular diet. Since Sunday after surgery in the hospital I have been on a soft foods diet. A soft food is defined by anything you can cut with a fork only. Meats are chicken or ground Beef. Almost no veggies or fruits due to either seeds or skins. Seeds in fruits also knock out many other things (yogurt is one example). Definite no no's are chips, Nuts and anything difficult to digest. I was given a list when I was discharged and told to use it as a guideline. Believe me I cheated a little but only in moderation and then if something is questionable I chew it so long it may as well have been in the blender.
The last benchmark is to return to work. I am barred from returning to work until I get a written notice from my surgeon. His staff put April 22 on the form however I feel as if I will be able to return earlier than that. Last surgery I returned after 4 weeks which was probably a week or two to early. I meet with my surgeons the week after next and so I can discuss this with each of them at my appointments.
I have appointments with my Liver surgeon and Oncologist two days in a row. I will then find out what the decision on my future treatment schedule. My Oncologist has talked about 4 treatments of Chemo to "take care" of any left over cancer cells left behind. He also has mentioned since my tumor in my colon had not been growing nor shrinking due to treatment he thought maybe to not continue any treatment at this time until necessary. After hearing his final decision I will be inquisitive to find out what the next 6 months, year, and so on are going to look like. It is possible he tosses me right into my first treatment after our meeting. In this case I'm not going to feel like going to my next appointment. I meet with my Colo-rectal surgeon the following Tuesday.
I hope they will wave off the chemo for this point and put it back on the books after we see concrete evidence to do so. I assume I will be on a 3 month "watch" schedule from that point forward for a while. I'll have Pet-ct scans and Colonoscopy's thrown in the pipe for a while.
Here's to the near and distant future.
--Kent
This past week Leah and I went on a few walks. A couple of the later ones were 3 miles. Not bad considering I haven't done much in the line of exercise since last May. My goal is to get back to the point to where I can ride the 36 mile route on the Holland Hundred. It may not happen this summer but I'm looking forward to getting to that point by the summer after next.
Day 14 is Tuesday and the one benchmark I have been waiting for is the ability to Drive. The last time I drove was Wednesday February 20th. I like driving so I am kind of excited to get back behind the wheel again. Leah is ecstatic for me to start driving again. Imagine that!!
After Tuesday I have two benchmarks left to get to. The first of those is to return to a regular diet. Since Sunday after surgery in the hospital I have been on a soft foods diet. A soft food is defined by anything you can cut with a fork only. Meats are chicken or ground Beef. Almost no veggies or fruits due to either seeds or skins. Seeds in fruits also knock out many other things (yogurt is one example). Definite no no's are chips, Nuts and anything difficult to digest. I was given a list when I was discharged and told to use it as a guideline. Believe me I cheated a little but only in moderation and then if something is questionable I chew it so long it may as well have been in the blender.
The last benchmark is to return to work. I am barred from returning to work until I get a written notice from my surgeon. His staff put April 22 on the form however I feel as if I will be able to return earlier than that. Last surgery I returned after 4 weeks which was probably a week or two to early. I meet with my surgeons the week after next and so I can discuss this with each of them at my appointments.
I have appointments with my Liver surgeon and Oncologist two days in a row. I will then find out what the decision on my future treatment schedule. My Oncologist has talked about 4 treatments of Chemo to "take care" of any left over cancer cells left behind. He also has mentioned since my tumor in my colon had not been growing nor shrinking due to treatment he thought maybe to not continue any treatment at this time until necessary. After hearing his final decision I will be inquisitive to find out what the next 6 months, year, and so on are going to look like. It is possible he tosses me right into my first treatment after our meeting. In this case I'm not going to feel like going to my next appointment. I meet with my Colo-rectal surgeon the following Tuesday.
I hope they will wave off the chemo for this point and put it back on the books after we see concrete evidence to do so. I assume I will be on a 3 month "watch" schedule from that point forward for a while. I'll have Pet-ct scans and Colonoscopy's thrown in the pipe for a while.
Here's to the near and distant future.
--Kent
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)