Christy and I met with Dr. Sub today for the first time and learned a good bit of info. As might be expected, he requested several tests in preparation for treatment. Hopefully in the next week I will have a test to determine the health of my heart (MUGA test). One of the proposed chemotherapy drugs can strain the heart. We hope to get scheduled for a PET scan this Saturday. There is a mobile PET unit at Mercy Hospital on Saturdays only. This scan uses a contrast causing cancerous cells to stand out and is usually overlaid with a CT scan for orientation. We have been enjoying the results of my previous CT scan. The radiology department burned us a cd with viewing software and we can see the majority of my body within about 100 cross-sectional scans. It's extremely fascinating to see my innards. Before we see Dr. Sub again I will have had the PET scan, more blood work (done today), the MUGA test, and a convenient electrical outlet will be installed in my chest. They called it a port of some kind for future chemo doses as to not have to needle me every time. I hope it's USB 3.0 compatible -- it's about time Texas Instruments!
On other fronts, I have been trying to find a specialist at a teaching hospital that my insurance will cover and have met only frustration. Thank you all for your kind referrals. Everyone that I have called and attempted to set up appointments with have been extremely friendly and helpful. However, my primary care doctor would not refer me to any of them, calling them out of network. But today, Dr. Sub recommended a colleague at UIC whom he believed to be in network and a phonecall 5 minutes ago to the primary's office sounded promising. I don't have the referral yet, but we'll be praying.
There seems to be quite a bit of info and action so I'll leave it at this for now and update more this week.
Thank you all again for your fantastic support and most of all your faithful prayers. God continues to provide for us and is teaching us about Him as the Great Healer as well.
Braden
Monday, January 31, 2011
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Newstronics
First off, thank you everyone for your amazing support! We have felt so loved during this time!
We met with the ENT doctor (Ears, Nose, Throat) this morning to see the results of Braden's full-body CT scan last week. We were trying to determine how much, or if, the cancer had spread. According to the CT pics, there are several nodes along the sternum-area, and in the neck that are also cancerous. Luckily, it hasn't spread below the diaphragm, which is the main separating-thingy between the upper and lower body parts. This means that we caught things early and have a much higher poop-on-cancer chance then if it had spread lower. Praise God for no cancer below the diaphragm!
We meet with the Oncologist on Monday to talk about test results, and set up treatments. Hopefully we'll be able to get Braden in right away to start whatever it is we need to start. We are also pursuing a second opinion. Unfortunately our health insurance is quite restrictive on where they will send us, and will not cover us outside of a very small network.
In other news, we might be able to use this extra time together (Christy is taking days off to go with Braden to the doctor) to finally get rid of our Christmas tree, which has now lost all it's needles.
Thanks again for all your support and love! We'll update again Monday, after we know next steps.
Christy
* In case you forgot what we look like!
We met with the ENT doctor (Ears, Nose, Throat) this morning to see the results of Braden's full-body CT scan last week. We were trying to determine how much, or if, the cancer had spread. According to the CT pics, there are several nodes along the sternum-area, and in the neck that are also cancerous. Luckily, it hasn't spread below the diaphragm, which is the main separating-thingy between the upper and lower body parts. This means that we caught things early and have a much higher poop-on-cancer chance then if it had spread lower. Praise God for no cancer below the diaphragm!
We meet with the Oncologist on Monday to talk about test results, and set up treatments. Hopefully we'll be able to get Braden in right away to start whatever it is we need to start. We are also pursuing a second opinion. Unfortunately our health insurance is quite restrictive on where they will send us, and will not cover us outside of a very small network.
In other news, we might be able to use this extra time together (Christy is taking days off to go with Braden to the doctor) to finally get rid of our Christmas tree, which has now lost all it's needles.
Thanks again for all your support and love! We'll update again Monday, after we know next steps.
Christy
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Our Big Adventure
On the 21st of January, mine and Christy's big adventure included another challenge. The nice doctor that I had been seeing regarding my enlarged lymph node behind my left collar bone informed us that I will be recovering from Nodular Sclerosis Hodgkins Lymphoma. Although we knew a tumor was a possible report of my biopsy surgery we were still expecting something different especially since the symptoms seemed to respond to a round of antibiotics around Christmas and the area has been pressure sensitive from the beginning.
Some backstory:
As Christy and I were about to leave for a friend's house I noticed that my neck was sore and started rubbing it saying, "Why do I have a sore muscle here? Wait! There's no muscle here! What's behind the collar bone?!". Thankfully Google knows what's behind the collar bone and told us that it was most likely a lymph node. It also told us that the human body has between 500 and 600 lymph nodes! This was news to us indeed.
Once I got to see a doctor about it he appeared a bit alarmed because no other lymph nodes on my body were inflamed. He was quick to refer me to the Ear Nose Throat doctor at Mercy Hospital. I was able to get an appointment for the day before Christy and I drove to Connecticut for family Christmas on her side. The proximity to Christmas was a blessing from God because the kind doctor was able to see me, get blood work done, perform a needle core test and have a CAT Scan performed all in one long day at the hospital with the results emailed to me 4 days later. When the results of all this came in we still did not know what was going on with the left side of my neck, but we found that there were 2 masses showing on the CAT Scan. See? That's what I look like on the inside!
Two weeks later I met with the ENT doctor for some brief paperwork and showed up the following day for a surgery to remove a 1CM cubed piece of the top mass and perform a biopsy on it. I must say, anesthesia is bizarre. Brother-in-law Nathan was kind enough to transport me for the process and sat through the entire thing with the reward of seeing me come out of very confused land. As far as procedures go, this brings us up to last Monday when we heard the results of biopsy and were immediately surrounded by countless kind family and friends and their prayers.
Last Friday I had 2 more CAT Scans done in hopes of determining where the cancer started and where it plans on trying to spread. We have an appointment this coming Thursday to hear the results of the CAT Scan and will most likely know the stage of the cancer. The following Monday we will have our first meeting with the oncologist to start planning our attack. We're a bit fearful of the results and I know I'm a bit fearful of the process, but we really couldn't be in a better situation with such a fantastic support network around us.
We'll be looking back soon saying to ourselves, "remember when we kicked cancer?"
Some backstory:
As Christy and I were about to leave for a friend's house I noticed that my neck was sore and started rubbing it saying, "Why do I have a sore muscle here? Wait! There's no muscle here! What's behind the collar bone?!". Thankfully Google knows what's behind the collar bone and told us that it was most likely a lymph node. It also told us that the human body has between 500 and 600 lymph nodes! This was news to us indeed.
Once I got to see a doctor about it he appeared a bit alarmed because no other lymph nodes on my body were inflamed. He was quick to refer me to the Ear Nose Throat doctor at Mercy Hospital. I was able to get an appointment for the day before Christy and I drove to Connecticut for family Christmas on her side. The proximity to Christmas was a blessing from God because the kind doctor was able to see me, get blood work done, perform a needle core test and have a CAT Scan performed all in one long day at the hospital with the results emailed to me 4 days later. When the results of all this came in we still did not know what was going on with the left side of my neck, but we found that there were 2 masses showing on the CAT Scan. See? That's what I look like on the inside!
Two weeks later I met with the ENT doctor for some brief paperwork and showed up the following day for a surgery to remove a 1CM cubed piece of the top mass and perform a biopsy on it. I must say, anesthesia is bizarre. Brother-in-law Nathan was kind enough to transport me for the process and sat through the entire thing with the reward of seeing me come out of very confused land. As far as procedures go, this brings us up to last Monday when we heard the results of biopsy and were immediately surrounded by countless kind family and friends and their prayers.
Last Friday I had 2 more CAT Scans done in hopes of determining where the cancer started and where it plans on trying to spread. We have an appointment this coming Thursday to hear the results of the CAT Scan and will most likely know the stage of the cancer. The following Monday we will have our first meeting with the oncologist to start planning our attack. We're a bit fearful of the results and I know I'm a bit fearful of the process, but we really couldn't be in a better situation with such a fantastic support network around us.
We'll be looking back soon saying to ourselves, "remember when we kicked cancer?"
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