GOOD NEWS...

August 29, 2013

This post will be short and sweet...

Jimmy's cancer HAS NOT SPREAD!!!  Woo hoo!!!  The CT scan today showed no signs of cancer in his lungs.  We are so relieved...this has been weighing on us since Jimmy's last week of chemo back in May when they saw nodules in his lungs.  The MRI also gave the appearance that the tumor may have gotten smaller but we won't know for sure until the final report comes out.

So, as planned, Jimmy is good to go for surgery next week.  He is ecstatic about the news and anxious to have the tumor removed.  The only potential problem with surgery is that the tumor is attached to his sciatic nerve and the doctor will have to peel away the tumor from the nerve.  The doctor assured us that she has done this hundreds of times and she is confident there will not be any complications. The margins will be small by doing this but at least the tumor will be gone.

Thank you all for your prayers and support.  I know the prayers are working and we appreciate them so much!

Radiation is over...re-scans tomorrow...surgery next week

August 28, 2013

I have written in about a month and I apologize for that but I guess its a good thing, since no news is good news, right?

Jimmy has completely finished his radiation and has gotten through it without too many problems.  The worst part was the leg pain and the tiredness it caused.  He was very lucky that he did not get badly burned from the radiation.  He does have a large red mark on the back of his left thigh, which is where the tumor is and where the radiation went through his leg.  The area is oval shaped about 12" x 6".  Hair is still not coming back in that area yet but eventually it will.  He does have some nice eyelashes and eyebrows again though!  

Once radiation was over, we were lucky enough to take a vacation, courtesy of For Pete's Sake, a cancer foundation that sends families with adult patients on a "take a break from cancer" trip.  They are such a wonderful organization.  They sent us to Florida for a week, put us up in a nice 4 bedroom house with a pool and gave us theme park tickets to Sea World, Disney World and Universal Studios.  It was truly a wonderful getaway for us to leave all of the stresses at home and just go and have a good time...and we did.  We walked A LOT and got tired but it was so worth it.  We spent time together as a family having fun and enjoying life. We got home re-energized for the next step in the process...Jimmy's surgery.  THANK YOU FOR PETE'S SAKE!!!

Tomorrow is the beginning of the process.  Jimmy gets re-scanned so we will finally know how well the treatments worked on the tumor and whether or not anything changed with regard to the nodules in his lungs.  I have literally put all of this in the back of my mind for months so I wouldn't have to dwell on it.  Tomorrow we will know for sure.  I am thinking positive...the tumor will have gotten smaller and the nodules didn't get any bigger.  From my lips to God's ears because I just can't wrap my brain around any other outcome.  So I am asking that you please pray for our family, especially Jimmy, that all will go well tomorrow and that we will get some good news.

Thank you again for letting me be a part of your lives...all 37 countries of you.