Dennis had an area on the left side of his jaw that they weren’t sure what it was. They knew that a lymph node on the left side of his chest was cancer but was not sure about the jaw so they did a biopsy on it. Dennis and I found out yesterday that the area in his jaw is also the squamous cell which is a type of cancer Dennis has. His radiation Dr. told us today that it is a possibility that there are two other lymph nodes in that area that are also cancer. So they are going to treat all of them in the whole left side of Dennis’s jaw. He is also going to be treated for the one that is on the left side on his chest area. It is also in the lymph node and is between the upper part of the chest to the breast area.
Dennis has to go the dentist on September 5th to make sure his teeth are all in good shape because he doesn’t want to have to have a tooth pulled on the left side of his mouth after he gets radiation in that area. He will not heal properly. His radiation Dr. is a very kind man and he is being very cautious on everything he is doing for Dennis. With Dr. Skinner being cautious and asking for a biopsy of Dennis’s jaw is the best thing because it could have not been diagnosed then we would have had more problems. If anyone has to have radiation and goes to M D Anderson please ask for Dr. Skinner he is a very good thorough Dr.
The great thing about this is there is No cancer where it was before. So this is great news even though Dennis is showing cancer again it is in different areas then the original cancer so what was done to him worked.
Things will be a little rougher in some manners with this time the last and then some areas will be not so hard as last time. Each time a person gets Radiation it takes an overall toll on the body. It is hard to describe you definitely want to get the radiation again if needed but there might be some overall long term tolls on your body.
It is so hard on a person’s emotion to get there hope and dreams up when they hear no more cancer then just get hit again three months later. But Dennis and I and God will fight this one again and we will win because we have great doctors and a wonderful God on our side.