I saw this image on http://ifunny.mobi and had to post it here.
“As your faith is strengthened you will find that there is no longer the need to have a sense of control, that things will flow as they will, and that you will flow with them, to your great delight and benefit.”
― Emmanuel Teney
Dennis had proton radiation the first time around but this time he is going to have IMRT True Beam 2 that stands for (Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy True Beam 2). This radiation will also be able to pinpoint the precise location of the cancer and beam straight to it taking less chance of hurting Dennis’s spinal cord. Plus this type of radiation is used more on patients with neck and head areas. The doctor said his saliva gland will be affected so he will need to drink a lot of fluids to keep his mouth moist. They are planning on 28 treatments of radiation starting on September 10, 2013
I hope everyones afternoon is going well… I just want to write in real quick that Dad will not be having 33 IMRT radiation treatments. They added on the extra treatments just in case he needs the treatments just in case he has to cancel any. Dad’s radiation doctor assured us that he will only received 28 IMRT radiation treatments. As of right now, Dad’s last radiation treatment will be October 17, 2013 at 12:50pm.
Furthermore, he is now going to get his intravenous chemo done on Thursdays instead of Tuesdays. Reasoning is, Dad works a 4 10 hour shifts Sunday – Wednesday nights. So, he doesn’t have to take off work, we were able to get his intravenous chemo rescheduled to Thursdays.
As far as dad, he is hanging in there. The radiation treatment is making his mouth dry and so he is having to drink a lot more water.
Dennis is going to have an intravenous chemo given to him once a week for 5 weeks. They are going to just put an IV in his arm instead of putting a port in since it will only be 1 time a week for 5 weeks. We found out they can only give the IV that the Chemo will be going through in the area of the arm between your wrist and your elbow. It has to do with the fat content in your body.
Hey everyone,
I just want to write in and let yall know exactly what the plan of attack is for Dad’s upcoming treatment. On September 10, 2013, he will start his chemo and radiation treatment at MD Anderson. We are praying that this is going to kill all of the cancer because each time a person goes in for radiation, even though it is in a different area than before it takes a long term toll on the body. So let’s kick butt again and make it the last time for chemo or radiation.
Re-cap:
Dad went to his 3 month check-up on August 19, 2013, in which he had another PET scan done. After the PET scan, he went to the doctors to hear the results. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the results we wanted to hear. The test showed that even though his original cancer was still totally clear (thank you Lord), Dad had a spot on his left lymph node up between his collar bone and his heart area. It also showed in an area up in his left side of his neck. Dad had a biopsy done in the lymph node and it came back cancer. So his radiologist is going to treat both areas and also treat two other areas in the neck that have lymph nodes because he feels they are probably cancer also.
Chemo:
This time the treatment is going to be a little different because it also deals with the jaw/neck area. Dad is going to have an intravenous chemo given to him once a week for 5 weeks. They are going to just put an IV in his arm instead of putting a port in since it will only be 1 time a week for 5 weeks. In addition, Dad will be given a couple different types of pills that also have chemo in them and he will take them once in the morning and once at night for 25 days only on the days that he has radiation. Dad’s intravenous chemo will be given to him at the MD Anderson – Clear Lake..
Radiation:
Dad is going to have a different type of radiation then last time. Last time, he had proton radiation but this time he is going to have IMRT radiation that stands for intensity modulated radiation therapy. This radiation will also be able to pinpoint the precise location of the cancer and beam straight to it taking less chance of hurting his spinal cord. Plus this type of radiation is used more on patients with neck and head areas. The doctor said his saliva gland will be affected so Dad will need to drink a lot of fluids to keep his mouth moist. They are planning on “33” IMRT radiation treatments, which will be at MD Anderson – Downtown.
“When you come to the edge of all the light you know, and are about to step off into the darkness of the unknown, faith is knowing one of two things will happen: There will be something solid to stand on, or you will be taught how to fly.”
― Patrick Overton
Hey guys,
I just want to let you know that Team C will be signing up for Relay for Life soon. It never hurts to start the donation process early. 🙂 More details coming soon.
http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR?pg=entry&fr_id=60871
Friday, June 13, 2014, 6:00PM
Manvel High School
19601 Highway 6, Manvel, Texas
“Never say that you can’t do something, or that something seems impossible, or that something can’t be done, no matter how discouraging or harrowing it may be; human beings are limited only by what we allow ourselves to be limited by: our own minds. We are each the masters of our own reality; when we become self-aware to this: absolutely anything in the world is possible.”
― Mike Norton
As you may or may not be aware, Dad recently had a crown put in. Since then, his jaw has been hurting. Dad told his MD Anderson doctors about his jaw and they honestly didn’t think it was related to his esophagus cancer. However, they went ahead and did some test on his jaw area just to be on the safe side. The other day, they did a biopsy of the lymph node on Dad’s jaw. The results came back today that he has malignant cancer in the jaw area. They are the squamous cells, which are the same cells of his esophagus cancer.
This new finding of cancer will most likely post pone his treatment because he has to get approval of a dentist to do radiation in the jaw area. If I understanding what Mom told me correctly, if Dad has dental work done in a certain amount of time period after treatment, he could mess up his jaw / teeth as a whole. So, it’s very important that Dad has healthy teeth, since he can’t have any dental work done for X amount of time. We have many questions with very little answers. Dad and mom has to go down and personally talk to Dad’s MD Anderson doctor and find out what needs to be done next.
Besides finding out the results of the biopsy, Dad also had a CAT scan done today. We should know the results by Tuesday. As always, please continue to pray for Dad to be healed.
Dennis had to get some pre-treatment procedures done prior to having to start his IMRT True Beam 2 radiation.
Hey Everyone:
I have added a new feature to Dad’s blog. Its called “Subscribe to Blog via Email”. Its on the right side, underneath the main menu. Whenever Mom, Jennifer, or I post something on the blog, you will receive an email alert automatically. In order for you to receive the email, you have to opt into the email list.
Basically, you type in your email address. The system will send you an email asking if you want to opt in and you click on “Confirm Follow”.
“You cannot control what happens to you, but you can control your attitude toward what happens to you, and in that, you will be mastering change rather than allowing it to master you.”
― Brian Tracy
“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.”
—
Thomas A. Edison
Hey Everyone,
We have gotten so many comments about the background music. To give credit, the music was a free service I implemented from Playlist.com. Unfortunately, Playlist.com recently changed there services and is no longer supporting on-demand playlists, which is how it was setup. I am currently in the process in finding a similar service like Playlist.com that supports on-demand playlists. If you know of any services, please write in a comment.
Thanks,
Adam Cunningham
I am a fan of “Stand Up To Cancer“. They post a variety of different things in regards to standing up to cancer. Please join me and become a fan of the “Stand Up To Cancer” fan page and enjoy reading inspirational articles that they post. Below is there latest posting…
“Cancer is not the end of a career, a life or the world… It’s how you fight it.” ~ Master Sgt. Larry Velasco
http://www.dvidshub.net/news/109125/three-time-survivor
“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”
― Winston Churchill