Dennis and I were down at MD Anderson today seeing a Dr. that is the top of the line in Dr’s. in esophagus cancer. He is going to give Dennis 3 different medicines which are types of Chemo. He told us that Dennis has had this cancer in him for at least 2 1/2 years.

He goes tomorrow to get the pre surgery work done as he is having a port put in his neck on Tues. at St. Johns. This way they can start the chemo. Two of the medicines are drips and the other is a pump. They all will be given through I V. He goes back to his main oncologist on Thurs. and I am sure that is when she will tell us when he will get the chemo.

He will get 2 days in a row then wait 11 days and then get chemo again for 2 days and then wait 11 days. He is schedule already to have another PET Scan done on the 10th of Jan. to see how much the chemo shrunk the masses and the lymph nodes.

Anyhow that is where we stand the port will be put in Tues. and then Chemo will start I would say sometime shortly after the 15th of Nov.

I was reading about the side effects and there is going to be a lot since he will be getting 3 different types of medicine and each one has there own side effects.

As always keep us in your prayers and we thank you very much for all the beautiful things you all have been saying.

Dad went today and got all the paper work taken care of to get his port put in on Tuesday, he will have the port in and shortly after that, he will start chemo… for at least 6 months. I know God is working in our family! God has lined up literally the best of the best in every step of this process. He has had the leading doctors in the WORLD looking at his case and I know that is God working. I praise God for all of His grace and I know that this will be a journey but one that God will never leave us.

As you all know Dennis was denied surgery and radiation because there is to much cancer in his esophagus. MD Anderson did their own Endoscope on the 31st and we went to his oncologist yesterday the 1st of Nov. She went over every thing and it is Def. Dennis is in Stage 4 The tumor has gone through the wall of the esophagus. He has a lot of Lymph Nodes up and down his esophagus that have cancer. She said remember the esophagus is round well the tumor has gone to 40% of the esophagus so that is one reason Dennis is having some difficulty swallowing. We are going to see another Dr. down at the main hospital on next Thur. and he is suppose to be a world wide expert on esophagus cancer. He has discovered a lot of the material that they do on patients all over the world. We will see what he says on Thurs.

She told us that Dennis will start on Chemo after seeing this Dr. The Dr. might put Dennis in a study with also getting Chemo. He is also going to have a port put in his chest sometime next week so when they do start Chemo he will be ready. She said that she feels that the Chemo will not get rid of all of it. Then Dennis will get off of it and then the cancer will come back eventually and then he will have to get more Chemo. She said this is what he will probably do the rest of his life. You can take Chemo as much as your body will allow. Eventually it could effect the liver or heart. Now will that be something in a year from now or 20 years only God knows when Dennis will go home with him. Even though it sounds grim I need and ask for everyone to keep us in your prayers because prayers and our faith is all we have and we have to keep a positive attitude and keep God at the top of our life.

Dennis is going to do another Esophagus endoscopy with a lot of biopsy done at the same time. They want to make sure that the 8 areas that showed up which includes several lymph nodes on the PET scan are all cancer. He has to be at MD Anderson at 8:30 AM and then the procedure will be at 11:30 and recovery at 12:30pm on Wed. Oct. 31st. Then he sees his oncologist on the 1st of Nov.

Hello friends I wanted to give you this update on Dennis as we went to see the radiation Dr. today to see if Dennis could start radiation. Well I guess I need to backup just a little. We went to a surgeon on the 22nd and to make it short the surgeon said Dennis was not able to have surgery because he has 8 different areas that has cancer in the esophagus. Some are masses and some are lymph nodes. Anyhow the surgery would have taken a min. of 6 hrs. and a 7 day stay in the hospital but since Dennis has so many areas it is not possible to have surgery.

Today we went to the radiation Dr. He told us that Dennis is not able to have radiation at this point because the cancer is in his lymph node in the upper part of his neck and it goes clear down to either the stomach or right outside the stomach area. He said that Dennis would have been to sick to have all of that area with radiation because depending on where they put the radiation would be a different symptom of illness and he could not handle that much illness at once. He said Dennis is in Stage 4 of the cancer.

So we are now waiting for the surgeon to do another endoscope on Dennis which they will be doing a lot of biopsy’s to make certain that the 8 spots are def. all 8 has cancer in them.

If they do then the next step is chemo. We are trying to stay positive and we are definitely keeping are faith. We know we have a long road ahead. So the next thing is the endoscope hopefully soon then see his reg oncologist on the 1st. Everyone has been so supportive and I thank you for all the prayers that you are saying on a daily bases. Today was Dennis birthday he turned 57. Happy Birthday my love.

Bad news: he is not a candidate for surgery as the PET scan showed 8 spots from his esophagus to his stomach. This surgery is extremely dangerous and he would be under the knives for many hours. I praise God for giving us the guidance for Doctors to say this is not good for dad. With his a-fib in his heart, God is telling us just be patient and know I (God) is healing the body. Why it is bad is because everyone likes to have more than just chemo/radiation options. The what ifs in life. The tumors range from a nickle to a tennis ball in size.

However, I look at the good news… the cancer has NOT spread passed a couple organs. It has not gone to the bone, liver, lungs, pancreas or brain – all places where there is little hope. Praise God for showing us the signs to take dad in to Dr. now and not months from now. The Doctors have told us that most of the time we never catch this early…. cause usually u feel great until after it has spread all throughout the body. It is still very serious but it has only spread to a couple places. I believe in my soul that the chemo/radiation is going to kick some cancer butt and we are going to stand proud to beat this horrible cancer. God said, have faith as little as a mustard seed and I shalt be with you. I believe that. I have seen how chemo has healed me and so many others. Yes, it is a poison but it is one that will make cancer run away.

He will be seeing the nutritionist and the radiation Dr within the new few days. he will also have another endoscope and a biopsy from MD Anderson. They want to biopsy all of the lymph nodes. Then chemo/radiation within the next week or so.

Went to MD Anderson yesterday, met Dennis Dr. She seems to be very knowledgeable and was very patient with all the questions that we had. They are going to do a test on him called a PET scan. It is similar to a reg CT but they will inject a sugar substance in him and this substance will go throughout his body and wherever their is activity (where there is cancer it will light up red.) of course certain areas like your brain etc. will light up because of the activity in it. They want to make sure that the 2 masses that Dennis has and the lymph nodes are the only place he has cancer. The Dr. did tell us that it is very strange that Dennis has Squamous Cells because he does not smoke and not around 2nd hand smoke on a reg. bases. Plus usually it is in the upper part of the esophagus and Dennis is in the middle and lower. Anyhow they will decide what to do next after the PET scan. I will give you further info when I have it. He is in no pain just having a hard time swallowing some times and coughs. Please keep us in your daily prayers.

Hello my friends and family, I need you to keep Dennis in your prayers. Please tell your friends to also say a prayer. Last Thursday we found out that Dennis has Esophagus Cancer. He has an appointment to go to MD Anderson tomorrow (Tues) This news as you can guess devastated our family. He has a long hull in front of him but with our faith and prayers we are hoping for a full recovery. Someone in the family will keep you informed of things that are going on. I am a strong believer in prayer and my faith in God will bring me and my family through this. But we need all of your prayers and your faith also. So please keep us in your prayers daily.