Cancer Makes a Comeback

Howdy All,
Many things have happened since my last post not all of it good so I thought I would share a wonderful experience I had at Thanksgiving with Helen's family.  I call them Helen's family but I know that they consider me and I consider them to be family too.  Helen's eight brothers and sisters are about the nicest, most generous and loving group you will ever meet and I was very much looking forward to seeing them all as we headed out to brother Tony's home in Kentucky during our first winter storm. Once we cleared the mountains the going got smooth and we were very glad to arrive and Tony and Lisa's beautiful home.  Lisa and Tony had generously invited my sister Nancy and her husband John to join us - they live in the adjacent state of Indiana and it was wonderful to see them and reintroduce them to the Barnes family whom they had met when Helen and I were married.  It is a Barnes tradition to gather for Thanksgiving and by the next day the family was there in force.  It is not uncommon to have over 50 - all family!  The cooks in the family were all hard at work building the Thanksgiving feast.

26 Lbs. Ready for the Oven

A Small Portion of the Barnes Turkey Day Crew

Driving back to Todd from Kentucky I was looking forward to a few weeks where I could put my disease and my treatment out of my mind and get ready for the Christmas Holidays and visits from Sarah and Sean and their families - what could be better.  Unfortunately Miss C had other plans.

Because of my continuing headaches, I went down to Duke a week ago for a full body PET scan.  It was an in and out affair and we headed back to Todd for the weekend.  On Saturday I woke feeling poorly with an intense headache.  On top of that, I had a session of vomiting which is a rare thing for me.  Because it was a weekend I called the oncology triage number at Duke.  The oncologist on call told me that I should get down to the Duke ER for a MRI of the brain, the concern being that there was a bleed on the brain at the site of my radio surgery.  Thinking we would be down for a scan then back to Todd, Helen and I jumped in the car and headed to Durham.

Having waited long hours in ER waiting rooms we were prepared for a lengthy stay - I with my Kindle and Helen with her Ipad - but this is Duke which continues to be amazingly efficient.  Consequently, it wasn't but a matter of minutes before we were shown to a room in the ER little understanding that we would be there a long time.

A Few Minutes in the Duke ER Reception Area

The parade of Doctors, Nurses, Specialists and trips to scanning ensued.

Getting Checked Out in the ER

I was told that the scans were consistent with no large bleeding but the wanted to admit me in case there was a change so, after eight hours, I took a ride up to the oncology ward on the ninth floor.  The staff there was wonderful and asked if there was anything I needed.  I had been throwing up in the morning and not feeling good most of the day but after the jar full of drugs they had fed me in the ER I was feeling better and hungry.  I asked if there was anything they could do and lo and behold a ham sandwich and a ubiquitous can of ginger ale appeared.  Since it was 10 pm and it was the first thing I had to eat all day it was delicious

Dinner at Last

As I mentioned we didn't expect to be spending the night so we had no change of clothes, tooth brushes etc.  It wasn't bad for me because I got to wear those backless gowns that hospitals seem to favor but poor Helen was stuck with what she had on.  My darling wife refused to go find more comfortable accommodations and, after I had gone for yet another scan, bedded down in a way less than comfortable chair in the room.

Helen Trying to Sleep in RM906

Sunday was a quiet day of hanging out in the room, watching TV (I thought this would be a treat for us because we don't have cable or satellite at home but it wasn't as great as we thought it would be) and resting. Helen went out for some much needed supplies and I did a lot of resting.

Resting in RM 906 on Saturday

Monday was down to business day.  I was visited by Dr. Patel, my radio oncologist, who told me that there were two more small lesions in my brain and because of that and the large tumor that was slightly bleeding he recommended that I be treated with whole brain radiation.  Whole brain is where they send x rays into the entire brain area that are strong enough to to kill the cancer but not your brain cells.  Sounds like fun don't you think?  Side effects include fatigue, some cognitive loss and the chance of hair loss.  So if you see a confused bald headed man walking around Todd trying to find the Mercantile be sure to say hello :-)

I guess you can't have brain radio treatment without a mask so first thing I was wheeled to the Cancer Center to be fitted for another Hannibal Lector look.

The Whole Brain Mask

 I will wear this mask for each treatment.  The first treatment started that day (Monday) and I will have to go in each weekday for the nest two weeks before the treatment is complete.  A little later I spoke to Dr. Hanks, my oncologists, who concurred with the whole brain treatment and told me that the whole body PET scan the did Friday showed that the tumor in my spleen and liver are still responding to the Ippi and were smaller than the last scan but that another tumor had been identified.  We will discuss all of this as well as treatment going forward when I meet with him a week from Friday after the radiation treatment is complete. 

Our wonderful friends Karen and Rick Wilson are again playing host to our stay here.  My son Sean came down on Monday after 12 hours bouncing around airports as flights were canceled and rescheduled.  We had a wonderful dinner compliments of Karen last night and I struggled to find adequate words to thank her. After dinner we drove to the airport to pick up my daughter Sarah who was arriving from Austin.  We are all together now and I am so happy to have the kids here with their stories, photos and videos of the grandkids.  What could be better.  

We will head back to Todd tomorrow after treatment.  Our many friends in Todd are organizing a fund raiser for us on Saturday.  It is hard to admit that you need help but the cost of dealing with cancer is just short of unbelievable.  More on this in a future blog.

I hope that you will forgive me for ending this chapter now.  It is getting harder to keep all of my thoughts in order but I very much want to keep all of you informed and to let you know that I am think of you all just as you are thinking of me.  I continue to be amazed by the blessings that have come to me and want you all to know that they far, far outweigh any difficulties I have had.