Each Day

It's been a busy Monday and the week will just keep getting crazier as we work, pack, clean, etc. Along with the daily hustle and bustle of life, we are also moving forward on the Cancer progress. Tom has an appointment on Wednesday, August 1 to consult with the ENT. Then it's to the lab for some blood work. I am so impressed with his primary Dr. who has been at the forefront to keep his progress moving. This weekend I was thinking, that I should become his patient because I have never known of a Dr. like him. We have never had a Dr. call our home and talk with us personally, make sure we understand the diagnosis, and make sure we are doing ok.

Tom will be attending this consultation alone on Wednesday, but I will have 100 questions about what his plan is. I have already met one of the surgeons at this office when Kyle had his tonsils out and was comfortable with his style. This is a big relief to feel confident in the one that is caring for my loved one. Once the PET scan results come back, and we consult with the oncologist on the 13th, I hope that we finally have more answers than questions.


Thanks to so many of you that have said you're a phone call away to help with anything. I'm not great at asking for help, but I'll work on not keeping the whole load on my shoulders. It's comforting to know that we have so many willing hands and hearts to share with life's tasks. I picked up a new book this weekend (I'm supposed to be saving it for vacation) that had in the acknowledgments the verse "Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle, and you will find rest four your souls. For my yoke fits perfectly, and the burden I give you is light." Matthew 11:28-30

The roller coaster is picking up speed

We just got the results back from Tom's second CAT scan and we now have a new diagnosis. His Primary Dr. called and reported that they did not find a cancer in the lower part of Tom's body. The mass in his neck since his last CAT scan has increased in size. Tom is now being diagnosed with Thyroid cancer (stage 2 or stage 3). What's next?

He is still going to go through with the PET scan(Tom thinks they do not have anything better to spend $6,000 on). On Monday he will be referred to yet another doctor, and ENT (Ears, Nose, and Throat) who will most likely remove his thyroid. On the 13th he will still meet with the oncologist to go through with the plan of attack going forward.

We know that we are far from being out of the woods, but this is a much better diagnosis than we were expecting. From what I've read; the farther the tumor has spread, the less the success rate of recovery. So this is good news :) Actually, I will keep surfing the web with a more specific topic. Hopefully it just keeps getting better as we continue the roller coaster ride called life.

Step by Step

We can finally say that we are going forward! Tom had his CAT scan today. Though the medicine makes him feel worn down, he feels up about getting this step complete. The PET scan has been approved and he is set to go in on Friday, August 3 at 8:30 am. This gives us both the feeling that we are moving in the right direction. Then it will be vacation time for both our family and Tom's oncologist. When we all get back we are meeting on Monday, August 13 to go over all the results. It feels good to do something more than wonder what & when (we always knew the where). So now it's back to the everyday worries for a time:
Will the kids get along
What will I pack for all of us for vacation
When will I have time to shop for 3 kids for school stuff

I also wanted to thank you for sharing your comments and thoughts with us during this time. It really is great to get advice, hear what others have experienced, and just know that we are not alone. I believe that each prayer is helping to keep us calm and focused. Tonight I read to the kids Matthew 6 which says "So don't be anxious about tomorrow. God will take care of your tomorrow too. Live one day at a time." I will concentrate on taking it step by step each day!

Valerie's on a Mission

My husband is feed up with this system! Tom was being too nice so it was time for me to step in and get some answers. This afternoon we still had not heard from the Dr.'s office and Tom is at the end of his patience. I called the insurance to see what the hold up was, and they had no information to give us since the approval has to come from a third party insurance for the PET scan. I then called the Dr.'s office and talked with the scheduling person. She stated that the CAT scan was approved and it was the PET scan that was holding us up, as she was trying to schedule them together....blah, blah, blah. During our consultation the Dr. had said that he wanted Tom to get the CAT scan right away, knowing the PET scan was out a couple of weeks and apparently that information did not get passed to his staff. Everything that we've read about this cancer states that early detection and treatment is crucial for survival and we have already lost almost two weeks: it's very hard to just be a number in the system.

His CAT scan is now scheduled for Wednesday, July 25. This should at least tell us where the cancer is so that we can get some information before going on vacation. Hopefully the PET scan can still be done before we leave so that we can get results when we return. I will try to take a deep breath before we "hurry up and wait" for the next step!

Awaiting Approval

Tom called the Doctor's office this morning to find out the status of the scans. We have not been approved by the insurance company as of yet, but they hope to have it yet today. The reason it's taking is so long is because the insurance company needed more details about the PET scan. However, we will wait to be approved since we found out how expensive it is and would not want to pay "out of pocket". Let's just say that once this has been billed we have definitely exceeded the maximum $$$ for the year. Tom explained to the Dr. office that we were going on vacation from August 4 to the 11th. They are going to try to get him in for the scans on the 3rd and will have the results for him on the 13th when we return.

Will this make for a relaxing vacation? I hope that for a few days we can be "worry free"and only worry about if we're getting sunburned or who is the next to ride the tube or water ski. It may do us good just to get away and have some family time, with the added bonus of good friends. The kids are looking forward to this trip all summer, and I hope that Tom and I can catch their "carefree" attitude.

I know so many of you are praying for our family and I wanted you to know how much that means to us. There is power in prayer!

Questions? Answers

It's hard to sit back and do nothing while we wait for the next step, approval from the Insurance to have the CAT and PET scans scheduled. People are asking us some of the same questions we have been asking ourselves. While we have time to wait, I've been doing a little research on cancers and such. I have linked a new website which may help others understand what "type" of cancer Tom has. This may answer some questions that Tom and I are not able to.

A questions I have been asked a lot is: What is a PET scan?
Here is what I've found:
A PET is a Positron Emission Tomography. It is a diagnostic examination that involves the acquisition of physiologic images based on the detection of radiation from the emission of positrons. Positrons are tiny particles emitted from a radioactive substance administered to the patient. The procedure will work with the patient being administered a radioactive substance which will localize to the appropriate area of the body and can be detected by the PET scanner. Different colors or degrees of brightness on a PET image represent different level of tissue or organ function. Cancerous tissue will accumulate more of the substance and appear brighter than normal tissue on the PET images.

The other research I've been doing is with a word the Oncologist used that I was not able to write down during our meeting. I've since read it in another cancer site and tried to get the definition, which is this:

Metastatic Caner is a cancer that has spread from its primary site to other parts of the body. If cells break away from a cancerous tumor they can travel to other areas of the body. They settle and form a "colony" tumor. The spread of a tumor to a new part of the body is called Metastasis. About 1/3 of patients with cancer have metastases that are detected at the time of their first cancer diagnosis.

Tom and I have decided that if we do not hear from the Oncologist office by early Friday, he will call to get the status of the scan approvals. We are both anxious to get the test taken, so more importantly, we can get the answers back. It seems that each time I talk with someone they have another "Good Question" that I do not have the ability to answer. There are many more questions that have yet to be answered, but they will have to wait for now. We will just have to work on the issues that we can control and let go those things we can not. I pray that God will help us to know which ones to let go.

Hurry up and Wait

After talking with the Oncologist, and getting the feeling there was a need for urgency, we are now on a waiting pattern. Friday came and went with no call from Radiology setting up the CAT scan. Finally Monday afternoon, Tom could wait no longer and called Oncology to find out the status. They explained to Tom that they would first need approval from the health insurance, this will take 2-3 days. Then they were coordinating one trip so that the CAT and PET scans could be done at the same time. The earliest scheduled time is the week of July 23. Who knows what it will be once the approval has been completed. Tom is getting anxious to get on with the tests and I have come up with about 20 more questions that will be somewhat answered after these results are in.

In the meantime, thank you so much for your words of encouragement and hope. We appreciate all the prayers that have been said for us. It's comforting to know that we are not alone in this fight. It is hard not to get anxious during this time when there is not much to go on but our limited knowledge of Tom's diagnosis and plenty of time to think and think. It's not by surprise that when I opened my purse today I found a little card that I kept from last years' bible study. It was a verse I had memorized from Philippians 4:6-7 and says: Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Diagnosis

We received news on July 12 that Tom has been positively diagnosed with a "Neuro-endocrine" tumor. What does this mean? The tumor found in his neck is not the place of origin, his cancer started somewhere else. Where? That is what they have to find out through the CAT scan (this will tell them where the cancer originated). The CAT scan is set up to look at the Thyroid, Stomach, bowels, and Liver. The PET scan (this will tell them the cancer acitivty). This will tell them how aggressive the cancer is. We are greatful the Tom's dr. requested a second opion with the Oncology specialist. Once we have the test results we will know better the plan of attack. At the Cancer center we were asked if we had more questions. Shock was our only reply. Once on the road, and things sank in, questions started popping in my head (though many of these will not be answered during a consultation). We are going to learn much more than we never wanted to know about cancer during this process, I am sure. I have set this Blog up so that we can give many people Tom's progress at everyone's convienence. I will try to update as we go so that people can know what going on (and what to pray for) as we progress. Thanks for all your support!