Heath's Blog

Heath just started a blog today after taking a much needed 'personal day' to reflect on things, chill and do some research. His blog will be focused on his journey in life and journey through cancer treatment. I'll still blog about what's going on with him and our life, but for a more in-depth look into the life of Heath....check it out! :)

http://lifetimeofopportunity.blogspot.com/

We just found out today that instead of what we originally thought was going to be a 3 day chemo treatment every 3 weeks is going to be 5 days of it! Yowza!

I've decided that I need to accept help that is offered during this time (with help from my counselor). So....for those of you that have asked what you can do to help, I'm sure that I will definitely need it at some point. I think the biggest things that will be helpful are meals and help with watching Grayson. Since I don't quite know how things will go yet....I may need more help with other things as well. Thank you all so much for supporting us throughout this process! We really appreciate the love, positive thoughts and prayers that are being offered. We are truly blessed with awesome people in our lives...and we just want you all to know that!

Tricyle riding and puppy visiting

Grayson rode his tricycle all the way up to 'Grandma' Debbie's this morning. This is the first time that we have gone out on the road since he first got his trike a year ago for his birthday. He plays with it all the time on the deck, but I just noticed the other day that we was pushing the pedals. So....we ventured out and decided to head up to the ol' Homestead (Gary and Debbie's)...just up the street. We arrived just at feeding time for the pups! Rune had 10 gorgeous pups about 5 wks ago...so they are just now at that stage where they are playing and getting their personalities. So darn cute!!

'Uncle' Tone-tone and little male pup

Mama and lambs

Could they get any cuter?!

Here I go!

Feeding time

I wuv you Gwayson!

Funny little boy

Here a few pictures from the other day when Grayson ventured outside in his jammies....a fairly common thing for him...however, he decided to take off his shirt even though it was quite chilly out.

Practicing the javelin

Kind of chilly, mom!

Grayson loves his dogs (and loves to torment them as well!)

He was actually sitting in this, but by the time Heath got the camera...he was on his way out.

More details and game plan

Heath had his appointment with his oncologist, Dr. Hui Wang on Friday.  I thought she was pretty nice and is looking out for his well-being as well.  She went over CT results and we discussed the treatment plan and many other topics.  The CT results showed bulky lymphadenopathy ('lymph node disease') involving the cervical, left axillary, mediastinal (sternum region), retrocrural (lower chest closer towards spine), retroperitoneal (abdominal) and proximal left iliac regions.  The pathology report final diagnosis is metastatic seminoma.  What we've learned about seminoma is that this type of cancer involves germ cells that originate from the testicles.  During embryonic development, these certain cells are left throughout the body.  This is why Heath can have this cancer and not have any involvement with the testicles.  However, he will still get an ultrasound of the testicles to make sure there isn't something small that the CT didn't pick up.  Dr. Wang had him do some more bloodwork to check the markers to determine staging.

Game plan:  First thing is for Heath to bank sperm next week.  Dr. Wang was really anxious for that to happen first and foremost.  He will also be getting a heart work-up (called a MUGA) and the ultrasound of the testicles on Tuesday (April 28th).  Once these things are completed, Dr. Wang will go over all the numbers and decide the exact course of treatment.  If he is in the 'good risk' category then he will have chemo with 2 drugs....if it is further along, then he will have to have 3 drugs.  She is hoping that he won't have to have the 3rd drug because this can be damaging to the lungs.  I really need to do more research on this drug and we need to find out if it is totally necessary to have this exact one if he "needs it".  

He is tentatively scheduled to start chemo on May 4th assuming all the other 'tasks' are completed.  He will have 3 days in a row of chemo...then will have 3 weeks until the next cycle....completing 4 cycles.  The drugs he will be receiving are Cisplatin and Etoposide....and hopefully NOT Bleomycin.  Dr. Wang would like him to be an inpatient at the hospital for the first treatment to monitor him and have him on fluids.  Cisplatin can cause kidney problems so he will be closely monitored with frequent kidney value checks.  After the 4 cycle treatment, he will have another CT scan to see how things are going.  If all goes well (and it will) then he will be done....if it is still persisting, then I believe he may get radiation at that time.

This type of cancer is slow-growing and very treatable.  Dr. Wang wasn't in a huge rush to get him started on chemo, but we wanted to get it going and start the inevitable.  Plus, the way the cycles work out we wanted to make sure his treatment was not during the same week as our Sunriver vacation.  

Heath has a friend who used to be in his men's counseling group (Dave) who is a radiation oncologist.  He has been talking to him quite a bit...and Dave will act as a liaison between Dr. Wang and Heath.  We will also keep our natropath on board and if need be we will use the natropath  oncologist at the office...having both natropaths communicate on stuff.

We are all doing well and are just ready to get the ball rolling!  

And, the results are in....

Seminoma. A type of testicular cancer that is slow-growing and very responsive to treatment. Its the same type of cancer that Lance Armstrong had.

Apparently the pathologist was very certain that this is the type of cancer Heath is dealing with. Funny thing is....nothing showed up on the CT scan in the testicles. So, we will get more information on Friday when he has another appointment with the oncologist. We don't have a whole lot of details except that he'll have to have chemo, but less than what Hodgkin's lymphoma would require.

So....since this testicular cancer is only presenting in the neck lymph nodes....maybe its his twin! *insert humor*

Lymph node biopsy

Heath's lymph node biopsy went well today. They ended up putting him totally under...which we all agreed was the best thing. The doctor said it would be difficult to totally numb the area well enough so it would be best to have general anesthetic. Yeah...who wants to see a scalpel nearing their jugular! He would have had a pretty good "mickey", but still the full anesthetic is best. Everything seemed to go well...and the surgeon removed the whole lymph node that was the most enlarged (and visibly so by looking at his neck). Heath is still a bit numbed up on the left side of his neck where it was removed so he hasn't really had any real pain yet. He is trying to stay ahead of the pain anyway with meds. After the surgery we went out to eat because he was famished since he had nothing to eat past 11 pm last night. We were wondering what the waitress was thinking about him being all drugged up and bandaged on his neck and where the IV was. All in all, we had a great experience with all the nurses and doctors at the surgery center. We were very appreciative of their excellent care and great sense of humor!

Results to come soon....

Heath's medical update

A couple weeks ago, Heath saw an oncologist for a consultation on his enlarged lymph nodes. She did some more bloodwork and then scheduled several other appointments to figure out what is going on. Because this issue has been ongoing for several months (since Oct), we have both prepared ourselves for worst-case scenario. The oncologist has a tentative diagnosis of possible Hodgkin's lymphoma. Of the two types of lymphoma, this is the more " treatable and curable" type. We aren't sure how she is able to determine which he may have....but again, this is tentative until biopsy results. If it does come back as lymphoma, then we will procede with treatment of chemo.

So, this past Friday he went and had a neck to pelvis CT scan to look for any other abnormal lymph nodes. Today he had a surgical consult to determine where they may take the biopsy. The surgeon told us that they like to take the lymph nodes from the neck because they are considered to be the "cleanest". Since Heath has a very enlarged one in his neck...this is the one they will take....the whole thing too. This is a somewhat "minor" surgery that has been scheduled for tomorrow (ok...I guess today since it is already tuesday). They will do it under a local anesthetic...and I'm sure give him some pretty good drugs (fentanyl and midazolam). His surgeon will be the same one that took out my benign boob tumor a few years back. We should know results of the biopsy by the end of the week.

If it does come back as lymphoma...we will be kicking the crap out of it! Thank God that we are both in a really good place spiritually and emotionally these days...so, we will be able to maintain positive attitudes for the whole thing. This is just part of our journey in life...and it will surely be another one of our many "teachers".

I will keep you all posted on anything new!

Photos from February

I found a couple cute photos that were still on my camera...so here they are!

Please make sure that you scroll down for more recent photos...and check out all of April's postings since I just did a bazillion of them.

Reading a little literature.

Singing like a rockstar!

Older pictures from our Vale trip

These pictures were on my camera from our Vale trip in February....tea time, music time and chillin' with Jim time.

Happy Easter!

This year I wanted to host Easter brunch...so I got to pull out the stuff I never get to use! We had fun preparing for it too! We had quite the feast. Everyone brought something, so our menu was: Mini frittatas, Herb-roasted red potatoes, Croissant sandwiches with smoked salmon and dill cream cheese, Carrot-apple flax muffins, Hawaiian fruit salad, Creamy fruit salad and mimosas! It was a really nice time!

Looking for the Easter basket

There it is!

Look at all my goodies that the Easter bunny brought!

I even got some cool shades!

Trying to shake the chocolate out of him....way too much has been eaten!

Dyeing eggs

Heath took these next photos...and they turned out pretty cool!

Lake Lawrence community egg hunt

This year for the little kids, the eggs were "hidden" on the tennis court and around it. I think that was definitely more fun for the kids...plus no scratchy straw. Grayson got quite a few eggs this year. Even though he didn't win a special prize, he didn't care because he got plenty of chocolate!

I was (and still am) never a big fan of people in mascots or costumes like this. Apparently neither is Grayson.

Egg hunt continued