DeBary, FL.
73 deg. clear, no wind.
Forecast today = Cloudy early with scattered thunderstorms developing this afternoon. High near 95F. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
Jim was still having the side effects from the Opdivo treatments when he went in to see the chemo doctor on the 7th of July, so he didn't get another treatment. The doctor did decided to raise the dose of the medicine that he was receiving to counter-act the side effects and since then, that has done the trick. ::-)
Last Thursday, (the 13th),Jim had another PET Scan and then this Monday, (the 17th), he and Linda went to see the Radiation Doctor to get the results. Again, the weekend was stress filled, waiting to get the results, but it seems like that's just part of this whole process.
So, , , , , , what did the doctor say???
Well, it's all good news!!!!! The spot in the left lung has dissipated and there''s just a little "fogginess" which he thinks is just some scar tissue from previous and latest radiation treatments. and the very small spot in the right lung has all but disappeared. There is just a minute spot that may or may not be something, but at this time he doesn't recommend any treatments. The PET Scan was for Jim's whole body and there is no indication of any spreading of the cancer!!!!
Yeee!!!!! Haww!!!!
Tuesday, Jim had an appointment with the Chemo doctor and after seeing the PET Scan results, she agreed with what the Radiation Doctor had said!!!!
Yeee!!!! Haww!!!! (Sorry about all the "Yee Hawing", but I couldn't help myself) ;-)
So, , , , , , What comes next??? Well, Jim and Linda have already started to make plans to head up to Illinois. Jim has made some reservations at an "extended stay hotel" near Rantoul, and Linda has already set up doctor's appointments with most of the doctors that will need to be seen up there. Jim had already made a "trip plan" that he refined yesterday and it looks like we'll be leaving here on or about the 31st if July!!!!
Traveling by car instead of RV is going to be a big change, but both Jim and Linda seem to have pretty much figured out what they can and can not take along. The extended stay hotel has a refrigerator, microwave and a 2 burner stove, so once we get up there, Linda will be able to make some meals. She has an electric skillet that she'll take along and can make quite a bit in it, even while we're traveling, and I'm sure, some meals they'll eat out at restaurants.
Jim doesn't know how much energy he'll have, so he's figured 5 days to get up to Illinois, (about 4 hours a day, traveling). The little trip to Cedar Key helped them get an idea of how to pack the car to get everything in, and staying in that motel helped with learning to cook some food in just a microwave.
Years ago, Jim and Linda went on "vacations" and managed OK, so it's just a matter of relearning the process. I;m sure that there'll be a few "bumps" but they'll deal with them and I'm sure it'll all work out in the end.
I can't wait ot get on the road again!!!!!
Yeee!!!! Haww!!!!
Did you know that on this date in 1969 - Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr. became the first men to walk on the moon?
Woof!!!!
Showing posts with label Answers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Answers. Show all posts
Thursday, July 20, 2017
Thursday, January 7, 2016
Back To December 31st and Treatments Begin
DeBary, FL.
57 deg. overcast, no wind.
Forecast = Cloudy skies early, followed by partial clearing. Slight chance of a rain shower. High 73F. Winds NNE at 5 to 10 mph.
Well, lets see if I can get this all straight!!!! I'm going to go back to December 31st and try bring you up-to-date on what has happened since then.
So, lets begin!!
As I wrote in my post on December 30th, Jim had an appointment with the Oncologist, (Dr. Saferali), on the morning of the 31st to get the results of the Pet scan. Well, Jim and Linda headed over there and the news was good and bad. The good news is that the growth, (probably cancer) was all located in one part of the lung, (the inlet), and there were no other indications of any unnatural growths in the rest of his body.
Now the bad news. From the time Jim had received the Cat scan on the 4th of December and the Pet scan on the 29th of December, the opening of the lung had closed and Jim's left lung had collapsed!! This sent up an immediate alarm and Dr Saferali said that she thought is was very important that Jim head straight over to the hospital for treatment.
So, that's what they did.
Now, you have to remember that this was New Years Eve day and there were a lot of people off for the long holiday weekend. That meant that it was hard to get people together for some of the tests that the pulmonary doctor wanted to preform. And, I might add that it was not where Jim and Linda wanted to be to bring in the New Year either. :-(
They did an electrocardiogram in the ER and then immediately put Jim on heavy antibiotics because there is a high risk of infection in a collapsed lung. They also administered other medications to help him breathe easier. Then, on Saturday, the 2nd of Jan, Jim received an echocardiogram.
All showed no heart problems.
Monday, the 4th, they did a bronchoscopy which involved sedation and then running a scope down to his lungs where photos were taken. It was during this procedure that a biopsy was also taken and sent in for diagnosis.
Tuesday morning, Jan 5th, Dr. Ahuja, the pulmonary doctor that had been looking after Jim since he entered the hospital, and who is also the Dr. who preformed the bronchoscopy, came to the room and informed him of what she saw from the procedures. She is 99% sure it is cancer (no biopsy report yet), and showed Jim and Linda photos of the blocked area of the left lung and said that she thought that Jim could go home later in the day and should start getting radiation treatments to start shrinking the growth as soon as possible, preferably the next day.
Calls were made and an appointment was set up to see the radiation doctor, (Dr. Graham, the same doctor that gave Linda her radiation treatments) yesterday morning. (the 6th), by 10:00 AM, they were talking to the doctor, and by about 11:00, they were finished measuring Jim and deciding on just where the treatment needed to be directed. After that, they came home for awhile and rested, only to go back to Dr. Grahams for Jim's first radiation treatment last evening at 6:15 PM.
You see, Dr. Graham also said that it was of great importance to get that tumor shrunk down to get air entering and exiting the lung as soon as possible to head off a possible problem of the lung not wanting to start working on it's own again, which could be the case if it was blocked off for too long.
This morning, (the 7th), Jim will go back in for another radiation treatment and will continue getting treatments 5 days a week for the next, 5 to 7 weeks. (I can't remember just how long the doctor said). During this time, Jim will also see Dr. Saferali and get started on once a week chemo treatments. That means that for quite awhile he'll be doing both radiation and chemo at the same time.
It won't be easy and I'm sure it'll take a lot out of Jim, but because he's very healthy otherwise, the outlook is good. Dr. Graham also said that Jim has a good chance of full recovery, but as many of you know, cancer is a very hard thing to completely eradicate.
Jim and Linda both have very strong hopes and believe that this is just another one of those large bumps in the road that one has to go over. And besides, we still have places to go and things to do before hanging up those RV keys. ;-)
I don't know how much I'll be posting, but I'll try to keep all of you informed of anything important happening.
Jim also wants to thank all of you that have already called, e-mailed or commented. It really means a lot to know that so many of you out there are thinking and praying for his full recovery.
A Quote to Ponder : “All the really valuable things you own are things you can't photograph.”
Author Unknown
Woof!!!
57 deg. overcast, no wind.
Forecast = Cloudy skies early, followed by partial clearing. Slight chance of a rain shower. High 73F. Winds NNE at 5 to 10 mph.
Well, lets see if I can get this all straight!!!! I'm going to go back to December 31st and try bring you up-to-date on what has happened since then.
So, lets begin!!
As I wrote in my post on December 30th, Jim had an appointment with the Oncologist, (Dr. Saferali), on the morning of the 31st to get the results of the Pet scan. Well, Jim and Linda headed over there and the news was good and bad. The good news is that the growth, (probably cancer) was all located in one part of the lung, (the inlet), and there were no other indications of any unnatural growths in the rest of his body.
Now the bad news. From the time Jim had received the Cat scan on the 4th of December and the Pet scan on the 29th of December, the opening of the lung had closed and Jim's left lung had collapsed!! This sent up an immediate alarm and Dr Saferali said that she thought is was very important that Jim head straight over to the hospital for treatment.
So, that's what they did.
Now, you have to remember that this was New Years Eve day and there were a lot of people off for the long holiday weekend. That meant that it was hard to get people together for some of the tests that the pulmonary doctor wanted to preform. And, I might add that it was not where Jim and Linda wanted to be to bring in the New Year either. :-(
They did an electrocardiogram in the ER and then immediately put Jim on heavy antibiotics because there is a high risk of infection in a collapsed lung. They also administered other medications to help him breathe easier. Then, on Saturday, the 2nd of Jan, Jim received an echocardiogram.
All showed no heart problems.
Monday, the 4th, they did a bronchoscopy which involved sedation and then running a scope down to his lungs where photos were taken. It was during this procedure that a biopsy was also taken and sent in for diagnosis.
Tuesday morning, Jan 5th, Dr. Ahuja, the pulmonary doctor that had been looking after Jim since he entered the hospital, and who is also the Dr. who preformed the bronchoscopy, came to the room and informed him of what she saw from the procedures. She is 99% sure it is cancer (no biopsy report yet), and showed Jim and Linda photos of the blocked area of the left lung and said that she thought that Jim could go home later in the day and should start getting radiation treatments to start shrinking the growth as soon as possible, preferably the next day.
Calls were made and an appointment was set up to see the radiation doctor, (Dr. Graham, the same doctor that gave Linda her radiation treatments) yesterday morning. (the 6th), by 10:00 AM, they were talking to the doctor, and by about 11:00, they were finished measuring Jim and deciding on just where the treatment needed to be directed. After that, they came home for awhile and rested, only to go back to Dr. Grahams for Jim's first radiation treatment last evening at 6:15 PM.
You see, Dr. Graham also said that it was of great importance to get that tumor shrunk down to get air entering and exiting the lung as soon as possible to head off a possible problem of the lung not wanting to start working on it's own again, which could be the case if it was blocked off for too long.
This morning, (the 7th), Jim will go back in for another radiation treatment and will continue getting treatments 5 days a week for the next, 5 to 7 weeks. (I can't remember just how long the doctor said). During this time, Jim will also see Dr. Saferali and get started on once a week chemo treatments. That means that for quite awhile he'll be doing both radiation and chemo at the same time.
It won't be easy and I'm sure it'll take a lot out of Jim, but because he's very healthy otherwise, the outlook is good. Dr. Graham also said that Jim has a good chance of full recovery, but as many of you know, cancer is a very hard thing to completely eradicate.
Jim and Linda both have very strong hopes and believe that this is just another one of those large bumps in the road that one has to go over. And besides, we still have places to go and things to do before hanging up those RV keys. ;-)
I don't know how much I'll be posting, but I'll try to keep all of you informed of anything important happening.
Jim also wants to thank all of you that have already called, e-mailed or commented. It really means a lot to know that so many of you out there are thinking and praying for his full recovery.
A Quote to Ponder : “All the really valuable things you own are things you can't photograph.”
Author Unknown
Woof!!!
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
Dishes, Clouds and Butterflies
DeBary, FL.
74 deg. clear, no wind.
Forecast = Partly cloudy with thunderstorms and rain showers. High of 97F. Winds less than 5 mph. Chance of rain 30%.
Long time readers will remember when Jim and Linda went up to Naperville, IL. to see Linda's sister, Nancy, and to pick up some dishes that Linda had left with her for safe keeping. Nancy e-mailed the other day and wondered if they had survived the trip down here in one piece? Well, in the photo below, you can see that they all made it without even a chip, and that's something, taking in consideration that they had to have bounced around some in the back of CLT on some of those really rough roads that we traveled on the way down here.
Yesterday morning, as Jim was having his coffee out in the Florida Room, the sun was coming up and he noticed how it was illuminating some storm clouds up to the North of here, so he got out his camera and took this photo.
The last few days, there has been a lot of activity around one of the bushes out in front of our house. It seems like every time I look out of the window, I see these butterflies flitting around the bush. Jim saw them too, so again, he grabbed the camera and took a few photos.
There's one in the photo below, (you can click on the photos to enlarge them) can you spot it?
Here's a close-up of the butterfly on one of the flowers.
Did you know that there are about 24,000 species of butterflies?
Woof!!!
74 deg. clear, no wind.
Forecast = Partly cloudy with thunderstorms and rain showers. High of 97F. Winds less than 5 mph. Chance of rain 30%.
Long time readers will remember when Jim and Linda went up to Naperville, IL. to see Linda's sister, Nancy, and to pick up some dishes that Linda had left with her for safe keeping. Nancy e-mailed the other day and wondered if they had survived the trip down here in one piece? Well, in the photo below, you can see that they all made it without even a chip, and that's something, taking in consideration that they had to have bounced around some in the back of CLT on some of those really rough roads that we traveled on the way down here.
Linda's dishes on display, on the shelves and in the cabinets. (metal tray in the middle is not part of the set).
Yesterday morning, as Jim was having his coffee out in the Florida Room, the sun was coming up and he noticed how it was illuminating some storm clouds up to the North of here, so he got out his camera and took this photo.
Morning sun illuminating storm clouds
The last few days, there has been a lot of activity around one of the bushes out in front of our house. It seems like every time I look out of the window, I see these butterflies flitting around the bush. Jim saw them too, so again, he grabbed the camera and took a few photos.
Here's a close-up of the butterfly on one of the flowers.
Linda did some laundry yesterday, and both she and Jim have been working on getting more things put away and organized.
Oh, and Jim called "The Antenna Guys" who put up one of the neighbor's TV antenna, across the street, when we were here in the spring. He's going to be here early Thursday morning, (before Linda has to go to the doctor), and talk to Jim, and then, if Jim agrees, he'll probably put up the antenna that same day, even though Jim and Linda won't be here.
Then, he'll come back another day, and finish the installation. (Any inside stuff that needs to be done).
Speaking of the doctor, Linda is getting very nervous about going on Thursday. Again, it's the fear of the unknown. Not knowing what the diagnosis will be and what will actually have to be done to fix her problem. :-( I know that she wants to get all of this taken care of as soon as possible, but at the same time she's worrying about getting the house ready before she has any procedures.
Hopefully, soon, questions will be answered and everything will get taken care of.
Did you know that there are about 24,000 species of butterflies?
Woof!!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)