Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Meeting with Reznick




Before I get into all the medical stuff, I wanted to share some photos from last weekends "Boo at the Zoo" Halloween event. We took the girls on Sunday and had a good time. It was still pretty cold when we got there and that is why Briley has a jacket over her shoulders in the photo with Sponge Bob and Patrick. She was dressed as a hippie and it looked great. Although we could not get a white beard on Addison, she still went as Santa. There are a ton of jokes in that and I will let you formulate your own.

As for the Reznick visit, it did not go as well as I would have hoped. The chest CT showed 11 small spots on my lungs (3 on the right, 8 on the left) and the bone scan showed something on T12 of my spine. At this point, he took away the Chemo options of "EP" and said that correct course of action is to have 4 cycles of BEP as that will not only clear the lymph node, it will also clear up the lungs. He was a little more suspicious of the spot on the bone and wants me to have a MRI this week and he will then confer with Dr. Larry Einhorn, that man who developed the current protocol that "Cured" testicular cancer. I am schedule to start chemo on Monday November 5th and will need to get the following things taken care of this week:
  • A pulmonary function test and Audiogram - Will test my lung capacity as the Bleomycin can have some affect of breathing and they need a baseline of my lung volume. I will need to do this throughout the treatment.
  • Infusaport - A minor surgery to insert the infusaport into my chest as this is how they deliver the IV and take blood. It will be under the skin and it probably the only thing I have been freaked out by. He said, at the start of a chemo week, they will insert a needle in there that will be used all week.
  • Pre-Chemo meeting - A meeting with the nurses and financial advisor. Jennifer and I will go in and they will answer all of our questions and give us some expectations on the next 12 weeks.
  • MRI - Need the MRI on my spine.

I expect to hear from the various Dr's tomorrow and all of this will need to happen over the next 3 day. Although many of you emailed that you liked how detailed I have been, Right now, I just don'f feel like going into it. I will add more later including the schedule as it's more than I thought.

Sam

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Williams family! This is Ryan Rodenbeck and I just heard the news from Micky. First off, I have now had the pleasure of surfing your blog and you have a beautiful family. My boys had a great time at Boo at the Zoo as well:) I can clearly see that you all have the strength and love to overpower this cancer. I wanted you to know that you will be in our prayers and if there is anything you need please don't hesitate to ask. I do apologize that I have not been able to keep up as much as I would have liked. Please stay strong and remember that many of us are thinking of you.
Your friend
Ryan

Anonymous said...

Sam, Jennifer,

Steve and I think of you everyday with love and hope and faith in your wellness. We love you so mcuh and pray for the time this will be behind you. And that your life will go on with the same Joy & love you have for each other. And from all of us who love and treasure the four of you. We are in this together.

Love,

GG & Papa