Three Strikes You're OUT!

Hi everyone, hope you all have had a good week! Well it's been about a week since Dad had his first chemo treatment. He felt good the first few days, but felt like he got hit by a train after the "steroid high" wore off. Its normal for people going through chemo to feel crappy around the 3rd day after chemo, and boy does dad feel it! Other than being exhausted and feeling hungover, he has only felt nauseous once. Last night he also started to get a brain freeze...but instead of in his brain it is in his throat...make sense? He says its really painful and its like breathing in -50 degree air.

Today was a busy day of appointments, holy cow! Who would have thought 3 appointments would be so exhausting. We first met with Dr. Lucas who is the Radiation Oncologist we were referred to~his practice is part of Arizona Oncology (the same organization where Dad gets his chemo) and you would THINK the chemo doctors would be able to communicate clearly with the radiation doctors...but that is not the case for us unfortunately. Dr. Lucas was very nice, but he had not been given any of Dad's test's...only the written reports. He asked Dad a lot of questions (are you coughing up blood, having trouble breathing ect) and at the end said he doesn't think radiation is right...right now. WHAT?! We all had the same reaction because every doctor we have seen so far has told us Dad is getting radiation. He wrote dad a prescription for "miracle mouthwash" which will help dads throat freeze and sent us on our way.

Dad's big brother, Uncle John, flew in from Denver this morning so he got to spend the rest of the day with us. It is SO great having him here and was definitely the highlight of the day!!!

Our second appointment was with the Dr. Roberts office so Dad could get blood work and a B12 shot. Last week they told us if he needed ANYTHING we could call Roxanne (the nurse navigator we met last week) and she would answer our questions. They also said anytime he needs a B12 he can come in. Well Dad was feeling REALLY run down and so he called Monday and didn't hear back until Tuesday when they told him to come in today (Wednesday) to get blood work and the B12. Well they called Dad back, took his blood work and said "Alright see you in a few weeks!". Boy did Dad give them a piece of his mind, and honestly they deserved it. The communication and service we have experienced the last week is completely unacceptable and incredibly disappointing. It is really frustrating for someone who is going through this in general, but not have anyone on the same page is even more scary.

The third appointment was with Dr. Siever, the Pulmonologist. Dr. Siever wanted to do a follow up appointment to monitor the fluid in his left lung. He took an X-ray and he was so pleased with it! The fluid has really cleared up and the tumor has not grown which is awesome!!!! Dad will meet with him again in a month.

After the appointments today we decided we needed a second opinion, and not just a consult but a team of doctors who are motivated to work together and are passionate about their patients...hence the title of this post :). MD Anderson is another prestigious cancer treatment center and my Mom worked her magic today to get him an appointment ASAP. They have all of his tests and paperwork and he should be in to see the Executive Director the beginning of next week.

Dad is such a fighter and even though there has been a few obstacles this week, next week can only get better :) We are all looking forward to hearing what MD Anderson has to say, and of course we will keep you updated via the blog. Thank you so much for all of the prayers, calls, emails ect...they really do help!

Goofing off at Dr. Siever's

So tired

After dinner

Chemo Round 1

Hi Everyone! Well this week has flown by it seems...Dad played another golf game on Friday with the neighbors and spent the weekend hangin out! Monday, one of Dad's best friends from high school came into town for the day. They spent most of their time either in Best Buy or crankin tunes in the car..typical! They also let me join them for lunch at the Cheesecake Factory (Perfect place to plump Dad up!).

I am only speaking for myself, but I must say I had the best Valentines Day ever! Mom, Dad, Kristen and I all went out for dinner at a local favorite of ours, CK's and then I suckered everyone into seeing "The Vow" with me. It was so much fun and so nice to have a night away from thinking about the "C" word.

Well today was day 1 of the Chemotherapy. We got to the oncology office bright and early and started the morning off with "chemo school". Roxanne is the Clinical Nurse Navigator and her job is to educate everyone on everything chemo. Long story short she went over the possible side effects and how to manage his diet. When we were done we walked back out to the waiting room only to find Dad's really good friend, Cunningham! It was such a great surprise and I know Dad really enjoyed hanging with him and taking a break from us girls and all our questions haha!

Dad got his blood work done (which he will get done every time he comes for chemo) and that will check a lot of different things but what we really care about are his white blood cell count, red blood cell count, and the platelet count. They then took us back to the chemo room, which if I am being honest was a little eerie. After Dad got the IV in his arm the nurse asked if Dad had taken his Decadron...we all gave her a confused look and said we had never heard of it and he had only taken the Emend (anti-nausea). Apparently Dad was supposed to be on this steroid (something else to help the nausea) and no one ever relayed the message or called it in. This was the SECOND big thing regarding his treatment that was not relayed (the first was that between the transfer of offices, no one informed him that he needed to meet with the Radiologist...we found this out by Roxanne asking Dad if he was starting Radiation today...we had not heard anything about this) and it was very unsettling to say the least. They fixed both miscommunications though!

We wanted to talk to Dr. Roberts (Dad's oncologist) too, so we nicely asked (forced) them to let us meet with him, even though we didn't have an appointment. Dad noticed yesterday the lymph nodes on his left side were really swollen and since they showed up on the PET scan as having some cancer cell growth we wanted to be sure it was ok. Dr. Roberts seemed to think it was normal and said they would give him something for it...I may need to get used to his lack of bedside manner...But we don't need a Mr. Congeniality, just a Mr. Expertise!

Chemo went like this:

1. Aloxy- 20 minutes, another anti nausea drip
2. Decadron, 20 minute drip, (this is the steroid I talked about earlier)
3. 50 mg of bennedryl, prevents allergic reaction to chemo..also made dad tired!
4. Saline drip- 2 hours, to keep him hydrated
5. Alitma, 1st chemo drug, 10 minutes
6. Cisplatin, 2nd chemo drug, 2 hours

Dad got a little nap in while he was getting all these liquids (which was amazing because the chairs were very uncomfortable) and honestly just hung out all day. It was a longggg 6-7 hour day but Dad is such a warrior and I am so incredibly proud of him. He doesn't have chemo for 3 weeks but has two appointments next Wednesday, one with the Radiologist and one with Dr. Siever to check on the fluid in his lung. 

LASTLY, I wanted to say how humbled we all are from all the love and support everyone has for my Dad. Watching him read all his good luck texts today was so special and I know he is so grateful for the encouragement. I hope you all have a great week, here are some more pictures from today:

One of my best friends made Dad a new lucky shirt, which he sported today :)

Hangin out in the most un-comfy chairs alive...where da lazy boys at?!

Walkin around

Showin off his IV's

A Trip to the Oncologist

Hi everyone, Happy Thursday!

Well yesterday we got to meet with Dad’s oncologist, Dr. Roberts. He is the best of the best and his ability to speak almost only in medical language was just one proving point! Even with my super awesome biology and chemistry skills from college, I had many question marks above my head…and Dad? He walked out and said, “sooo, what did he say?”

Well all jokes aside, it was a good appointment and he went over the tests from the last few weeks in more depth, but mostly it was everything we had heard last week.

As for what is new, Dad starts Chemotherapy next Thursday. He will go in once every 3 weeks for 6 months and the kind he is getting is administered through an IV. The first session takes about 5 hours (any good movie recommendations?) to make sure he doesn't have a reaction to the chemo. They are giving him two different chemo drugs simultaneously, Cisplatin and Alimta. Alimta is a chemo that specifically targets advanced nonsquamous non-small cell lung cancer (what Dad has)and has shown much benefit. There was also a large clinical study done that showed when Alimta (can we just call it Altima now? It's hard to pronounce AND type!)and Cisplatin are administered together in Dad's type of cancer the outcome is more beneficial than when other chemo drugs are used.

He also started his B12 shots and folic acid supplements yesterday. These will help decrease the side effects of the chemo. 

As for now Dr. Roberts said he needs to kick up his calorie intake to 2000 a day and stay mobile! Dad can do just about anything and is golfing with great friends the next two days. Dad and the rest of us all appreciate everyone's love and support, it is a great comfort to us all so thank you for that! Have a great week!

What a stud!

Kristen, Dad, and I at the appointment yesterday

Dad and Cunningham on their golf outing today

The "411"

Well I wanted to start off by saying thank you for everyone’s prayers, messages, phone calls, and support the past week. I cannot tell you how much my family, my dad especially, appreciates it.

Today we all went to the “big” appointment with Dr. Siever at The Arizona Pulmonary Specialists to go over the results of last weeks MRI and PET scan. They were able to get us in a day early which I think we were all thankful for, waiting for answers can get old! So here is the 411 (in as easy to understand language as possible):

As we knew last week, the bronchoscopy showed that there was cancer (specifically adenocarcinoma) in his left lung. There was no tumor blockage in the bronchial tubes, which is good news.

The MRI was clear! Even though they had trouble finding his brain during the MRI (haha), it was there and accounted for with no tumor cells.

The PET scan showed us a few things. First, that the tumor cells are very active in the hilum and root of the left lung (learn more about these areas here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilum_of_lung).  Second, the cancer cells have spread to two different places: the left adrenal gland and the lymph nodes ascending up his neck. It also showed that there is some fluid in the left lung that could be caused by a few things, but it is not likely to be caused by the cancer. Dad got a chest x-ray today to start monitoring the fluid and will get another one in a few weeks. The favorable part of the PET scan is that the cancer has not spread to the right lung, right adrenal gland, liver, or bones.

Since the cancer has spread (or metastasized, in medical terminology) to other places, it is stage 4 instead of stage 3 like they originally thought. Since it has spread, the FAA mandates that he be off work for THREE years! Lot’s of time for activities!

So our next step is to meet with Dr. Roberts who is a great oncologist, if not the best! Dr. Siever got us in really quickly so we will meet with him next Wednesday. My mom actually worked closely with him through both of her treatments and Dad has met him several times so we were all comforted knowing he would be Dad’s oncologist. Dad will definitely be going through both chemotherapy and radiation, most likely simultaneously.

The prognosis? We don’t know! Dad is strong (I mean, he is basically a body builder) and healthy which is good, but the doctor said there is no way to know how he will respond to treatments. The treatments for lung cancer are getting better and better every year and there are still SO many reasons to stay optimistic! Humor, a healthy diet, and staying active are going to be key…but he has that down pact, especially the humor part! On our way to the appointment Dad let me know he had worn his lucky shirt today. When we got in the car after the appointment, Dad laughed and said, “Well, I think I need a new lucky shirt!” We laughed a lot, but I still think the shirt is lucky…today could have always been worse!

Continue to keep my Dad in your thoughts and prayers and if you want to leave him a comment below, I know he would appreciate the positive encouragement! Here are some pictures from the last week:

 Kristen and Dad at the Scottsdale Wedding Walk

 Dad and I on our way to the doctor this morning

 There was such a large support team for Dad at the doctor today, they had to put us in a conference room! Side note...I think Dad should be the next McDonalds model, what do you think!?

 Dad got to reconnect with an old friend last week and she sent over this picture! This is my dad (with his mom and grandparents) getting commissioned into the Navy.