Update: August 29, 2011

Update: Monday, August 29th

Good day, SWJpagers! It was a slow and frustrating summer but we have kept our faith and have continuously been lifted by your support and generosity. Treatments keep coming in a variety of forms, so we’ll see how well they help fight cancer.

This past summer was frustrating. By the end of the school year, a pain had grown substantially in my right hip and nerve-like pain had begun to occur down my right leg from my hip to my big toe. We initially sought treatment for the right hip, thinking the problem was there. However, getting scans while in such pain proved difficult to the point where I had to be put under sedation to get them, which was a hassle of course. Then, the results came back and they said that the pain was not sourced in the hip but in my low back. So, we saw a specialist in that area who then said that he needed new images, would get them scheduled, and then would call us back, but then he NEVER called back. We went back to my old doctor after the new guy didn’t call us back but that was only after an extensive effort to get the now required waiver, which so many people helped us get. As it turned out, the images of the lumbar and the old doctor suggested that surgery was a good option. We would have opted for it at that point if the cancer hadn’t grown back in the mean time. So, we wasted the summer trying to figure out the source of my hip and nerve pain, putting chemo on hold basically the whole time because it’s not good to have surgery while on chemo only to decide NOT to do surgery when I needed it because we had waited too long.
Since the decision NOT to have surgery, I have been on a new chemo pill, Xeloda, over the last two weeks, and Temodar, the last week. This week I have radiation. The frustrating part of it is that, we could have done chemo and radiation back in June when the tumors were smaller instead of waiting until the end of August. This upside is, significant however, in that the radiation probably wouldn’t have been in the right spot. An additional bright spot did develop, too, in that this new radiation technique that I am now eligible for has been made available to me. The technique has reduced my number of visits from 10 to 1 for radiation. In reflection, it is hard to know God’s plan, which can be incredibly frustrating, but if we keep our faith, it seems to work out if you want to see it that way.

Regardless, I am blessed to have you all as a part of my support system. Katie and I continue to get well-wishes in the mail from people all over the country, the world even. People at work are still incredible for both Katie and me. Family is stronger than ever, too. Cancer is obviously horrific and I would NOT wish it on my worst enemy, but some of the things that my family and I have experienced as a result of my cancer have been quite miraculous.

God bless,

Will, Katie, Mack