Update: January 1, 2012

Update: Sunday, January 1st 2012!!!

Happy New Year, SWJpagers! It was a wonderful gift of a year and a great recent holiday season! Katie, Mack, and I soaked up every bit of joy from the time that we could and did our best to make lemonade out of the lemons that we were occasionally served. We hope you had a great year, too. And as always, we could not have done it without you all. We are always so surprised and lifted by your gracious support.

My fight with cancer has continued along much the same line it has been on for the past year- the trend in tumor growth has continued. It continues to grow in places where we knew it existed and to show up in new places altogether. Knowingly, the chemotherapy that I have been on has been slowing the cancer down at best, not stopping its growth or shrinking it. (The rationale was to continue to try to raise my level of health, consult with some additional doctors who might shed some light on alternate treatment plans and to enjoy the holidays and quality of life that I have at present.)

The time has come, however, to make some decisions about which direction to take my treatment and it hasn’t gotten any easier given some VERY recent developments, which are going to have a major impact on those decisions. You should ask: “what are the developments that are going to impact your treatment decision-making?” In answer to that, you should know that on this past Thursday night at dinner I started having difficulty chewing and swallowing food. I felt as though I could NOT manipulate the food in my mouth with my tongue as I have been able to all of my life. This was terribly distressing to me at the time and I nearly lost it at the Longhorn Steakhouse dinner table.

So, I called some of my doctors on Friday and managed to get a CT that afternoon and the results communicated back to me prior to the weekend. As expected, they were NOT very positive. As it turns out, I now have a mass of about 3 centimeters on my brain! I don’t have many details, but I was put on a round of steroids to help with my oral difficulties. They probably help some, but I still have difficulty taking pills and speaking clearly. (I sound like I have a lisp when I talk, which I’m sure will be a hit in the classroom this week.) Based on my brief conversation with the nurse, I anticipate a call from the doctors late Tuesday or Wednesday and then some radiation treatment over the next couple of weeks. Again, I don’t have many details. That’s just a general idea of what we anticipate. After the brain tumor has been appropriately dealt with, we will be able to focus on the cancer in my neck and chest. And although the news is terribly distressing and I anticipate things getting worse before they get better, I do expect them to eventually get better. Call it faith or a gut felling or just a notion, I do believe that things will get better! I rest easier on that belief, really.

Katie and I will be in touch soon. Thanks for everything! Prayer Warriors mount up.

~Will, Katie, and Mack