For those of you who are new to
this blog, going back and reading all of these entries at one time to get
caught up can be a little overwhelming. While I do encourage you to go back and
catch up when you can, here is a good place for you to get started. This will not give you all of the details. It
will be a brief overview of the events that have taken place in my life over
the last year.
On August 7th 2016, while I was
getting ready to leave for church, I was taking one last look in the mirror to
make sure that everything was in order. While standing there looking in the
mirror, I reached up with my left hand to try and straighten my sleeve on my
right arm, and my left hand wouldn't work. I also noticed that the left side of my face
was drooping a little bit and other parts of the left side of my body were not
exactly working right. I really thought I was having a stroke at the time. So, I called my parents and told them what
was going on. They immediately headed to
my house and took me to the emergency room.
For about 2 weeks before this day,
I had noticed that my eyesight was not what it had been. In fact, I had gone
for an eye exam and was told by the doctor that I simply needed to remember my
eyes were not as young as they used to be and that it was time for glasses. When
I received the glasses, they seemed like they weren't quite what they should
be, and I had already decided I was going to take them back to see if the
prescription was correct. For about 4 days before the above-mentioned day, I had
started having headaches, my left knee had given out on me a couple of times
and I had noticed that when I would walk down the street with my dog I tended
to veer off to the left a little bit. For two days before the above-mentioned
date, I had noticed that my voice had gotten a little bit weak and hoarse. With all these things starting to come
together and a little bit of tingling in my left hand, I had talked to my
chiropractor about the possibility of a pinched nerve. When I explained the
different issues, he immediately said that I needed to see my primary doctor
and have it checked out, this was not something that he would treat me for. So,
I had come over to my parents’ house on Saturday, the day before the
above-mentioned date, explained to them all that I have just explained to you. They
both had doctor's appointments with the same doctor that I would have gone to
and immediately told me to take one of their appointments on the following
Monday. However, we didn't get that far.
So, when I arrived at the emergency
room on Sunday, the doctors and nurses immediately began running tests. Before long a doctor was in the room telling
me that I needed some specialized imaging that was unavailable here in Sebring,
as well as a specialist. At that time,
he said that there was something on my brain. I asked him if it was a tumor and
he said “no”. He said it just looked like some kind of spot, possibly a cyst or
blood, which had a lot of fluid around it and needed to be dealt with
immediately, but that he did not think it was a tumor. So, they called for an
ambulance to transfer me to Tampa and it wasn't long until I was in the
ambulance on my way to the hospital there.
Once I arrived in Tampa, things began
to move very quickly as they ran tests and did scans. It was not much longer until a surgeon was in
my room telling me that I needed surgery right away and that she was ready to
do so the following morning. At that time,
they still didn't know what was going on but that whatever was on my brain
needed to be dealt with soon. The next morning, I went in for surgery and while
I was in recovery, my family was told that I had a very aggressive form of brain
cancer called a glioblastoma. They
were also told at that time that had I not had surgery when I did, I probably
would have only had another 2 weeks.
I spent several days in the
hospital, and when I was discharged, I came home to start therapy which would
help me regain some lost mobility on my left side.
After I came home, I began the
typical six and a half weeks of radiation together with chemotherapy. I was
also started on regular monitoring of lab work and periodic MRIs.
in December, while most of my mobility
had returned, I once again went back to the hospital for a few days with the
chicken pox. Yes, that is correct. Chicken
pox at 40. Not something that I would
recommend. However, something that has given a lot of people reason to smile
and even a few people to laugh, including myself (now, but not at the time).
Later on, in December, another MRI
showed progression of the disease and it was recommended to me that I have
another surgery to remove what was there.
On January 13th, with the
understanding that this time I could have significant loss of mobility on my
left side, I had a second surgery. This time I woke up unable to move anything
on my left side. However, with the help of therapists at an acute rehab facility
in Tampa, I was able to regain some of the movement. They were able to help me
get on my feet and take a few steps, teaching me how to walk again and do
things with the use of only my right arm.
Right before Easter Sunday, I had
another MRI and at that point everything looked good. However, my oncologist
here in Sebring thought it would be a good idea for me to go ahead and get
another opinion. He referred me to Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa. I also spoke
to him about going to Duke University in North Carolina, He thought that was
also a good idea. What would have
normally taken a couple of weeks to get an appointment at Moffitt, ended up
taking only a couple of days, because once again God intervened. So, right
before Easter Sunday I had my first visit at Moffitt.
The following Monday, I met with
doctors at Duke University. I showed them the MRI and they said it looked like
everything we were doing was working and to just keep doing the same thing and if
I needed them, I could come back.
However, I decided that if they
weren't going to do anything different, and thought we were doing everything
right, then there was no need to go so far away.
It was only about a month later, when
I went in for another MRI and visit with the doctor at Moffitt, that he told me
the tumor had returned and would require immediate attention. Within a week I had an appointment with a
surgeon who told me there was a likelihood of permanent loss of mobility on my
left side. He would only go ahead with
the surgery if I was okay with that. I asked him what would happen if I did not
have the surgery. He told me I would have about 4 to 6 months. I told him then there is no question - “When
do we start surgery?”
Ten days later, I had surgery at
Moffitt Cancer Center. I only spent a short
time there. My mobility did not change
significantly. However, I certainly came out of surgery weaker than before I
went in. A lot of testing was done on
what the surgeon removed.
The following week I met with the
doctor that is overseeing my care at Moffitt.
He informed me of a few of things that they found out with the testing
they did. First, most of what was
removed was simply dead cells and what little bit that was still growing, was
growing very slowly. He explained it this way. Glioblastomas typically grow
like wildfire. He said if you look at
it like a speedometer in a car, most of the time they are running along at about
50 to 80 miles per hour. Mine was
growing at about 1 mile per hour. One
more bit of information he had, was that this glioblastoma had mutated. This
meant that the DNA makeup of these cancer cells now has the same DNA makeup as
breast cancer. He said this was a good
thing because there is medicine to treat that particular type of cancer and he
felt we could be more successful in treating it based on its DNA makeup with a
new type of chemotherapy.
He also felt that since the surgeon
found a couple of other spots while he was doing the surgery that radiation
would be in my best interest.
So, a month later, which takes us
now to the middle of July. I began a 5-day radiation treatment. This was a
specialized radiation, some of which was actually called radiation
surgery. At the same time, I began
two different types of chemotherapy, the first one I had taken back in August
during my first radiation, the second one was the new one based on the DNA
testing from the last surgery.
Since that last surgery I have
continued with some therapy. Unfortunately, my insurance has run out on therapy
and will not cover any more. However, the therapists have been great at showing
me things I can do at home to continue improving my mobility and strength on my
left side.
My left hand is still very slow and
weak and doesn't work properly. My left
leg does allow me to walk. However, it
takes a very long time to get from point A to point B.
Next up will be an MRI and visit
with the doctor on August 28.
This has been and continues to be a
hard journey, BUT God’s grace is truly amazing and His strength gets me from
one day to the next.
As I read this
verse this week, I was reminded of a trip my parents and I took together a few
years ago through the United Kingdom. My
Dad has done a lot of family research and found out that some of my ancestors
came from Scotland. So, we decided to
take a little excursion together through Scotland on the way back to the United
States from Kenya. We rented a car and
drove from London to a small town in Scotland.
Once we got there, we were trying to find a place called “Lag Castle” or
“Lag Tower”, the home place of my ancestors in the 1500s. (Yes, I do apparently come from some sort of
royalty). All we had were GPS
coordinates. We ended up out in a cow
pasture, driving a low-to-the-ground Prius.
However, we finally found it, at least what was left, climbed the stone
wall around the tower and took several pictures. The place has since had some restoration work
done. At the time we were there,
however, it was falling down and looked rather unsteady. I am so glad I don’t
have to worry that my God will get weak and tired and fall apart like this
tower but remains my refuge and strength and I can ALWAYS TRUST IN HIM.
And I do still come from royalty because I am
a child of the KING!
Lag tower (what is left of a larger castle) -
2009
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