Friday, September 19, 2008

Praising God!

Vince's appointment yesterday gave us some answers, and the one HUGE thing that we did find out is that the cancer has not spread!!! My heart was full of joy when I heard that, and I am thanking Jesus! But, the doctor did say that he has a small spot on his lung, which he said could be an infection, but they don't really know as of yet. We are trusting God through this as well. Our doctor isn't the most "warm & fuzzy" type, which we were warned in advance about, and he is a tough one to get info from because he doesn't really know the answers himself at this point. He says, "when I find out I will let you know"...which seems as though it's taken a year to get to this point, but it's been 2 weeks today since we found out that Vince had the 90% chance of cancer. Everything has seemed so surreal and unbelievable, but it's our reality and I am learning that it's not easy, but we are determined to see healing in Vince's body in the name of Jesus!!! He is our hope!

At this point the doctors still don't know which type of cancer it is. The two types are Bone Lymphoma or Ewing's Sarcoma. From what we understand, if he has Lymphoma, that can be treated with Chemo & Radiation and that's it, but, if it is Ewing's, he would have to have Chemo, Radiation & Surgery. The surgery would involve replacing the bone with a rod, or in 6% of cases, amputation. Either way, he will need Chemo & Radiation for the first 3 mths. So Vince has an appt. on Tues. @ 7:30 a.m. at UCLA Westwood to see an Oncologist to start treatment. We were told that he would have treatment 1 week in the hospital and then 3 weeks off, for 3 mths., but until we talk to the Oncologist we won't know for sure what the plan is.

Yesterday they removed all the bandages and took out the drain and boy were we surprised to see how big the incision was! Here is a photo! Vince's arm is a bit sore from the doctor picking up the muscles off the bone and moving them to get to the bone for the biopsy! OUCH! But, considering all he has been through, the pain is so much less than it has been in 6 mths! As soon as we were done the doctor had us go downstairs to the MRI dept. where he had to have yet another MRI. The doctor said that they didn't get enough of his lower humerous in the MRI on Saturday so they had to re-do it (he assured us he wouldn't be charged for it..yeah sure..we'll see if we get a bill).

Vince came out without any pain!! Thank you God for getting him to this point and feeling so good! We know the road ahead isn't going to be easy, but we are prepared! Vince just wants to get it over with and onto recovery!!

So at this point we are on hold until Tuesday. Please pray that the spot on his lung is just an infection and that the antibiotics that he is on right now will clear that up and we are also praying that this is not Ewing's! Pray that his pain will be minimal and that Chemo & Radiation will be as easy as possible for Vince without all those side effects that you always hear about. Thank you my prayer warriors! God bless!

2 comments:

Scott and Family said...

Yikes! That's one nasty incision. Glad to hear there's less pain. We'll continue to pray - specifically that the 'spot' vanishes with antibiotics (or with whatever God wants to use) and for the quickest, least side-affect-ist type of treatment!
God bless you guys.
scott & fam

Debbie said...

Thrilled to hear that the cancer hasn't spread! That's AWESOME news! Also really happy to hear that Vince is in less pain. We too will pray that the small spot on Vince's lung is only an infection and that the cancer is Lymphoma and not Ewing's. Vince is so fortunate to have such a great family! It is obvious that you're all giving him lots of love and support. You are in our thoughts! Debbie & Family