November - December 2012 - A Little Chemo Goes A Long Way

As I mentioned in the post Radiation Man it was decided that I would do a few additional treatments of Chemotherapy to ensure better success of the cancer not returning. The good thing was I didn't need to be admitted to the hospital anymore for this chemo, the bad is well its chemo.  I started in conjunction with the radiation and did three days in a row of chemo out patient and then three weeks off.  This started in November and went through January 2013. Each time chemo would happen Wednesday-Friday and then I'd have the weekend to recover so I could work for three full weeks again before another round. A little chemo goes a long way because only 4 hours each day for three days is not that bad but the effects lasted a few weeks.  I'm not complaining just explaining how strong these drugs are. I can't begin to explain how blessed I was feeling at this point.  The surgery had been a success and I could start to see a light at the end of the tunnel in the sense that soon I would be done with all treatments. I was a little bummed about doing chemo the day after Christmas but hey I'm glad to have made it to another Christmas which many with cancer do not have that blessing. 

Dr. Johnson and his staff have been great to watch over me and make sure that my body is healthy that my levels are where they need to be in order so as not to have to worry about things like low white blood counts, infections, or low platelets. They have been amazing and I couldn't be happier to have them on my team to kick cancer's butt!  It was decided to do 4 more rounds of chemo and I only made it to three.  After the third the neuropathy in my feet had gotten so bad that I wasn't able to walk very well without appearing to be an old man.  So after three rounds Dr. Johnson left it up to me and I said I'll live with the decision to forgo one more round.  I finished chemotherapy on  December 28, 2013! What a great surprise when I got home the second love of my life my daughter Zoe. Thank you to the #1 love of my life, Gloria for being the true Rocky through all of this.  Your courage, composure, faith, and beautiful smile is one of the greatest medications that I had to keep me feeling well and to keep my spirits high. I LOVE YOU!

November - December 2012 - Radiation Man

After my post-op appointment to Dr. Goff and a follow up visit to Dr. Johnson (Oncologist) it was decided since my cancer is rare and we want to make sure it stays gone and that it got such a butt kicking it never wants to show its face again, I would have post radiation and chemotherapy as a safeguard. I started radiation with Dr. Whipple and his amazing staff the first week of November everyday except Saturday and Sunday for six weeks completing it on December 13, 2012. 

Radiation is a different monster in itself in that the side effects creep up on you little by little at least in my case.  They map you out with tattoos, yes the permanent kind but not the ones you'd be ashamed to show your mother because these are just dots and they are made to save your life so I think momma would make an exception. Little by little the radiation wears on your skin and the areas close to where they are treating. The area they treated was near the heart and by the esophagus so within a few weeks everything I swallowed including water hurt like I was swallowing tiny needles with anything I ate so that made eating a chore by all means.  Maybe the perfect diet regime for anyone looking to lose weight because even though you are hungry you don't want that needle feeling so you try to eat less and less.  As they say all good things must come to an end and thankfully I like to say all bad things come to an end including radiation.  I have to compliment Dr. Whipple and his staff.  They were awesome to work with and celebrated my six weeks of radiation when completed.  They even let me have a knock out!!!

Post Surgery Second Update

For those that may not know, even though the surgery was a total success, there were still pathology reports that we were waiting for to see if the margins around the tumor were clean or free from cancer.  That report was given to us on Tuesday by Dr. Goff.  All the margins were clean and no traces of cancer in the tissue around the tumor were present! There was some residual cells which is not uncommon but that can be treated with a combination of radiation/chemo and in my case hopefully will be very minimal.  It is interesting to note that Dr. Goff placed clips inside my chest wall where he thought the areas that would most likely have cancer in the tissue and all of those places came back negative for cancer.

From a spiritual perspective, my father has given me many blessings through this fight with cancer and every time he has specifically blessed me with "clean margins" around the tumor.  I am grateful for those blessings of a loving father and his faith in the Lord's ability to treat me and make me whole again.

I have a follow up on October 22nd, and from there we'll know what post surgery treatment I will have and we will go from there.  Thank you for your continued thoughts, faith, love, support, and prayers.   

Miracles Never Ceased and Continue Today!

It has been nine days since I had my surgery and I thought today would be a good time to update everyone on what has transpired since my last post as well.  As you know, September 26th was the big day of surgery and it was a total success!  Before I elaborate more on the success of the the surgery there are some things I would like share.  The first thing is I have always maintained that miracles do exist even in our day and time.  Even as pessimistic or unbelieving that society has become, it doesn't change the fact that God continues to perform miracles today just as in biblical times. 

Secondly, until about two weeks ago, I had thought that faith was the main factor in whether miracles happen or not.  I have learned in my experience that it is more than just faith.  It is having the faith that the miracle sought out is possible, and accepting God's will unconditionally even if his will is not to perform the sought out miracle.  When Dr. Goff met with us a few weeks ago before the surgery, he said that the reduction of 60% was great news and that we should be happy about that.  He also said there was a chance he may not be able to remove all the tumor because of its location so close to the aorta and left subclavian artery.  He said he'd do his best but that was the possibility to be aware of.  After months of chemotherapy, after being emotionally and physically tired for so long, it took some time to take in that the tumor may not be able to be removed in its entirety.  It was probably the hardest thing for me to say, "Heavenly Father, I have the faith that the surgery will be a success and the tumor will be removed in its entirety, if it is thy will.  I accept thy will whatever the outcome may be."  Once I truly accepted it in my heart and my mind I was very much at peace and went into the surgery very calm still not knowing what the final outcome would be but knowing that a loving Heavenly Father was with me and watching over me. 

Returning to the success of the surgery.  The surgery lasted 6 hours and I am glad I was the one having surgery because had I been in the waiting room, I'm sure it would have been the longest 6 hours of my life.  Dr. Goff was able to use his great talents and I feel God blessed him as well so that he'd be sharp and precise and he removed the tumor in its entirety. He did have to do some grafting on my left lung and inside the chest wall.  There was even removal of a great portion of the innominate vein.  There also was some dissecting around the nerve that is part of the voice box and Dr. Goff thought my voice would be soft or hoarse for many months and that I would even need speech therapy.  None of that was the case and I was sipping water and talking to my nurse within a few hours of being transferred to my room.  I count that as another miracle, and the miracles have been many.

I was suppose to stay in the ICU for at least two days depending on my recuperation and progress.  Within about 15 hours I was transferred to a regular room with the ability to eat anything I wanted.  Previously I had been restricted to no food and only able to take liquids by sucking on a sponge. Last time I had the sternotomy, it lasted only 2 hours and I was in the hospital for 5 days. This time it was 6 hours and I was home within three days.  I got home Saturday and have been up and walking around, and going up and down the stairs by myself.  The first time I had the surgery, Gloria had to bathe me for a week, and this time she only had to bathe me on Saturday and I have been blessed to do it myself everyday this week. 

What I have taken from this whole journey that started back in May is there are little miracles that happen everyday of our lives.  The question is do we have our eyes openly spiritually enough to recognize them?  I am so grateful for this experience as it has taught me to treasure life on a deeper level and to recognize what a blessing it is to just go for a walk or sit down to eat dinner with the ones you love. I look forward to each day looking for that miracle whether big or small because they are there, we just have to keep our eyes open long enough to see them.

September is Here

We are now in September and we have met with Dr. Goff the surgeon on September 10th.  He was very thorough and explained to us the risks and scenarios that might take place during the surgery.  There is probably one nerve and vein that they will have to sacrifice but he feels they are already not working because of how my diaphragm on the left side isn't working and the vein is where the blot clot was and the tumor had it closed off as well and the blood has re-routed itself and so I haven't been using it for some time.  He did say he wanted to check with some other cancer centers to make sure that there isn't some other treatment they should be doing per-operation.  He said it was good that the tumor shrunk 60% and he had hoped it would have shrunk more to make sure that he can take out all of it.  Worst case scenario, he may have to leave some of the tumor in if it is close to some arteries that they can't mess around with.  If that is the case then there may be some treatment of chemo with radiation but we won't know until we get the surgery. 

The surgery is scheduled for September 26th.  Dr. Goff has already spoken with the National Cancer Institute in D.C., and the medical oncologist who authored the papers on how to treat thymic cancer.  This medical oncologist said that Dr. Goff and Johnson have done everything he would have done and that surgery is the best option now.  He said he would look at the CT scans and let Dr. Goff know if there is anything else he can offer in terms of input after reviewing them.  Dr. Goff said it was comforting to know that the person who authored the treatment of thymic cancer agreed that they have done the right treatment.  So until then to all my friends and family, we'll be looking towards the 26th and from there I promise to be more prompt in getting an update on the blog.  I ask for your continued prayers, faith, and thoughts on behalf of myself and my family.  As my dad told me on every letter during my two years on a mission: "Keep the Faith"

Labor Day Weekend

With everything that has happened in the last month, Gloria and I decided we needed a break.  So we decided to use some free nights we had in Vegas and headed down there over Labor Day weekend.  We took Zoe and Gloria's aunt with of us of course.  It was great and a lot of fun and all we did was hang out.  I think the fact that we got out of town we kind of forgot about everything and just enjoyed each others company.  Zoe loved the Bellagio's water show even though it would startle her every time the water would shoot up in the air.  She loved the pool too where we stayed.

When I was driving back and forth to St. George during the floods in 2011.  I was making the trip weekly for about  four months.  I never stopped at Cove Fort near Beaver.  This time on our way down we stopped and had one of the best experiences with the missionaries down there getting a tour of Cove Fort and learning about it.  I recommend anyone heading either down or back to take an hour out of your drive and go have a great spiritual experience there.

What a Journey Thus Far!

My last post was July 30th and I apologize to those that may have been worried that something bad happened or that sometimes just not knowing can make one nervous. I was suppose to start my 4th round of chemotherapy on August 7th, but I was a little sick and so I had to wait until August 13th because the my oncologist said that even little cold combined with chemotherapy could have serious consequences to my health and my immune system.  I was a little bummed by that news but at the same time knew that following my doctor's instructions is kind of like following a map.  If you pay close attention to where you need to go you'll most undoubtedly make to your destination.  If you don't pay close attention then you'll most likely end up way off course and then it takes that much more effort to get back on track.

August 13th came and went for my chemotherapy.  I did pretty good this time but it was a little bit lonely because Gloria was unable to stay with me all the days I was there.  There is always a positive for every negative I believe and that positive is the time away during the night and day always makes the heart the fonder.  I didn't have any complications and as much as the nurses were so wonderful I told them that I hope I don't have to see them again.  This was my final round of chemotherapy in the sense of being in the hospital for three days at a time receiving 72 straight hours of it.  If I do have to do follow-up chemotherapy it will most likely be an outpatient and last only a few hours.  I'm grateful to the medical oncology staff at McKay for their awesomeness in taking care of me.

August 21st I had a CT scan to see what the effects the third and fourth rounds of chemotherapy had on the tumor.  This time though it didn't become a waiting game as the hospital had all the information from the previous scans and by Friday, August 24th we found out that the tumor had shrunk another 10%.  60% in total which I was very excited about and thankful to my Heavenly Father because the cancer is so rare that there is not a lot of information on how to treat it.  My oncologist said many times the tumor will start to become resistant to the chemo drugs and so he said the reward does not outweigh the effects and so he wasn't going to recommend any more chemo rounds because of the toll it was taking on me.  He said that surgery was the next step. They also found a blood clot on the CT scan so I had to go back in for an ultrasound to confirm the blood clot and was then put on blood thinners and some really "fun" shots that have to be administered into the stomach near the belly button.  I'm glad I'm done with those for the time being.

This same day I started getting more of the chemo effects that I have not had to endure up to this point.  This one being canker sores all over the inside of my mouth, a bad cough, and loss of appetite I spent from Friday, August 24th to August 26th in bed too ill to even get up.  I did get some awesome medicine from my doctor that temporarily numbed the mouth.  As I was laying in bed and just feeling physically horrible the following scripture came to my mind: "But that ye have patience, and bear with those afflictions, with a firm hope that ye shall one day rest from all your afflictions." (Alma 34:41) I can say that this is true.  Patience and trust in the Lord.  At the time it seems that our troubles and afflictions may never pass but they do.

August 27th seemed like a normal day.  I had a little bit of a cough and even went to the doctor's office to have my white blood count checked. I talked to my doctor a little and said I was fine for the most part just a little bit of coughing here and there but nothing serious.  Well later that night around 9:00 PM I started to have a cough attack and ended up in the emergency room at Davis Hospital.  My awesome brother Josh was there as he works there to get me in quick to see a doctor.  They ran some tests and checked my blood and got me some good cough medicine so I could sleep.  They found I had a respiratory infection and the blood tests came back that my white blood count was low and that my platelets were low as well.  So the next day I went back to my doctor and got a white blood cell booster shot and also scheduled a platelet transfusion at McKay.  The platelet transfusion was August 29th and it was quick and easy but man do those things make you sick as can be.  The good thing is the effect was short lasting and by the evening I was feeling a lot better. 

So we've had a few bumps in the road since finishing the last round of chemotherapy to say the least.  Its okay though because we could have had these after each chemo session and I'm so grateful that I didn't.  It's a question of attitude.  Is the cup half empty or is it half full.  We can either go in with a good attitude and a grateful heart for all the blessings we have in our lives or be negative and be bitter which doesn't help us grow or learn.  If we don't grow and learn what was the point of going through everything?  God doesn't allow us to go through trials just because.  I strongly believe there is a reason for it and if we are willing to submit to his will, I know we'll come out stronger physically and spiritually and will be better people because of it.