This has been a pretty busy week for Dad and a very stressful one.
Daddy met with the Oncology Doctor on Tuesday who advised us that Daddy's cancer is a stage 4 or T4 N1 cancer meaning that it has invaded the lower jaw bone & nearby tissue and the N1 indicates that it is in at least one lymph node on the same side of his face. The Oncologist (who talked very fast) gave Dad several different treatment options and the prognosis for each treatment.
Option #1 and what the Oncologist recommends is for Dad to undergo surgery to remove the lower left jaw bone that has the cancer and then he will have to go through 5 1/2 weeks of radiation and chemotherapy. Of course Dad's heart Doctor had to OK the surgery and confirm that Dad's heart was strong enough to undergo an 8 hour procedure, which he did today. Dad has also met with an ENT Surgeon who explained the surgery producer. The Surgeon will remove as much of the lower left jaw bone as he can in the effort to remove all the bone that has the cancer. He will also have to remove a large portion of Dads cheek tissue that also shows cancer. He will then pull up muscle from Dad's chest to help support the jaw area. (Dad is not a candidate for reconstructive surgery (putting bone back in his jaw from somewhere else) because that would be a 14 + hour surgery and his Doctors’ does not feel he could survive that.) He will have to stay in the hospital for 2 weeks provided there is no complication. Once he has healed from the surgery he will start the radiation and chemo. The Oncologist said that if Dad can undergo this option then he would have a 50 - 66% chance of being cancer free in 5 years.
Option #2 would be for Dad not to have surgery and to just have the radiation and chemo. If he went with this option then there would be only a 10 -15% chance of him being cancer free (or even still alive) in 2 - 3 years.
Option #3 would be to do nothing. The cancer would spread and he would be in horrible agonizing pain until it eventually took his life.
Dad is scheduled to have surgery on Wednesday July 29, 2009 at 8:00 a.m. Dad does have to have one more test tomorrow (7/24/09) a PET Scan to see if the cancer has spread to any other part of his body. IF this scan shows that the cancer has metastasized to other parts of the body then the surgery option will be off the table and his only option will be radiation and chemo.
Thank you to everyone that has been praying for Dad! Please continue to do so; he's not out of the woods yet.
I will update with the test results once we get them tomorrow.
Daddy met with the Oncology Doctor on Tuesday who advised us that Daddy's cancer is a stage 4 or T4 N1 cancer meaning that it has invaded the lower jaw bone & nearby tissue and the N1 indicates that it is in at least one lymph node on the same side of his face. The Oncologist (who talked very fast) gave Dad several different treatment options and the prognosis for each treatment.
Option #1 and what the Oncologist recommends is for Dad to undergo surgery to remove the lower left jaw bone that has the cancer and then he will have to go through 5 1/2 weeks of radiation and chemotherapy. Of course Dad's heart Doctor had to OK the surgery and confirm that Dad's heart was strong enough to undergo an 8 hour procedure, which he did today. Dad has also met with an ENT Surgeon who explained the surgery producer. The Surgeon will remove as much of the lower left jaw bone as he can in the effort to remove all the bone that has the cancer. He will also have to remove a large portion of Dads cheek tissue that also shows cancer. He will then pull up muscle from Dad's chest to help support the jaw area. (Dad is not a candidate for reconstructive surgery (putting bone back in his jaw from somewhere else) because that would be a 14 + hour surgery and his Doctors’ does not feel he could survive that.) He will have to stay in the hospital for 2 weeks provided there is no complication. Once he has healed from the surgery he will start the radiation and chemo. The Oncologist said that if Dad can undergo this option then he would have a 50 - 66% chance of being cancer free in 5 years.
Option #2 would be for Dad not to have surgery and to just have the radiation and chemo. If he went with this option then there would be only a 10 -15% chance of him being cancer free (or even still alive) in 2 - 3 years.
Option #3 would be to do nothing. The cancer would spread and he would be in horrible agonizing pain until it eventually took his life.
Dad is scheduled to have surgery on Wednesday July 29, 2009 at 8:00 a.m. Dad does have to have one more test tomorrow (7/24/09) a PET Scan to see if the cancer has spread to any other part of his body. IF this scan shows that the cancer has metastasized to other parts of the body then the surgery option will be off the table and his only option will be radiation and chemo.
Thank you to everyone that has been praying for Dad! Please continue to do so; he's not out of the woods yet.
I will update with the test results once we get them tomorrow.
1 comment:
Lane and I will be saying prayers everyday for Roy! As you know the power of prayers are AMAZING! God Bless you, Roy and Doris.
Lisa & Lane
Post a Comment