Thursday December 17, 2009

********** UPDATE ***********

Dr. Heath called yesterday a little after 5:00 to give Daddy the results of the CAT Scan. Unfortunately Daddy's cancer is already back. It's at the top edge of the radiation field and at the bottom edge of his skull. From what is showing on the CAT Scan right now the cancer is about 1/2" from his brain. Dr. Heath said they consider this a progression of his cancer. Dr. Heath called and talked to Dr. Chen asking if there was any sign of the cancer this high up when he had his surgery and he said no, that the cancer was low down at the angle of the jaw bone. Dr. Heath said that the options are fairly limited with this progression. The cancer is so close to the brain that it is inoperable. Dr. Heath gave Daddy three options which are:

Option 1: Have another 7 - 8 weeks of conventional radiation and chemo 35 - 39 treatments.

Option 2: Is to have a procedure called Cyber Knife Therapy. Which is a highly focused radiation therapy to help relieve the pain. Dr. Heath said that he considered this a comfort option and not a curative option. This will probable not cure his cancer but it should greatly help with the pain.

Option 3: Is to call in Hospice to manage his pain and to keep him as comfortable as possible.

Mom had to call Dr. Heath's office this morning to let them know Daddy's decision. He has decided to do the Cyber Knife treatments which is only a 5 day treatment. They couldn't get him in for the initial set up until December 29th and we are not sure when they will actually do the treatment.

Daddy's pain has gotten so bad that he is taking morphine every 8 hrs. and lortab in between the morphine, even with all this medication it is not completely taking away the pain. Of course he is taking so much medication that he does sleep most of the day, which I guess is good. At least then he doesn't feel the pain.

I'm sorry if I've repeated things or not made much sense with this post. As you can imagine we are all having trouble coming to terms with this new news. I will try to keep the blog updated the best I can.