I wish I could write some boring blog about nothing going on in my life. That being said, that would not be my life. My life is a continual adventure. Dennis is home from the hospital and is recovering, and in my opinion, successfully from his brain tumor surgery.
Monday, he and I met with my radiologist at MD Anderson Cancer Center, who is now Dennis’s radiologist. Dr. Hill is beyond amazing in my opinion. He is kind and compassionate. He explained the direction that Dennis’s treatment should go. As a radiologist, his job is to give radiology treatments, which he said for Dennis would consist of five (5) treatments on consecutive days, probably Monday through Friday. These will not start for another 4 to 6 weeks because Dennis needs to completely heal from the surgery.
That was the easy part. The hard part was that he needs Dennis to get an MRI, of which Banner Thunderbird Medical Center refused to do because of the heart device that he has in his chest. While we were in the examining room, Dr. Hill called his colleague at the cancer center who is a cardiologist. He told him about the issue we had at Thunderbird, and they decided that the MRI could be successfully done at Banner University Medical Center because they are a teaching hospital and will do “off label” procedures. It is considered “off label” because Dennis is in a trial with this device which has saved his life and strengthened his heart, but it is yet to be FDA approved. I pulled up Dennis’s records from our visit. It appears that Banner University Medical Center is also denying doing the MRI. Really? This is just unreal. The cardiologist and the company that manufactures this device have both stated that it is MRI safe, yet for some reason no one cares. I care!
We got a call from Dr. Hill’s nurse about this latest information. As much as this doctor wanted an MRI performed, the university hospital also refused doing so. Apparently, the doctor on staff that would do these “off label” procedures is no longer practicing there. Dr. Hill says he can do his radiation without an MRI. It’s just preferred. We have no choice and we have to trust that Dr. Hill will not be hindered by this setback.
The next order of business Dr. Hill did was to refer Dennis to a medical oncologist who is world renowned for his work with melanoma. Because the oncologist will need some imaging results, Dr. Hill being proactive, has order a PET scan to be done. Dennis is scheduled for his PET scan tomorrow (10/16), and the earliest he can get into the medical oncologist is Tuesday, November 3, which is over 2 weeks from the PET scan. Also, this Monday, October 19, Dennis will have his brain mapping appointment where he will also get a form fitted mesh mask for when he has the procedure. We will have look-alike mesh masks! Tuesday Dennis had 26 staples removed from his head.
The only medical news I have is my doctor visit next Wednesday (where I will get the results of the PET scan), and if all is well, on to my immunotherapy infusion. I had the PET scan today. Worrying about Dennis this past week has kept me from having my “scanxiety” over these upcoming scans. I had about five minutes of “scanxiety” right before they took me into the radiology room. I turned over those fears to God, because it does me no good to think on them. I really hope the scans are good, because I feel really good. Of course, I have felt really good when my scans were bad. Go figure.
In the meantime, we will live our normal life. Dennis is back to being Dennis—smiles and stupid jokes! Yay! He even said he feels like himself again. I don’t know what’s a normal life is anymore.
Charlie gets groomed on Friday. There you have it—something normal in our life. Puppy gets his fuzzy fur trimmed!
Yesterday we discovered our water heater had gone out and was leaking water everywhere. It has been turned off, and a new water heater has been ordered. It should be installed within an hour of this writing and will probably be completed before I even get this blog posted. Then we can take warm showers again.
I suppose this is back to normal life, when normal things like broken water heaters happen! I looked at my calendar for the next two weeks, and I will be driving Dennis and me to several different doctor appointments. Ugh! I’m not sure I like my new normal.
Do you think we can get a family discount at MD Anderson? You know, two for the price of one? Or BOGO – Buy one and get one ½ price? I could use something to make me feel better that we are both having cancer treatment at the same time. Like does this happen often to other couples?
The other day we were asked what we needed. That’s such a hard question to answer, but I will try:
- We need your prayers big time!
- At this point and time, we probably don’t need meals brought to us. We are kind of stuck at home for a bit, so if you want to bring a meal, you need to bring yourself with it. Yes, bring a meal we can all share together. We miss seeing our friends.
- We need a dog walker. The big problem is the weather. Charlie doesn’t like walking in the heat of the day. He will find every shady spot and plop himself down. You think it would be easy to drag him to get up, but he can take that little 16-pound body and just glue it to the ground. Morning and evening walks are the best for him. He loves walking, exploring different routes, smelling every bush he walks past, and leaving his signature at many of them even if he has nothing left to leave—if you get my point!
- Lots of love and encouragement is the best medicine. Send Dennis a card. Give him a call. Send him a text. Come visit (if we’re not in some medical establishment). It’s just nice knowing someone is thinking of us.
If Dennis feels good this weekend, we may try to go to church in person—we miss our friends there and it would be good to see them and worship our great God together.
We still have no idea what Dennis will be facing until we meet with the oncologist in early November. I don’t know what I am facing until I hear about my PET scan results and if I am still on track toward healing.
Thank you all for your continued concern, love, and prayers.
