Well, yesterday we went back to see Dr. Fintel to get the results of Brad's bone marrow biopsy. We found out all tests are normal! While we still wait to hear from Duke to see what their docs say, this is a bit of good news.
For those of you reading along, you're probably thinking, "it's not in his bone marrow, this is GREAT news, why does Sandy sound so hesitant?" Although this puts Brad at a clinical stage III diagnosis (because he hasn't had any biopsies of the lymph nodes below the diaphragm, although they are showing up in his PET scan) instead of stage IV, it may not necessarily change things regarding his need for a bone marrow transplant in the future.
Dr. Fintel was a bit more hopeful indicating that the cure rates are up "a little bit" from stage IV to stage III. What this diagnosis does mean, is that it's possible Brad could have an autologous (or self) transplant instead of having to find a marrow match. Because his bone marrow is clean, they can potentially harvest and store it for a future need, although it may be iffy whether or not insurance would cover the expense. Again, Dr. Fintel really stressed to Brad that the world is his oyster in terms of treatment. Apparently there are several options to consider, but none of them will be focused on until we go to Duke on February 1st since they are the ones who will help direct Brad's treatment.
We do know that chemo will be in Brad's future relatively soon, we just don't know exactly when yet. For Brad, that's probably the most discouraging of all of this. He/we just really want treatment to begin to put him on a path to recovery - again, our patience has definitely been tested through each of these phases.
Because school was cancelled yesterday, I called Blue Ridge Cancer Care to get permission for Avery to go with us to the cancer center. They don't typically want kids there because of the health risk they pose to patients with decreased immunity, so Avery wore a lovely pink face mask and got to see the place Dad has been visiting so often lately. I think it was really good for him. Unfortunately, we didn't have the camera with us or I'd LOVE to share a pic of Avery posing as Dr. Wirt.
Last night Brad wanted to surprise me for our anniversary which is coming up on January 26th (8 years married). He sent me an e-mail at work earlier in the week indicating that we had a date at 6pm to celebrate. The most horrible part of all of this was that I had completely forgotten our anniversary was coming up until he sent me the e-mail. I felt horrible, but guess it just fell out of my head with all the other information in there. So yep, last night we officially had "date night". For those that don't know us well, this is a pretty routine thing for us, but not something we had done since before all this started on December 10th. We made a pact to not talk about cancer while we were out and just focus on being together. It was a great, great night. I love you so much Brad and honestly, couldn't imagine my life without you and Avery. You're the best husband a wife could ever want and I'm so glad we're partners not only in marriage, but in this fight for you, TOGETHER.
For those of you reading along, you're probably thinking, "it's not in his bone marrow, this is GREAT news, why does Sandy sound so hesitant?" Although this puts Brad at a clinical stage III diagnosis (because he hasn't had any biopsies of the lymph nodes below the diaphragm, although they are showing up in his PET scan) instead of stage IV, it may not necessarily change things regarding his need for a bone marrow transplant in the future.
Dr. Fintel was a bit more hopeful indicating that the cure rates are up "a little bit" from stage IV to stage III. What this diagnosis does mean, is that it's possible Brad could have an autologous (or self) transplant instead of having to find a marrow match. Because his bone marrow is clean, they can potentially harvest and store it for a future need, although it may be iffy whether or not insurance would cover the expense. Again, Dr. Fintel really stressed to Brad that the world is his oyster in terms of treatment. Apparently there are several options to consider, but none of them will be focused on until we go to Duke on February 1st since they are the ones who will help direct Brad's treatment.
We do know that chemo will be in Brad's future relatively soon, we just don't know exactly when yet. For Brad, that's probably the most discouraging of all of this. He/we just really want treatment to begin to put him on a path to recovery - again, our patience has definitely been tested through each of these phases.
Because school was cancelled yesterday, I called Blue Ridge Cancer Care to get permission for Avery to go with us to the cancer center. They don't typically want kids there because of the health risk they pose to patients with decreased immunity, so Avery wore a lovely pink face mask and got to see the place Dad has been visiting so often lately. I think it was really good for him. Unfortunately, we didn't have the camera with us or I'd LOVE to share a pic of Avery posing as Dr. Wirt.
Last night Brad wanted to surprise me for our anniversary which is coming up on January 26th (8 years married). He sent me an e-mail at work earlier in the week indicating that we had a date at 6pm to celebrate. The most horrible part of all of this was that I had completely forgotten our anniversary was coming up until he sent me the e-mail. I felt horrible, but guess it just fell out of my head with all the other information in there. So yep, last night we officially had "date night". For those that don't know us well, this is a pretty routine thing for us, but not something we had done since before all this started on December 10th. We made a pact to not talk about cancer while we were out and just focus on being together. It was a great, great night. I love you so much Brad and honestly, couldn't imagine my life without you and Avery. You're the best husband a wife could ever want and I'm so glad we're partners not only in marriage, but in this fight for you, TOGETHER.
We will do our best to continue blogging, but sometimes there's not much to write about while we wait for the next appointment. Thank you for continuing to support us and for reading the blog - we're glad it's keeping so many connected to us!
Hugs,
Sandy
Hugs,
Sandy
p.s. Dr. Fintel if you're reading this, thanks for all your wisdom and humor through this - we feel very fortunate that Brad is one of your patients!
2 comments:
Just so you know, you guys are one of my favorite families... Even if you do like that other school in VA! ;)
Thanks for keeping us updated!
I love you Katie! Glad you're reading our blog. Thanks for your comment. Miss you bunches!
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