2nd radiation update

Troy will start his radiation on Monday now. They have determined that there is a better outcome when the Erbitux is given a week prior to the radiation. Therefore, Troy is scheduled for Dec. 1st at 1:20 for radiation and his new end date is January 21st. He received the Erbitux today. We were at Dr. Goldsweig's for a few hours while the medicine dripped. He has been feeling crappy since he got home. He has a headache and chills. We're just giving him whatever he wants (i.e. chocolate pudding, lemonade, quiet time, etc.). He's a little (okay, a lot) cranky, but if he got through the 2nd round of chemo, we're confident that he will get through this and the radiation as well. I can't wait for it to start and then be DONE! Again, Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Radiation update

Troy was supposed to start radiation on the 20th but due to the insurance company not approving it as of that date, his treatment was moved to tomorrow, the 25th. His end date is tentatively for the 16th of January. That is scheduled to be his last day of radiation. My friend, Jennifer Costanza, is flying in from Arizona Wednesday morning and will be spending Thanksgiving with us and be helping us out (even if that is just spending time with me to get away for a bit). She will leave Sunday morning. We have a lot to be thankful for this season. We have been blessed with family, friends, and people who are becoming our friends through their caring and thoughtfulness. We had friends from Troy's work who came and visited 2 weekends ago. Matt Taylor, Will & Heather Murphy (& Hayley, their baby), & Dave McFadden all paid a visit and ate wings with Troy. It was really nice for us to have some visitors. Will helped take care of our leaves in the backyard, Dave brought some wonderful goodies that his wife, Melissa, made, and Matt brought some yummy donuts and wine. We have received 2 out of 5 cleaning services (the 3rd one set for tomorrow - Yayyy!!!) that co-workers from GE put together for us. We have been also receiving meals from the Mom's group in our development nearly daily (many thanks to Kathy Marks, Diane Cohen, Teresa Bowling, Candice Hale, Marian Jenkins, Christy Elling, Stacey Parlotto, Debbie Watt, Denise Fossette, Maryum Goodwin, Dina "didn't have last name-sorry", and Stephanie Rosato for all their wonderful cooking). Kim Barfield owner of Carter's Gymnastics has given free visits to Derek so he has an outlet to go to on Fridays while Troy is receiving treatments. The other non-cookers of the group put together gift certificates for us - a massage, Outback dinner, and movie tickets. Amy Phillips and Erin Michel are the only names I have to give credit to for this, but I know I am leaving out countless others who contributed (please express our thanks to them!). Anyway, we really are thankful for all our blessings and hope you and your families have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday.

Remission

Dr. Goldsweig officially classified Troy's cancer as being in remission on Thursday. He will still have the radiation in order to try and prevent any recurrence and we will meet with the radiation oncologist on Wednesday to confirm Troy's schedule with them. Thursday he is set to be at the oncologist's for a few hours to receive the medications he needs prior to the radiation. He just has to walk next door to the radiation office for his treatment, which he will do on Thursday. I'll update you after Wed/Thurs when I know more.

Updated pictures (July - August)

I have had a lot of people asking for pictures of the kids, so here are the latest that I posted to my Facebook page. Have fun viewing and we'll let you know what Dr. Goldsweig says tomorrow.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=42502&l=bc9fa&id=630303146 July

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=42511&l=423ba&id=630303146 August

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=42512&l=3b9dc&id=630303146 September

Yesterday & Today

We went to the radiation center at Wellstar Cobb yesterday and the doctor did say it will be 30-35 treatments that Troy will receive (6-7 weeks). He stuck his fingers down Troy's throat and agreed that he could not feel a thing and that even the lining of his throat felt soft and there was no hardness at all that he could feel which is a good thing. He was fitted for his radiation mask and quite honestly it was a somber day for Troy because it just brought to light what he is going to endure in the weeks ahead. He is scheduled to start the radiation on November 20th. We were up bright and early this morning to get his PET scan and I guess we will know more for you on Thursday when we meet with Dr. Goldsweig. Troy is in better spirits today. Hopefully we can keep him that way (or the anti-anxiety drugs can!) and we can enjoy the beautiful Fall Georgia weather that is sticking around. Thank you to Amy Phillips and Kathy Marks from Legacy Park (our development) who have organized more meals for us. Kathy brought over lasagna tonight that was delicious and there are many more meals headed our way from what I saw on the Evite. We can't say enough how many people have touched our hearts with their generosity and kind souls. Thank you very, very much.

No 3rd round of chemo - yaayyyyy!

After we saw the doctor today, he is recommending a new drug, Erbitux, to replace the Cisplatin that caused the damage to Troy's hearing. This will go alongside the radiation once per week (the radiation will be for the entire week). He will take the medicine and then head next door to the radiation center and begin a daily dose of radiation as his treatment. He goes to see the radiation oncologist tomorrow afternoon for a consultation and Dr. Goldsweig has set up another PET scan for Troy which he will be receiving on Friday morning at Wellstar Kennestone Hospital. We meet with Dr. Goldsweig on the 13th and from there we expect to hear how many weeks of radiation therapy Troy will receive. It may or may not be the 7 weeks that we expected. I'm sure the results from the PET scan will dictate this along with the doctors' expertise. I'm hoping we have some sort of "end" date soon! We can only tell you that we are getting closer to the end of this part of cancer treatment. We'll keep you posted.

Off to Dr. Goldsweig's in the A.M.

We have had another eventful week. Wednesday, Troy picked his parents up at the airport and then I went down and picked up Samantha. We had Derek's Halloween party at his preschool on Thursday and went trick-or-treating on Friday in our development. Derek was Optimus Prime from Transformers and Ryan was a devil (picture attached - this is us before we headed out the door). Saturday morning Sam and I were up early (before everybody was awake) and back off to the airport. Sam, it was great seeing you even if it was a brief encounter. Sunday I was a member of a focus group for an opinion on a Nissan minivan prototype that is to be produced in a couple of years. I got paid for 2 1/2 hours of my time and it was an interesting adventure. Troy, his parents, and the boys went to Derek's final T-ball game for the season. Yesterday was beautiful so the boys spent a lot of time on their new playset and Derek's friend, Jacob, and his mom, Torie, came to visit from down the street for a little while. We will be heading to Dr. G's tomorrow and I will let you know what Troy's next step is after we hear it from the doctor.