Starting to eat solid foods

Troy has had a good week and a half of trying solid foods. He can handle softer foods with some struggle. It still hurts, but the healing is definitely starting. Troy went for his MRI on Friday and we get the results this Friday. He hasn't had any appointments otherwise since the last post. We have scheduled an appointment with Dr. Osborn to have Troy's PEG tube removed before our trip to Disneyworld on May 2nd. We're anticipating good news this Friday. Keep us in your prayers.

Derek is registered for Kindergarten (I did that on Wednesday). He has his 3rd T-ball game today. It's a make-up game since all it has been doing around here lately is raining. We took the boys to the Eggstravaganza yesterday and they had a good time hunting for eggs, seeing the animals, and getting up on the fire truck and getting in the police car.

The pollen is awful this time of the year and for those of you up North who have never experienced it, the cars get yellow with pollen dust. Everyone is washing their vehicles around here - it's like the road salt and dirt on the cars up North during the Winter. It's pretty wild. Luckily, none of us seem to have allergies, so we are faring well.

We will let you know how Friday goes.

Post Treatment Issues

Since February 27th everything has been pretty good. Troy is struggling with the length of time it is taking for his body to heal from the radiation. He's frustrated to say the least. He has only had 2 doctors' appointments since the last post - one with Dr. Riley and one with Dr. Machuta (she is one of the radiation oncologists that rotates at Dr. Allen's office). Dr. Riley just sees Troy on a monthly basis for the next year and he checks down Troy's throat to make sure everything is going as it should. Dr. Machuta walked in and said to Troy, "Let me guess, you feel like..." and she basically rolled down every symptom and feeling that Troy was experiencing at this point. This made Troy feel better knowing that this is the way he is supposed to be feeling - like crap! He has been going through a little bout of depression (which seems to have subsided over the past week). He just said that he wakes up and just relives the nightmare of the pain, feeding himself through his PEG tube, and pouring his medicines through the PEG also. He can't wait to get it removed. In fact, we were supposed to leave for Disney tomorrow, but we pushed it back to April 18th and then pushed it back again to May 2nd in the hopes that Troy would feel a lot better and he would have the tube removed by then. Keep your fingers crossed for us!! Anyway, Dr. Machuta gave Troy a steroid to take which will help the swelling in his neck. She said the biggest side effect of the medication is irritability which just makes me laugh... you mean he's going to be more irritable!!!? Great. We're doing well and the kids are doing well and we're looking forward to a vacation. Speaking for myself, you have no idea how much.

SUPER, GREAT, EXTRA HAPPY NEWS

Troy got his results today and the MRI findings were clean. The doctor classified Troy back into remission and we can breathe again! The doctor's orders were this: Troy has been mandated to take a vacation somewhere where they deliver drinks to us on the beach. We are looking into that and hope to make plans very soon. Although Disneyworld will be a nice break, it still won't be the same as some tropic island somewhere in paradise.

We are so happy I can't even express it. Troy has another MRI ordered on April 3rd and follow-up with the doctor on April 10th. He has a follow-up on March 6th with Dr. Riley, the ENT. He has another follow-up with Dr. Allen, the radiation oncologist on March 18th. I will probably update this blog on a bi-monthly basis while he is just going for follow-ups. And come April, I hope to update this on a quarterly basis if all stays well (which we intend it to!!). Other than that, I hope to change the title to this blog to: The Brooks Family and only have pictures of the kids posted and keep you updated on how Derek is doing with school and how he and Ryan are growing and how we are doing with life and not cancer!!

Thanks to all of you who have supported us so tremendously. And.... a very heartfelt and SPECIAL thanks to Dr. Goldsweig and his staff (especially Karen, Candice, and Ginger). They gave the best hugs this week when we so desperately needed them. They hugged when we were upset after the results on Tuesday and they hugged when we rejoiced over the wonderful news today. Also, Susan pushed Troy's MRI through quickly so we wouldn't have to wonder and agonize over the weekend. And Marian, our neighbor, cried with us over the great news after watching our kids for 3 1/2 hours while we were gone and she brought over an awesome pot roast so I wouldn't have to worry about cooking. It was so tasty, Marian! Dr. Riley and Dr. Allen were so wonderful in getting right back to us on Tuesday with their thoughts when we were so upset thinking something else could be wrong. And our families and other friends and colleagues just listened to us when we needed them to or read our blog and commented that they were thinking of us - and that was more than enough. Troy's parents gave up their lives to stay with us from August-January. And Brian Hill, the founder of the Oral Cancer Foundation, who doesn't even know us personally, but has taken the time to answer our questions and open his cell phone line to us, we thank you. I've thanked so many people before, but you can't know how much we truly appreciate everyone who has been beside us in one way or another during this extremely difficult time. We have even seen kindness from strangers who didn't know us at all. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts and God bless you all.

And, Troy, thank you for my birthday present. You said you didn't know if you could give me what I wanted. I knew you'd come through. I love you so very much.

MRI completed

Troy had his MRI yesterday afternoon and we will be going to Dr. Goldsweig's tomorrow morning. The kids will be watched by our neighbor, Marian, and we can't thank her enough for helping us out!! We'll let you know what we find out from the doctor. On a more positive note, Troy has spoken with Dr. Riley, the ENT, and Dr. Allen, the radiation oncologist and they have painted a more positive picture of the outcome. We take everything with a bit of skepticism however and we won't know the next course of action until tomorrow.

PET scan

Troy had his PET scan this past Thursday. We met at Dr. Goldsweig's today and unfortunately he didn't have great news. There is a small abnormality on the opposite side of Troy's neck where he had the original surgery. His lymph node on the left side shows as if it is slightly larger than normal. There is no way to know what it is from the PET scan so they are ordering an MRI for Troy so they can have a better look. At that time they will make a determination as to whether a biopsy is needed or not. We are praying for the best and hope that this is nothing more than something that is a result of the radiation. We'll keep you informed. As you can imagine we are in a somber state right now. Troy has been worrying since he had the PET scan on Thursday. I don't even want Troy to get a paper cut right now, let alone have to have another surgery. All we can do is hope and pray right now.

Doctor Appointments

Last Friday Troy met with Dr. Riley, the ENT, and he stuck the scope down his throat and confirmed that it was all burnt up in there. His quote: "Good for me... not good for you." Troy still is too sore to consume food just yet. We're hoping he will feel up to eating in the next couple of weeks. He saw Dr. Allen, the Radiation Oncologist, yesterday and she didn't have anything too uplifting to say - just basically that it is a healing process and it takes time. Today Troy went to the oncologist's office and met with Brandon, the Physician's Assistant. He thought that Troy's neck looked really red (which it does). This seems to be a little bit of an anomaly it seems, but every day it seems to get a little better and the redness seems to fade. Troy is still tired a lot so we try to let him rest the best that we can. He has been trying to go into work once or twice a week for the past few weeks. He hasn't even been doing a full day because it tires him out quickly right now. He does best working from home where he can stretch out on the bed with his lap top there and a phone by his side. We planned our trip to Disney for March 21-28 so we are hoping he gains some energy back in the next couple of weeks.

Today's appointment

Troy saw Dr. Goldsweig today and will be getting a PET/CT scan in another couple of weeks. We have to schedule it with the hospital. The doctor said we can start to return to a normal life and it will take some time for things to truly return to normal. His immune system will always be a little off due to the torment that his body has taken. Troy is extremely burnt on his shoulder/neck area and is in a lot of pain with that. His tongue/throat is still extremely sore from the radiation as well. He has tried a bite of food here and there, but still can't bear the pain of it as of yet. He'll keep taking baby steps toward getting his feeding tube out. Unbelievably, it is just torn out of his stomach when the time comes to take it out. We're not kidding about that either. The gastro doctor says it's about 15 seconds of sheer pain and then it's over. It takes about 4 hours for the stomach to heal and for the oozing to stop. I know, Iknow... completely gross - sorry! The scar tissue will form and then he is as good as new. The feeding tube was so necessary. He was able to maintain and actually gain weight throughout his treatment which is one of the reasons why he has done so well. The doctor is having him be an advocate to his patients in promoting the PEG tube surgery and Troy has offered his support to any of the center's patients who may need it. He knows Hal Mendel has been great support to him throughout this ordeal and he wants to offer the same to anyone who may need it.