Bad Timing

Last night Bruce was running his fingers through his hair and it started falling out by the handfuls. They told us he would loose his hair but we were hoping he would be the lucky one that didn't. Shoot! He had to speak at Bill Sheldon's funeral today and we didn't think it would look so great to have hair all over his dark jacket so Jeff came over and shaved it for him. Thank heavens he has a good shaped head! People at the funeral thought he looked like Elder Oaks. HMMM. Tomorrow we will see the Lung Doc and find out more about the diagnosis and Chemotherapy. I'll post more then. Thank you for your prayers!

 I wanted to take time this evening and thank everyone for their prayers, thoughts, kindness.  Becky and I love and appreciated each of you.  Each day our spirits are lifted by those around us.  We receive so many blessings each day. 
Today we of course spent time at Huntsman C I receiving the 38 seconds of radiation.  This happens each day and I have 7 treatments left.   It is so quick.  Those who give the care and treatments are so nice and accommodating.  We meet with the Lung Doctors this Thursday and will have an idea on the future Chemo schedule.  We still have not received any information form the super lab on my specific genetic and DNA make up.  They will however have that by Thursday.  Huntsman is a special place with lots of miracles taking place each day. 
After a weekend of no treatment,  Monday usually means I will get a good headache in the afternoon.  But....better living through drugs(prescription) LOL.  Medication fixes all that.  Other than headache and afternoon fatique we are really doing fine.  Food taste great for a change and I can eat most anything with no issues.  That Gall Bladder issue has finally settled and it is so nice to eat different things.  For some reason sugar is overwhelming. Taste great but only in small quantities.  A cookie (large sugar) will last a day or two.  Wow.  Used to be 1 minute. 
On the fun side, Becky and I went to look at the new Camry's.  I believe it or not was tired of driving the big truck and looking for big parking places.  Yep,  we bought a new car.  I of course did all my research and it was actually a pleasant experience.  Unusual for buying a car for sure.   Great decision and we are thrilled.  Best of all it was a straight trade.  4 year old truck for a new car.  Becky may refer to this as retail therapy.   All part of being prepared and piece of mind.   Now I just need to figure out how to use all the extra buttons for the radio, phone, and on and on.  I love the electronic gadgets so it is a great diversion. 
Again,  thank you so much for all that you do and continue to do for us.  We have been so blessed.  We know our Heavenly Father is there each day for us.  We are grateful for the Gospel and the truths that allow us to see the whole picture.  May each of you also be blessed is our prayer each day.  With love and kindness.  Bruce & Becky

A week of radiation

Bruce has had 7 radiation treatments and will have 8 more. The treatments are going as expected. He has had headaches because the radiation causes swelling in the brain. They are not as frequent as they were, however, the blessing of fasting and prayer. He has been eating more but lost 2 pounds today. That is discouraging! We just have to remember all of the blessings, fasting and prayers that have been offered in his behalf. We will find out this week if the cells have a genetic mutation. If they do that is good. If they do have a mutation the cancer is much more treatable and there is a much better prognosis. We appreciate all of the prayers in our behalf.

Golfing With Great Friends

What a beautiful day! It's Valentines Day and Bruce was able to go golfing with good friends.

A Better Pic

So I understand that yesterdays picture was a little scary to some people. Ha, ha, I have to admit Bruce and I laughed a lot about it last night. Too bad Halloween is not close:) So here is his hospital ID picture to ease all of your fears. Today was the 2nd radiation treatment. He will probably not feel the side effects of radiation for a couple of weeks so right now he is doing pretty well, except for the headaches. We are grateful for all of your prayers, we feel strength from them. Thank You!

The Mask and Radiation

I know it looks a bit like Freddie Kruegar. Today was the first day of Radiation. Yesterday we went to Huntsman so they could make this lovely mask. They need it so that the patient cannot move his head while he gets radiation. They actually attach it to the table while they are doing the radiation and the patient cannot move their head at all. They are very careful about how they position the patient on to the table. Interesting huh? Bruce will go to Huntsman everyday for the next 15 days excluding holidays and weekends for radiation therapy. It only takes about 15 minutes! Not bad! We are confident that it will kill the Cancer that has spread to his brain. Modern science, absolutely amazing!

Radiation begins this week

Today we went to Huntsman to learn about radiation. Bruce has 20+ lesions in his brain that they will be radiating. Because there are so many they will be doing whole brain radiation. Tomorrow we will go to the hospital so that he can be fitted with a mask. During radiation he will be strapped to the table in the mask so that his head cannot move while they are doing the radiation. Sounds like no fun but at least the radiation is not long, only a few minutes.  He will have to have 15 treatments, one everyday but weekends and holidays for the next 3 weeks. While they are doing this we will be waiting for results from the so called super lab. When they get the results from the lab they will be formulating the type of Chemo Therapy that will work best with his DNA. Amazing! We are so grateful for the Miracle of Modern Science! The progress that has been made in cancer treatment is such a miracle! We are so grateful for those who dedicate their lives to researching new more effective ways to eradicate cancer. Hopefully one day there will be a cure for Cancer. We are also so grateful for the fasting and prayers in our behalf! Thank You!

Over Read is Back

The Nurse Practitioner called yesterday to let us know that the over read on the tissue sample is back. It confirms the first diagnosis squama cell lung cancer. However, they still have questions and we are waiting for the results from the super lab to come back. Bruce had a good nights sleep last night, not as much coughing, and is going golfing today. We are still hopeful and are exercising our faith in the Savior and the blessings that have been given. We are grateful for all of you. Keep Bruce in your prayers! We love you!

The Diagnosis

After months of illness:
     1st Bruce had terrible headaches that doctors concluded were due to sinusitis and required sinus surgery. He really did need sinus surgery and the headaches in that area of his head went mostly away but not completely and the new headaches were different than they were before.
      2nd He had horrendous stomach pain that was misdiagnosed as a ulcer and treated for one for 2 weeks. Time wasted!
      3rd he was diagnosed with a diseased gallbladder. That was a fact after an excruciatingly painful test, that lasted 3 hours, and weeks of horrendous pain it was determined that his gallbladder was operating at only 18% and needed to come out. The gallbladder was removed but the pain never went away. He was actually readmitted to the hospital for further tests but no cause was found.
      4th Bruce's Asthma kicked in and with all of the normal treatment would not subside even though his Asthma is usually easily controllable. Finally an astute Dr. (these seem to be rare in our experience) sent him to a Pulmonologist who ordered a CT scan with contrast and it was determined that he needed a biopsy.

to our shock and horror Bruce was diagnosed with squamous cell lung cancer on January 30, 2015.
    
     What? Lung Cancer? We are Mormon and Bruce has never smoked a cigarette. 90% of squamous cell patients smoke, how can this be?

After a Pet scan and a Brain Scan we went to visit the Lung Cancer team at the Huntsman Cancer center. They explained to us that Squamous cell cancer is not curable, but it is treatable. The median life expectancy of Squamous cell patients that don't smoke is 2 years but some live 5 yrs - 20 years. He is in stage 4 which means the cancer has spread to his brain, his bone and his spleen. This does not, however, affect the prognosis. They also explained that there is a question as to whether or not this really is Squamous cell lung cancer or Lymphoma. Oh please, please be Lymphoma since Lymphoma is curable. Further tests are being run on the tissue sample that was collected from the biopsy and we will know soon, not sure when 1-3 weeks, what type of Cancer it is for sure. In the meantime Bruce will go for radiation treatment on the cancer cells that are in his brain. We will meet with the Radiology team on Monday and will find out his treatment schedule at that time.

The good news is that the new face of Chemotherapy is DNA driven, which means they test your DNA to see what type of Chemo your body will be responsive to. There are also other treatments that will be available soon possibly in the next year to year and a half, that look very promising.

This has been a shock to our family. We are grateful for fasting and prayers and for our faith. We are grateful for the knowledge we have of the plan of salvation and for the love that we share as a family. We are also so grateful for wonderful, caring friends who are there for us.