Cancer Update

David is cancer FREE!!! He completed the 8 chemo treatments at the end of June '08 and daily radiation treatments for almost a month in August '08. He had a PET scan at that point and has been cancer free! He sees his oncologist every 3 months- and those visits have become quite enjoyable now that we have Lincoln to show about, but more about that in another post. David has lost between 10-15 lbs. since completing chemo, and some of that maybe more that he gained, but he gained because of the fluids they were pumping into him.

Through chemo he never did get sick. He felt exhausted and nauseous but did really well. He did miss work and left early some days, but considering how it could have been he really did great.

Radiation was really a pain in the neck/mouth. His cancer was found in the right side of his neck, so they did concentrated rads on his right side and then did both sides. The side-effects to this irritated David more than the chemo stuff. It dried out his salivary glands which made eating difficult and painful. Also, it stops facial hair growth, so for a while his beard would not grow on his neck, seriously interesting!

David saw his doctor for follow-up visits in mid-Nov. '08, Feb '09, May '09 and Aug '09 and will return in November. We are planning on having a CT scan in Feb to check on things, but so far so good.

We are grateful for David's health and also for Lincoln's and my health as well! We have learned to by happy on the normal boring days and enjoy every moment!