OOPS!!!!
As you can see by the goof on the posting titled ”Round”, and some
disjointed sentences elsewhere, I have not as yet mastered this system, and believe me,
that is a gross understatement.
SORRY!
Round #2
Round #2 (Treatment 3) completed on the 27th as scheduled. Oncologist
reported that Bill’s blood work is looking good which is truly a blessing since chemo
lowers the white count and therefore lowers the efficiency of the immune system and the
ability to ward off infections. He has been advised to avoid crowds, so we go out very
little these days.
Think I mentioned that Bill’s hair began falling out last week. On Wednesday, we went out to lunch (he in a new cap from Cabela’s) and suddenly on the way home, he whipped
into the parking lot of a strip mall close to our house and pulled up in front of a Sport
Clips, parked and asked if I wanted to come with him. Long story short, in about 10
minutes I was suddenly married to the Little Elm version of Telly Savalas (Kojack) for
those of you who are either too young to know or can’t remember who that was. All that is missing now is a genuine ”Tootsie Pop”.
Side effects of this current round have been somewhat delayed in starting, but not
eliminated. Bad day yesterday and today, but he’s hanging in there. One more treatment
and he’ll be half-way through and enjoying another ”Bye Week”.
Drop us a line if you have time either to this website (billandpat.com) or to my email at pboulch@msn.com).
Blessings, Pat
Round
Bill’s week off from chemo was a real blessing. He felt pretty good and we
were able to get out of the house a little which helped his state of mind (and mine) a
bunch.
Bill’s “Bye Week” – (If the Dallas Cowboys can do it, so can he!)
Round #1 (Chemo) over and done! Side effects of last weeks treatment were on a par with the first. Thankfully no upchucking this time (probably more explicit info than you really wanted to hear), but the other symptoms lasted a bit longer (about 5 days) and a new one was added (hair loss). Not unexpected, but still a jolt when it actually begins. Bill’s ”Bye Week” ends on Thursday the 27th when he begins the next cycle of 2 weeks of chemo treatments followed by one week free of treatment. Our prayer is that Bill continues to tolerate the treatments and their side effects well, and that his ”Bye” weeks enable him to regain strength and maintain stamina before the next round begins.
We both want to thank you for your prayers, calls, cards and visits (even to the Oncology Infusion Site); they really do go a long way in brightening up some pretty dreary days. (Philippians 1:3)
A special thanks to members of our Trinity Presbyterian Church small group for all
your kindness and for the prayers you have been offering not only for Bill, but for our
niece Lauren who is also in the midst of chemotherapy for a rare cancer known as
Cutaneous T-Cell Lymphoma (CTCL).
Blessings,
Bill and Pat
The Journey Continues
Bill’s first chemotherapy treatment was completed on Thursday September 6th. A long (8:30 am – 4:00 pm), stressful (what will happen as a result of the ”poisons” they’re pumping into me?), but all-in-all an uneventful ”good” day for which we were very grateful. Side affects ”have not been too bad” nor unexpected. Friday and Saturday were unpleasant but Bill said if that was as bad as it is going to get, it wont be too bad. Despite a dose of bedtime pain medication last night, Arthritic-like body aches/pains started during the night (normal side-affect) and general fatigue (also normal) began this morning. Back in bed (recommended) for a morning nap.
Will try not to get into too many details, but family members are using this site to keep
track of Bill’s progress, so we must include some of the details in order to keep them up to date.
Thank you all for your prayers and concern, calls and cards, Bill appreciates them more
than you could know (as do I).
Blessings, Pat
Grateful for Your Prayers.
Thusfar, Bill’s recovery has been uneventful with no serious complications.
Biggest problem has been controlling the pain without keeping him totally zonked”, and upsetting his digestive system to the extreme. We had follow-up appointments with the Oncologist, the Pulmonologist and the Surgeon during the past 2 weeks. Next appointment with the Pulmonologist will be in mid-December and Bill got a clean bill of health and final release from the Surgeon – – He pronounced Bill ”a good healer” – – your prayers at work!
He seems to have turned a corner the past few days, and, at Scott’s urging, we had our first big day out on Friday – – took in the latest Bourne movie mid-day (great action film) and then tasted our first Thai food at a late lunch in Frisco. What a lovely, distracting day – – great movie and equally great food. Yesterday, we were finally able to make it back to church for worship and then out to brunch. Another lovely day and then home about 2:00 for a short nap (3 hours!). Our return to near-normalcy has been a real blessing.
Bill will be starting his chemotherapy on September 6th (2 weeks later than originally
scheduled) to enable him to regain his strength and stamina and get a flus shot before he undergoes the sometimes debilitating effects of the chemo treatments. Please keep him in prayer for successful treatments with minimal side effects. If all goes as planned, he should complete the course of treatment in late November.
Finally, another apology to all for being so long between updates – – I had a MAJOR senior moment and could not remember the password I had selected to be able to update this blog. Can I claim ”system overload”?
Blessings, Pat
Praise and Thanksgiving – Home from the Hospital
My apologies for not updating this site sooner for those of you who have been following Bill’s progress following knee replacement surgery. Earlier posts by our
son Scott pretty well cover the chain of events following that surgery which ultimately led
to the discovery of lung cancer and surgical removal of the tumors in Bill’s right lung.
He is now home recovering from the surgery, and with the exception of considerable pain from the surgical sites, is doing well. We will be meeting with an Oncologist on
Thursday and also have follow-up appointments with the Pulmonoligist and Surgeon over
the next 2-3 weeks. We anticipate the chemotherapy will not begin until Bill has
recovered his strength from the surgery (2-3 weeks).
We are so grateful for your prayers and kindness during the past 3 months, and ask that you continue to hold Bill in prayer for an uneventful recovery and for the skill and wisdom of the physicians and surgeons who will be treating him.
Feel free to contact us at this website, at my email address (pboulch@msn.com), or
by phone (469-362-4790).
Blessings, Pat
The Results Are In!
Dr. Scott Stone (Yes that’s his real name) the Oncologist that works with Dads Pulmonologist (Lung Guy) came by this morning with the final lab results on the two tumors that were removed on Wednesday.
We Got The News We Were Hoping for!
If you absolutely must have a big scary cancer, there are certain things you pray for…
In Dads case short of the tumors being benign, the best case scenario is that:
- We caught the malignant tumors early…We did! (best guess is that they are less than 6 months old.)
- That they could be surgically removed with clean margins…and they were! (according to the initial frozen sections)
- That the cancer has not spread beyond the contained (and now removed) tumors… it hasn’t! (The surgeon who found the second small pea sized tumor looked far and wide including all the lymph nodes over under top and bottom and couldn’t find any other evidence of any tumors or abnormal tissue beyond the two that were removed. Also the prior biopsy of the upper chest lymph nodes from two weeks ago came back negative on both the frozen and pathology results.)
- And finally that the cancer that was found in the lungs, DID NOT come from some other part of the body! It was always the opinion of theĀ Pulmonologist as well as his oncologist that this started recently and started in the lungs. Now the final pathology is in and we have confirmed that this did start in the lungs!
If they had only found one tumor, the one in the lower right lobe of the lung, they would have removed the lower third of Dads lung as a precaution, and probably to be safe, do a round of Chemo to be absolutely sure.
Because the surgeon found the second pea sized tumor on a second lobe, they made the decision not to remove any of the lung (other than the tumors and wide margins around them) As Chemotherapy was now mandatory.
So in the end the prognosis is very good!
Dad didn’t loose any of his lung, and… now confirmed by the lab results, the cancer did not come from somewhere else in the body (The Pet Scan confirms this as well)
Dad got a good night sleep last night now that all the tubes and painful lung drain have been removed and the doctor has cleared him to go home as soon as he feels ready…probably tomorrow (Sunday)
Going forward Dad will take a round of Chemo to clean up any cancer cells still floating around in the lung and greatly reduce the chance that cancer will return down the road.
Here’s where you realize everything happens for a reason…
One of the many tubes that got removed yesterday was the oxygen supply in his nose, the respiratory therapist said he no longer needed oxygen. That was around noon!
At five o’clock they came in to take Dads vital signs and his Oxygen level had plummeted to 60%!
There was a small panic and they called in the head of Respiratory therapy and he started shaking his head… something was wrong here… Dad’s color was good and he was breathing normally and Not out of breath and… Not passed out!
At 60% a normal person would be blue and out like a light… Hummmm… they tried the oximitor on various fingers and toes and couldn’t get a normal oxygen reading… TheĀ Respiratory therapist said… wait a second Ill be right back…
He came back with a different kind of meter, stuck it on Dads forehead and guess what? His Oxygen was normal, 98%!
In fact his oxygen is and as it turns out always been normal, always including the days following his Knee operation….
But! Because it reads low on a normal oxygen monitor, they brought in Dr. Long the Pulmonologist after the knee operation, and that lead to an x-ray, that led to a Cat scan that showed the cancer!
It was all one big accident… Or Was It?
Had Dad decided not to have the knee replaced, or if he had the operation when he originally wanted it about 9 months prior… (delayed by a vein stripping, then a spider bite that wouldn’t heal and finally the flu that delayed the knee operation the final time) or had the normal oxygen meters worked correctly on him after the knee replacement, or had Dr. Long not taken the extra step to do the Cat scan… we would have never found the cancer!
Many of you know that a bad case of heartburn that felt like a heart attack, caused by Grandma Boulch’s famous spaghetti recipe sent Dad to the emergency room where they found no heart problems but “accidentally” ended up finding and surgically removing a 98% blockage in his carotid artery!
Thanks Grandma!
While Dad will tell you that fixing these happy little accidents “Sucks” God is gently and obviously leading Dad right were he wants him and keeping him safe from catastrophic illness!
Prayers and well wishes for Dads final treatment and well tolerated chemo can be sent to the contact information above.
Dads Recovery Update
More Good News….
As of noon today the Surgeon determined that Dads quick recovery and clean x-ray from this morning meant that he was ready to have the lung tube removed (The source of most of the major pain Dad was having)
Then He also determined that Dad could have his catheter and a few other extra access tubes removed later today and that means that he will be tube free except for the IV drip and may be headed home as soon as tomorrow. (Saturday)
Because the lung drain has been removed, Dad is feeling much better and a big portion of the pain is gone.
He Still has the IV with the “Happy Button” that he can use every 12 minutes!
We are still waiting on the lab results and should know by 5:00pm if we need to wait until Monday for the final results.
Over all Dad is feeling much better and in good spirits, you can tell because hes giving the hospital staff a dose of his unique humor š
More updates soon when we get lab results and a final release date.
Check the upper right hand corner for both Mom and Dads contact info for calls and text messages for well wishes!
Thanks for all your prayers, they seem to be working!
Scott
Bills Lung Sergery Results
From: Scott Boulch
7/19/12 11:12pm
Re: Surgery results for Dad’s Operation Wednesday.
For those of you that were not aware, my Dad Bill had surgery Wednesday to remove a mass in his lower right lung that turned out to be malignant.
The Surgery to remove the “Lump” in the lower right lobe went well.
The original plan was to remove the lump and the lower lobe of the lung to be sure it was stopped in its tracks if it was in fact malignant.
Unfortunately while preparing to remove the lower lobe the skilled surgeon found a pea sized abnormal lump in a totally unrelated area and lobe of the right lung.
While much smaller, It also proved to be a malignant.
The surgeon in consultation with the lung doc, made the decision not to remove any of the three lobes of the right lung rather to remove wide sections of the two cancers in both locations and wait for full lab reports instead of the immediate frozen sections that don’t tell the whole story.
Then they then looked extensively at all areas of the right lung and found no evidence of any other cancer and no spreading of the cancer to any of the lymph nodes.
The earlier biopsy of the upper lymph nodes (The Operation from two weeks ago) also proved negative for any cancer cells from both the frozen sections (immediate) and full labs so we are fairly sure it has not spread.
As far as the cancers that have now been surgically removed the final lab results may be in Friday afternoon and if not we are forced to wait until Monday afternoon as pathology doesn’t work on weekends.
Once we have the final results of the biopsy we can determine what kind of cells they are.
Now The Good News!
It’s the opinion of the Pulmonologist (lung doc) as well as one of his key Oncologists (Cancer Doc) that we met today that its a cancer that originated in the lung!
This (believe it or not) is good news because that means that the cancers in the right lobe have now been removed surgically including clean wide margins (verified by frozen sections) and that the follow up Chemotherapy will be a cleanup missionĀ and not a cancer fight in the traditional sense.
The cancer appears to be “New” less than 6 months old and according to best guess originating in the lower right lobe.
Both the Lung and Cancer Doc are very optimistic for a full recovery after a round of Chemo.
Now that the cancer is physically removed the concern will be to kill off any stray cells that may be floating around but not yet formed in to cancer clusters as well as preventing them from growing into cancers in the future.
Tomorrow or Monday we will have the full lab reports back telling us what kind of cancer cells we are dealing with, where they originated and how best to treat them with Chemo and some possible radiation.
Dad is doing well as far as recovery from this very painful operation… his third major operation in less than 8 weeks, but its a battle to manage the pain, nausea from the pain meds, weakness and physical drain on his system so recovery is not by any means easy…
Pray for the labs to come back soon, hopefully tomorrow (Friday) and that they indicate slow growing, cells that have originated and that have now been cleanly removed from the lungs.
Then in a few weeks we can tackle the Chemo, and work towards a full recovery.
I will attempt to communicate with everyone who is not an immediate family member or close friends of Dad on any issues that do not involve Dad’s condition in order and as time permits.
Until then… Say a prayer for Dads quick recovery from the operation!
Prayers and well wishes can be sent to Dad at bill@billandpat.com or Mom at pboulch@msn.com or by cell phone (Text or Call) to Dad at: 972-567-9530
Scott Boulch
7/19/12 11:12 pm