Asking for prayers [Updates at Posts #113, #131 and #157]

Thank you for sharing with us Dawgfan. It sounds like you’ve put yourself in the position of beating this thing. We’re all cheering you on. Hunker down

 

Dawgfan - in my prayers for a healthy and happy New Year. Glad outlook appears promising.

 

What a blessing! Great news!

 

Keep the good news coming Dawgfan. You got this. Praying for you sir!

 

Thanks for the update Dawg, great news!

 

Awesome news, Dawgfan!

 

@dawgfanfromalabama ~ I only today learned of this thread and the ordeal you have been going through. To read the growth of your tumor has slowed and is not spreading is wonderful news. You and your family have much to be grateful for and I know the praises and thanks were ringing in your household over Thanksgiving.

Along with others, I too applaud your decision to go with MD Anderson. My husband, g8rtrucker and I live in Colorado, having moved here from Florida four years ago. I had endometrial cancer and a complete hysterectormy at Shands in February, 2016. The surgeon who did the procedure and the pathology report concluded the surgery was a success, believing the cancer was completely contained inside the excised uterus and had not spread. I was told post surgical treatment was not needed. Our eldest son is a surgeon and the reports did not sit well with him. Our 3 adult children told us they wanted us to move closer to any one of them as we were aging and would eventually need their assistance. Our daughter and younger son and their families lived in Austin and our older son and family are in Grand Junction. We heeded their request and made the decision to move to the Western Slope of Colorado. We moved into our new home in December 20, 2018 - Almost 3 years after my hysterectomy.

Strange, curious sensations in my mid-abdominal area came and went for a couple of weeks, starting even before we moved from Florida. But we were busy and stressed with the move and since they were causing me no pain or discomfort I ignored them. Before the end of January '19 they had intensified into painful attacks that had me doubling over in pain and left gasping at the intensity. My son found me a good primary care pysician who suspected it might be a cancer recurrence. Tests and scans determined it was a tumor of some size located 'near' the lower vena cava next to the aorta. My son consulted with his colleagues and it was decided I should have a transplant surgeon take a look at it and biopsy it. I was sent to Anschutz, University of Colorado's Shands equivalent.

I had already made up my mind I would not have it removed surgically if it entailed what we all feared, as it did. It was attached, rooted into the vena cava and would require a risky procedure to remove and replace a section of the vein. Dr Ana Gleisner opened my abdomen and found the tumor attached - as feared - to the vena cava next to the aorta and pressing against my right kidney. She removed about half of it and closed me back up. In the post surgical conference while in recovery she told us she was capable of removing that section of the vein and replacing it with a functional part - but she said - she did not want to do it. Given my age she thought the risk too great. Her decision sat well well with me as I had already decided I would opt out of having it done to go with conventional treatment.

So we returned to Grand Junction and I consulted with an oncologist here in town selected by my surgeon son. The portion of the tumor removed at Anschutz had been biopsied and it was found to be the same endometrial cancer removed 3 years prior at Shands. My son was right to question their conclusion I needed no post op treatment back in 2016. My new oncologist consulted closely with oncologists at MD Anderson who had treated people like me. I have a neurolgical disorder with stability and balance issues that inhibits my ability to walk. I have walked using two canes for about 10 years. The chemo treatment most successful in treating cancers like mine would worsen the disorder and likely cripple me. Dr JoAnne Virgilio - Frageelee, as I affectionately call her - said she wanted to cure me, not cripple me. She cut back on the chemo dosage but amped up the radiation. It was aggressive, but so was the cancer. My treatment was every week day for 6 weeks. A month after I rang both bells in the infusion and radiation centers, the PET scan determined the stage 4 cancer was gone. I was in remission and have remained so for 3 and a half years. The beast of cancer is beatable.

Earlier in your thread a brief mention in passing was made of a thread I started 3 and a half years ago about my fight to defeat the beast of cancer. Many people have added their own encouraging thoughts and stories to it. Yours would also be welcome should you wish to add it to the thread that is pinned at the top of the Gator Tail Pub.

DFFA, May God Bless You with Healing in this Coming New Year

 

A few posts earlier on the thread mention ringing the bells in passing. Many of you reading may not know what this means, so I share this ritual rite of passage with you.

https://www.gatorcountry.com/swampg...agnosis-of-cancer.437327/page-3#post-11189000
Ringing out

Ring this bell
Three times well
Its toll to clearly say,
My treatment's done
This course is run
And I am on my way!
— Irve Le Moyne
__________________

This short poem was written in 1996 by Rear Admiral Irve Charles Le Moyne , the first US Navy SEAL to attain that high office. The admiral hung the brass ship's bell and poem in the M D Anderson radiation treatment center in Houston, Texas to mark the completion of his course of radiation treatment for head and neck cancer.

Since first hung in '96 the bell and poem tradition has been widely adopted by most, if not all, cancer treatment centers, both chemo and radiation. Each patient who finishes a course of treatment stands at the bell and rings it 3 times. Some read aloud the poem at their ringing, or the oncological staff recites the poem. When first told of this rite of passage it was with the comment all bell ringers cry when their time has come to toll out the completion of treatment. I was sure that would not apply to me. A quaint tradition, but I did not see myself crying at the sound of the bell. How wrong I was. When I stood at the bell today, the last day of chemo, the tears came between hearing myself recite, "Its toll to clearly say ... My treatment's done."

Trucker, our daughter, daughter-in-law, and 3 of our grandchildren were with me to celebrate this rite of passage today. There were lots of tears and and lots of relief this course was now complete. Still left with 5 more radiation treatments, and another bell ringing to mark that end next week.

Admiral Lemoyne died from cancer in 1997.

Irve C. Le Moyne, 57, Admiral And Founder of a Command

"Rear Adm. Irve Charles Le Moyne, the nation's highest-ranking Navy Seal and a founder of the United States military joint special operations command, died on Saturday in the San Diego Hospice. He was 57.

"In a 35-year career, Admiral Le Moyne carried out special missions around the world, for which he received numerous awards and commendations.

"After the failure of the rescue of American hostages in Iran in 1979, Admiral Le Moyne was among those who pushed for an overhaul and integration of the nation's military special operations units, uniting the special forces of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines. He urged the senior Navy command to work with the other services to improve communications, coordination and equipment among the special units of the military.

"After founding the Naval Special Warfare Command in Coronado, Calif., in 1987 and serving as the first commander in charge of all Navy Seals and Special Boat Units, Admiral Le Moyne rose in 1993 to be deputy commander of the United States Special Operations Command based in Tampa, Fla."


Thank you, Admiral Le Moyne.

 

Blessings to our brethren here and everywhere that are suffering. Dawgfan- keep up the fight. Refer to Lacuna when strength is needed...

May God's loving light heal us all...

Go Gators.

 

Awesome to hear! You came, you saw, you kicked it’s a**! Happy for you and your family!

 

So glad to hear God does perform miracles.

 

Prayers for continued good health!

 

Wonderful news!

 

Thank you for sharing.

 

Awesome news Dawg, thanks for the update.

 

My 2-year journey with Prostate cancer just hit the milestone of coming off the testosterone blockers I was on due to radiation. Year 1 was the prostatectomy which was "mostly successful", like being "mostly pregnant". Year 2 was radiation. Hopefully quarterly checks over the next year show a zero PSA and we can put this nonsense over the bustle rack. All things considered, I have no complaints and admire men like you that have faced a tougher road with grace and humor. It inspires me.

 

Excellent news.

 

Praise the Lord! I am so happy for you and your family and pray that the future scans will all be clean too!