Happily Ringing in the New Year!!!

What is the meaning of this New Year's Eve Song? Auld Lang Syne is about old friends who have parted and meet again. To celebrate their long friendship, they share a drink together and reminisce of memories from long ago. The basic message is that we should not forget our old friends and should celebrate a reunion with them. Hold them dear.

Tonight I celebrate with my best friend.  I hold him dear refusing to let him go and reflect how important he is to me.  Scott is officially cancer free!  It has been one hell of a year and I'm so happy to shake it's dust off my feet and move forward.....As is Scott!

This blog has had thousands of readers which has truely amazed us. Although we've been deeply distrurbed by how many are touched by cancer; we are equally elated and encouraged by all the stories of "victory".

Recently I had the pleasure of meeting a man who's life was quickly engulfed by the dark arms of cancer during what was suspose to be the most joyous and magical times of his and his wife's life.  He has kindly written a brief letter of encouragement for our readers. I believe stories like this are vital to those facing this daughnting battle of life.  There truely is so much to be thankful for. Armed with a positive outlook is neccesary in the cancer battle. Cloacked in the love and kindness of family and friends is what will get you through to the other side.

Thank you Cameron Von St. James for your letter.

http://www.mesothelioma.com/blog/authors/cameron/
http://www.mesothelioma.com/blog/authors/heather/

Cancer and the Holidays: How We Made It
Every family looks forward to spending the holiday season together. It is time for sharing, talking, and laughing among family and friends that you love, and giving thanks for all you have. My wife and I were blessed to welcome our daughter Lily into the world in August of 2005, and anticipated creating many new holiday traditions and memories with each coming year. Three days before Thanksgiving, however, my wife, Heather was diagnosed with cancer. Despite it being Lily's precious first Christmas, our plans were abruptly put on hold.
Our little girl was just three and a half months old when her mother was diagnosed with malignant pleural mesothelioma. The future did not look bright, and I often struggled with the uncertainty that this illness would cause our little family. I tried to stay positive, but I couldn’t help but envision the worst. Would I lose my wife and have to raise our daughter alone? Would we have to spend all of our life savings and go broke in an attempt to pay for treatments, just to lose her anyways? These were all questions that went through my mind while everyone else was planning for the holidays; it was difficult to find much of anything to be thankful for.
Despite the diagnosis, we did our best to celebrate Thanksgiving that year. My wife's family flew in to celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas with us. We prepared a big holiday meal and then sat down together to discuss Heather's illness and how Heather's family would help through this difficult time. It was a conversation that I had been dreading for several days, but I knew we had to do it.
Everything regarding our finances had to be discussed. Our assets, bills, debts and even Lily's childcare costs were addressed. I knew that we could not do it alone, but listening to the facts of all our financial obligations and the ever present reality of our steadily declining income was almost too much to bear. Feelings of hopelessness and despair spread through my mind. I felt embarrassed and ashamed that I could not get my family through this ordeal on my own, and once again I thought in that moment that I had nothing to be thankful for. It would be years before I could see clearly how mistaken I was to look at it that way.
Years later, I came to the realization of what that day really meant and the impact it had on our family. While I felt ashamed that I could not solely provide for my family, I see clearly now that what was truly important was that we were all together as a family and that we actually had family members who cared and loved us enough to help. They dropped everything in their own lives to be with us in our time of need, and offered to make huge sacrifices for our well being without a moment’s hesitation. We were truly blessed to have them in our lives.
This holiday season, I urge you to remember what you can be thankful for. In my case, that was the kindness and love of our family and friends. In addition, we have a healthy little girl to cherish and love for years to come. Despite all the odds, Heather did beat her mesothelioma and we have since spent seven Christmases together as a family. We look forward to many more to come and hope that our story can inspire hope in all those who are currently fighting cancer this holiday season.


 

Sorry, I'm very behind with my posting.

About 2 weeks after the last treatment, Scott developed a skin reaction.  The Dr. thought it might be an infection,, so started him on another dose of antibiotics.  His skin had become very red, dry and scab like.  Along with the antibiotics, he was prescribed Silver Sulfadiazine 1% cream.  This is one of the creams used on burn victims, and it is amazing!  I sneak a little here and there for my wrinkles...shhhh

Today

I'm not sure if I have them all in the right order..but close enough....Today's picture 8 days after last treatment.

Day 67

Treatment ended 2/24/12

Today 11th day after end of treatment
7 Total Chemo Infusions
41 Radiation Treatments


I'm thrilled that treatments have ended; however, it's not all smooth sailing yet.  The radiation builds up in your body with each treatment, so at the end of the treatment you have high levels still causing havoc.  It may take a couple weeks before everything starts to settle down.  Your body also goes into high gear to regenerate all the good cells, which causes even more fatigue.  Scott was optimistic at the begining of this process and was planning to return to work in 11 days from now...its not gonna happen.  His days are pretty much spent in bed still; however, he does come out of his dungeon a bit more often than before.  He unfortunately has developed a skin infection around his neck which is causing open sores.  He also tried a little too early to wean off the Scopolamine patches which sent him into a vomiting attack, it was not pretty.  Word of advice for anyone going through this treatment....don't let yourself run out of your medication, always keep a back-up at hand!

It dawned on me yesterday that Darth Vader had disappeared.  I'm really not sure when it happened, but Scott is breathing normal now.  He still doesn't talk, he continues to be in a lot of pain.  He is suppose to practice humming, I haven't heard any tune from the bedroom yet. The thick mucus is in full force though. I guess this is normal.  Also the swelling which appeared one morning at the front of his neck is normal.  The Doctor said its the swelling of ? glands and everything is going through an adjustment right now, so not to be alarmed...I was worried a new tumor had popped up!

All in all everything is going good though and we are anxious to get back to LIVING!

Healed area on right side of neck

Open sore on front of neck

Swelling around adam's apple

You can see swollen area at front of neck and also the red areas which turn into open sores

Dry!!!! Even after lotion.

He always looks like he's pissed...but I think it's all the medication.

Yep...still gone.  Thinking of getting the spray on hair in a can.

Done! Day 59

The Honey Badger, when happy known to bust into funky groove moves.

They sent Scott home with his radiation mask...We're not sure what to do with it,  I say we add antlers and hang it above the fireplace.  Open for suggests...What is the best use of a used radiation mask???

Day 58...and still going

Good news, the last Radiation will be on Friday.  Three more to go!  From there they'll wait 4-6 weeks to do another CT scan and then 3 months before another full body PET scan.  Scott will remain "all hooked up"(PICC line in place) until after the CT scan.  If all looks good after the CT scan and they determine that no more Chemo or Radiation is needed, then they will remove his PICC line.  His feeding tube will remain in place until he can start eating by mouth again and maintain his weight...that may take 2-6 months. 

Nothing can keep the Honey Badger down....nope, not hundreds of bee stings or cobra venom coursing through his veins....you know why?  Cause he's bad ass!

Day 54

Last Thursday was not the end of radiation as we had hoped for.  We hope to get an end date tomorrow.  I guess to avoid surgery on his neck, the radiation treatments are now focusing in on the lymph node.  I'm not sure if this is standard practice (probably) or if they saw something on his x-ray last week.

Today seemed to be a really good day for Scott.  I actually saw him smile a couple times.  He has been up out of bed twice today for about an hour each time.

Before

Day 54

                   Sportin a nice bowl cut....line of radiation treatment

He can now open his mouth beyond a little crack.

Sores popping up all over his body.

Infection seems much better

Very dry skin, sores around nail bed due to chemo are common

Skin is sensitive ..sores from where anti nausea patch was...he has a matching one on the other side.

Day 48

This past weekend was pretty rough.  Scott has dropped another 5lbs.  Today the Dr. told him if he wants to prevent being hospitalized then he needs to keep his liquids and nutrition up.  A new round of medications have been prescribed.  A new pain med, an anti indigestion med and an antibiotic (he may have an infected left cheek).  In the past 30 years, I've only seen Scott tear up at the loss of our infant son Demetri.  Over the weekend, he was brought to tears several times.  I'm sure the pain meds combined with the over all discomfort and loss of control is the cause.  It's not uncommon for cancer patients to experience a bout of depression.  The end of this is so close, although the Dr. did mention today that Scott may have more radiation treatments then the 35 we were hoping for....we should find out tomorrow.

Click on Picture for Close Up View

Day1

Day 46

Day 2

Day 46 ...down almost 25lbs

Red area close to Jawline might be Infected