8/6/2021
This week has been a whorl wind of information. On Wednesday we met with Dr. Hague who is the doctor who will do Rick's Chemotherapy. He pulled up the photos of Rick's bone scan. The damn cancer has left the prostate and infiltrated damn near all his bones! The dark areas are cancer.
Dr. Hague did say that the Lupron shot Dr. Foss gave him was a good thing that stopped the spread of the rotten migrating cells.
Dr. Hague said that Rick has an aggressive form of Prostate Cancer and the cancer in his bones are cancer sells from the prostate. These cells ARE different than other cancer cells. He is very encouraged that Chemo will help to kill most of the cancer. He said, we will never get rid of ALL the cancer but it can be brought under control
He also recommended no radiation as that is for spot treated and since the cancer was so wide spread in his body it really would not do much good.
Before leaving his office they wanted to schedule a bone infusion to strengthen his bones as they are very weak and brittle at this point. Just stepping wrong could break a bone and they do not want this to happen. But they have to wait for approval from the insurance company first.
The chemo is 3-4 weeks out to begin treatments. Also a blood test was scheduled and before leaving the building we went to the lab and they took three good vials of blood from him.
On Thursday we went to see the radiologist. Dr. LaWenda. He has certificates a mile long that line his walls. Very impressive. He not only does radiation but also does supplement therapy as well.
He did recommend that Rick have radiation on his big bones, (he named them but that escapes me at this point). Then we talked about genetic testing for the BRCA1 Gene that causes cancer and is hormone driven. If Rick comes back positive for that then our boys will be at risk of getting prostate cancer and will be monitored throughout life. The test for them will be free of charge.
Then there is 4 other tests that will be done for supplement and mineral evaluation in Rick to see what is to low or too high on, and with supplements and diet which will be recommended according to his needs, will help with the cancer therapy he will be going thru. Of course the insurance does not pay for these tests. But we will have them done.
He is going to fight this with everything thing he has! And I will help him along the way.
I need to say a huge thank you to S.B. for the gift basket of blanket, neck pillow and other goodies, and the beautiful cards than made my eyes leak! Also the frozen food will come in so handy! You knew EXACTLY what we needed. I can not thank you enough.
We are still looking ahead. Actually Rick is going to sell his Suzuki which took his butt to Alaska and back, and still looks like new. Then we will be turning the Harley into a Three wheeler. (for obvious reasons). Riding clears the mind and brings peace to the soul!
Monday, the 9th at 2:30 PM we will be at Dr. LaWenda for a CT Scan to put in markers to begin the radiation.
I feel rather fortunate that Rick has some good doctors on his side. Here is Dr. LaWenda's BIO:
Prayers would be graciously accepted.
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