Throat Doc Update

Hi,

I wanted to post an update about going to see the throat doctor. We were hoping to get in to see him to see if he could take off this obstruction from Bob's trachea and possibly stop his cough. The doctor called us last Friday and told us he was going to try to squeeze us in on Monday.

We did get in to see him last Monday. We weren't sure if we even had an appointment when we got to the clinic for chemo Monday morning, but when we asked they told us we had one scheduled for that afternoon at 1pm. This necesitated some schedule finagling on everyone's part because we don't usually get out of chemo till 2 or 3 in the afternoon. So we got our chemo nurse to call the doc's office and let them know we might be a little late. Turns out you can walk around the hospital with a saline bag attached, but not a chemo bag. They seem to think that it would be pretty bad if there was a leak and people were exposed to those chemicals. Tells you something about the nature of these chemicals, huh?

Anyway, we got through with the chemo right before 2pm and headed up, saline bag attached, to our appointment with Dr. DeKeretry. We were told you pronounce his name like "duh carrot tree." Isn't that cool? We were expecting that this would be a consult because no one told us that we would have a procedure. But when we got there they moved us into the procedure room, and started to prep Bob. So, turns out the doc had made an appointment to go ahead and take a look down his throat. Or a bronchoscopy, as it's called.

So when the doc comes in he started scaring us with living will stuff, which they do for any procedure, but he had this look on his face that kind of scared me. The plan was that if this obstruction was bad enough in the trachea he would remove it or shave it down. So apparently that could be somewhat dangerous. Anyway, after we freaked, the procedure got underway. Afterward, the doc came out to talk to me about 45 minutes later and told me that although everything had went fine that the obstruction was only about 20%, not what he considered bad enough to cut off, so he left it.

So that was good and bad news. Although it was a relief not to have to worry about the possible side effects of cutting on his trachea, it was disappointing because we were hoping that if he removed it, Bob's coughing would go away and he could get off the cough syrup. He did however, prescribe an inhaler with a steroid because he said his trachea was irritated. So we're still waiting to see if that will help any. Tonight his cough sounds just the same to me. It's still better on the codeine, but it's still there.

So that's the long and short of it. Chemo tomorrow, then a week off and a visit with the oncologist.

I'll update later.

Carol

Middle of August Update

Hello,

Things are going pretty well for us. Bob started back on the chemo as planned last Monday. We go for session two in this round tomorrow. Hopefully we will be able to get in to see the throat specialist tomorrow afternoon. He phoned us Friday and said that he would try to work it out. We don't have confirmation of that yet though. Anyhow, if we get in, I'll send an update about that. Bob is still coughing as of now, but the cough syrup does help quite a bit. With it he just coughs. Without it he coughs his head off. By the way, yes, I did say that an actual doctor phoned us at home. How awesome is that? That's the third time we've had a Scott and White doc call us himself. I think that's pretty cool and uncommon.

An update about Walter the incontinent dog. I took him to the vet Monday before last and he said that he has lost some muscle control in his bladder. The good news is that it was treatable. He gave him what amounts to doggie Sudephed which has the added benefit of controlling leakage. So, although Walter will never be completely housetrained I'm afraid, he is not leaking anywhere now, which means that we have't had to jump up and change the sheets in the middle of the night in two weeks. And that's a big Yea!

Later,

Carol

Good news from the Cat Scan

Well we finally got some good news for a change today. We just got back from the oncologist. The Cat Scan shows that there has been a significant reduction in the size of the tumor. The doctor thought it had shrunk about 50%. So this is great. The doc even said that he had been afraid that it had grown because of Bob's cough, so he was very pleasantly surprised to see these results. We were very relieved. We didn't really talk about it until after the appointment, but we both had prepared ourselves for bad news.

So this means that Bob does not have to start rediation and can go back on chemo. The scan did show a small growth into Bob's trachea. The doctor didn't seem to think this was a growth in the tumor however, just a little nodule. He also said that this could be the source of all the coughing. So, next week we are going to go see the trachea doctor and talk to him about having that removed. We are hoping that maybe the cough might go away if so. That would be such a huge relief to Bob. So we really got lots of good news today.

Then the week after next we'll start back chemo on the 13th, Bob's birhtday. Not the best way to spend a birthday, but right now, it sounds just fine.