First Week of Radiation

Well he had his first week of radiation treatments last week, 5 down 13 to go. 

Last Monday we got up and I took Tyler to the DMV to take the driving test to get his license, bless his heart he was so nervous, but he did great and passed.  So what do we do....we throw him his keys and we leave for the week, we drop Logan off with my parents and off to Tulsa we went.  For Dustin's radiation treatments we have to stay in Tulsa for the week and we are coming home on the weekend.  So Tyler has the most important job of all, he has to take care of the babies, he is taking care of Bean and Baby Girl!!  I don't know who is more miserable Tyler or the babies!

When he went in for his very first treatment, of course neither of us really knew what to expect.  People have always told us that it takes longer to get set up than it does to do the actual treatment, well they called his name and he went to the back.  I decided to get my phone and check out what was new on Facebook...it didn't even get loaded before he was back and ready to leave...lol now that is fast.

So far his treatments haven't been too bad, he does have some redness on his stomach and his back but he said it really doesn't bother his too bad.  He is just starting to have some stomach issues and he is not too thrilled about that!  The worst right now is back pain, not the normal pain, we are calling this  radiation pain.  All in all he is doing really well.

There have been so many blessings happen in our lives this past week! Sometimes things happen and all I can say is, "It was just a God thing", there is no other way to explain it.  Dustin and I are fortunate to have the American Cancer Society pay for our hotel room.  We found out my aunt is having back surgery in Tulsa and is going to be there for 3-5 days and my mother is going to stay with her.  Last week when we got to our hotel I looked across the street and the building said "Tulsa Spine......".  I called my mom, and could not believe it, out of all the hotels in Tulsa we were staying across the street from the hospital that my aunt was having surgery!  We would be at this hotel for the next 4 weeks, not only would we be there for my family, my mom had a place to stay!  That's a God thing!!

I want to thank everyone for keeping an eye on Tyler and keep up the good work :-)

New Game Plan

To catch everyone up, when we last saw the oncologist in April, we found out that the PET scan was good and there was no evidence of disease.  Dustin was finished with Chemo.  Dr. M did was us to see a radiation onc just to make sure Dustin didn't need radiation, Dr. M was certain he would not need radiation because he did not have a tumor or a large collection of lymph nodes to radiate.

We were very happy and excited with this news, we had been through a rough 9 months, so we decided to go on vacation to the beach.  Dustin was starting to feel better, the side effects of chemo were just wearing off so my parents and the 4 of us headed to Florida.  We spent 6 days in a condo on the beach in Ft. Walton Beach.  We had a great time.  Dustin was still tired some days, but he took one for the team and slept on the beach.  I could not have asked for a better family vacation.  Wonderful memories were made that week.  We all decided when we win the lottery we will be buying a 2nd house on the beach ( I need to remember to buy that ticket!). 

So that brings us to today.  We went to the radiation onc appt today just as a formality, like Dr. M said he wouldn't need radiation, "We just want to see what she has to say".  So we met with Dr. N this morning, she was extremely kind and thorough, she started from the beginning and explained all of his PET scans and pathology.  Sadly his onc had not explained anything to us the entire 9 months we saw him. 

Dr. N explained that since he had spleen involvement and spine involvement he would need radiation.  He would need 18-20 treatments, needless to say this is not what Dustin was prepared to hear.  Dr. N continued to tell us his type of radiation was going to cause nausea, vomiting, burning hemorrhoids, radiation enteritis (eating followed by immediate diarrhea) for up to 1 year.  He starts this process Monday.  He is not too happy or excited about this but knows it has to be done.


:-) Delana