May 27, 2008

Hey Everyone,

Joe is having Gamma Knife again in the morning. The nurse said today that he is scheduled to have it done on 2 or 3 of the tumors depending on position.

The radiation on his face tumor is almost done. If he can have his last treatment done tomorrow after the Gamma Knife then he will not have to get radiation on Friday morning. They have him scheduled on June 9th for a body MRI. It will show how fast the other tumors are growing in his body. They will also do another brain scan in one month to see how the brain tumors have responded.

I will place another update after Gamma is done tomorrow.

Love,
Crystal

Hey Everyone,

Joe had his one month follow-up with the neurologist today and also the first of 10 radiation treatments he will receive for the tumor in his face.

More disappointing news came our way today when the neurologist told us that Joe now has 3 additional brain tumors. WOW! So now he has a total of 4 active tumors in his brain, 1 in his face, multiple in his lungs and liver. They are going to take his case before the tumor board in the morning and then let us know what action they want to take. The doctor was leaning toward whole brain radiation since there are so many tumors.

Joe of course had to make a joke about the news today. As we went to the front desk to check out I began to cry. Joe pushed my hair back and said, "It's okay we only have to pay $35 dollars". The lady behind the desk began to laugh thinking I was upset about the bill. He is so crazy.

I am asking God to help us to accept the painful things in our life and concentrate on His loving and healing presence.

God Bless,
Crystal

May 11, 2008

Hey Everyone,

Happy Mother Day! I had a great day with my family. We went to church, lunch and dinner. Joe was very tired tonight and went to bed early. He has been taking a couple of naps a day which is increasing the number of hours he sleeps each day.

They doctors visit on Thursday told us that the tumor in his head is a little bigger than a golf ball. It is pressing on his jaw muscles and nerves in his face. It is inoperable and they hope to shrink it with radiation but they said several times that this procedure in no way will prolong his life only try to reduce some on his pain and discomfort. They made his mask and began the planning of his treatments during that visit. His first radiation treatment will be on Thursday May 15th and the final one will be May 28th. They will not do a scan after the 10 treatments??they will only see if his symptoms are better. (headache, sore jaw, numbness on right ride, etc).

Joe will see the neurologist on Thursday May 15th to do a follow-up MRI on his brain to see what the status is on the brain tumor they just performed Gamma Knife on April 15th.

I have to say after leaving the doctors office on Thursday afternoon it seemed like the devil tried to pull the life from us. It was very depressing and we were in the dumps but you know we are only human. We know it is how you react when you are down like that (blessing or curse) that is important. We came home and discussed what had happened and went to the Lord. In a couple of hours we were revived spiritually because we chose blessing. We refuse to let the devil take hold of us in any way. It is a hard battle to fight but we are standing our ground the best we can. Please continue to pray for strength. We will continue to wear our Jesus Glasses and be in the world not of the world!

Love to all and God Bless,
Crystal

Hey Everyone,

Happy Mothers Day to all the mom's this weekend. I wanted to give an update to you for the upcoming events with Joe. Spirits are high and God is GOOD.

Joe went to the doctor (Radiologist) today. She had spoke to Joe's Neurologist about his constant headache. He now has numbness in the side of his face, arm, hand, pains in his chest and some swelling in his ankles. The doctor said the tumor in Joe's face (if you put your finger between your eye and ear that is where it is) is getting larger causing him several problems and his liver function is low causing other problems, etc.

Right now the are going to do 10 radiation treatments between now and the end of the month. It will take about a week to set everything up and he will have a special CT scan this Thursday to create a mask for radiation. The process takes about 4 to 5 hours because of the scans and molding the mask after the scans are read. Then they re-scan him for the measurements. The mask will be like the last one he had that will fasten him to the bed during the radiation.

They say the radiation will damage his upper right salivary gland, cause bone pain in his mouth, mouth tissue soreness so he probably will not feel like eating much, fatigue, headache, and general pain. I don't know how much this will shrink the tumor but we are going to give it a shot. After 10 treatments they will assess it.

I will keep you posted on his progress.

God Bless,
Crystal