Ok, so for those of you that know our dad, you will understand THAT chant (and imagine the jig that goes along with it) ... for those of you that don't.. apologies - but let's say it's a GREAT thing - much along the lines of an ecstatic cheer or shouts of joy.
Yes, that's right - some good news in all this calamity that has befallen Jerry the past few weeks.
Today Jerry received the results from his biopsy last Friday as well as the results from yesterday's bone scan. Still waiting on the PET results from today.
Drum Roll please.......
Lymph Node Biopsy: ALL CLEAR. NEGATIVE. No Cancer cells AT ALL. In case you don't quite understand: THE CANCER HAS NOT SPREAD! It is no where else in Jerry's body. AMEN to THAT!
Body Scan: ALL CLEAR. Bones were great. (I won't bore you with the terminology or anything)
So, spirits are high and things are looking up! Yeah BABY!
Friday, December 12, 2008
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
The Whirling Dervish of Change
Well, no sooner did I post that last update and things changed ...
Jerry is going in for a bone scan tomorrow afternoon and then a PET scan on Friday morning. Both will be outpatient procedures, so no re-admittance to the hospital necessary.
Jerry's regular doctor phoned to check in on him and when he discovered how much pain he was in as well as the fact that the oncologist and other docs hadn't yet scheduled him for the Chemotherapy, he took a stand, decided that he'd had enough of all this and that he wants to move forward with the surgery (as originally planned). He feels that if they do the chemo, wait one month and then do a CT scan and still possibly have to do the surgery -it's too much on Jerry and his body - and especially with the amount of pain that he is in - so it's off to surgery we go... and boy did he fast track it.
They are in the process of scheduling Jerry for surgery, but we do know for certain that he will have surgery on the liver tumor on Monday, December 15th. The time is yet to be confirmed, but hopefully, the morning surgery slot (8 or 8:30 am). He will be back at KU Med for the surgery and recovery.
Once the surgery is complete, Jerry will be in the hosptial for at least one week before being released.
That is all I know at this point - more to come as things fall into place.
Love,
Sherri
Jerry is going in for a bone scan tomorrow afternoon and then a PET scan on Friday morning. Both will be outpatient procedures, so no re-admittance to the hospital necessary.
Jerry's regular doctor phoned to check in on him and when he discovered how much pain he was in as well as the fact that the oncologist and other docs hadn't yet scheduled him for the Chemotherapy, he took a stand, decided that he'd had enough of all this and that he wants to move forward with the surgery (as originally planned). He feels that if they do the chemo, wait one month and then do a CT scan and still possibly have to do the surgery -it's too much on Jerry and his body - and especially with the amount of pain that he is in - so it's off to surgery we go... and boy did he fast track it.
They are in the process of scheduling Jerry for surgery, but we do know for certain that he will have surgery on the liver tumor on Monday, December 15th. The time is yet to be confirmed, but hopefully, the morning surgery slot (8 or 8:30 am). He will be back at KU Med for the surgery and recovery.
Once the surgery is complete, Jerry will be in the hosptial for at least one week before being released.
That is all I know at this point - more to come as things fall into place.
Love,
Sherri
Do Doctors Intentionally Stall?
We heard from the doctor on Tuesday morning, however, we were hoping for more information by the end of the day yesterday or first thing today- no such luck. So here is the latest “progress” report on Jerry.
They will not have the pathology results from the biopsy until the end of this week, perhaps early next week, however, the oncologist, liver specialists and doctors all consulted Monday afternoon and have decided on a different course of action. They are still planning on doing a bone scan within the next week or so, and may do a few additional tests that they deem necessary.
The big change is that instead of performing surgery on the tumor and removing over 60% of the liver, they have opted to go for Chemotherapy. Yes, I said Chemo. The type of Chemo they are planning on is called “Chemo-C” or Concentrated Chemotherapy. This means that Jerry will have one bout of Chemo (at most 2 if necessary) and the chemo is injected directly into the tumor. They are hoping to shrink the tumor as much as possible. They say there is no hair loss or other major side effects with this type- that patients often feel like they have the flu for a few days, and that’s about it.
They are trying to figure out when they can get him in for the chemo- sometime in the next 2 weeks or so, depending on all the doctors schedules involved. He will for sure have this treatment done by the end of the year. This is the hold up right now in trying to get him into the hospital and on the schedule.
After the bout of Chemo, they will then wait approx. one month and do another CT scan to see how the tumor has progressed/shrunk. The next step after that MAY be to do a liver transplant at that time. If they tumor hasn’t shrunk enough for them to do the transplant, then they will go in and do the original surgery of removing a percentage of the liver housing the tumor and the area around the tumor. At this point, the earliest Jerry would have surgery (of any kind) would be mid-late January.
It’s not expected that he should have to return to the hospital, other than for the Chemo treatment and bone scans – and will be at home. Not sure at this point if he can return to work yet – I think that will depend upon how the treatment goes and how he reacts.
Jerry goes in to see his regular doctor tomorrow and hopefully at that time, they will be able to determine when they can get him in for the Chemo. If not, heads will start crackin’ as they are dragging their feet too long. ;)
The last few days for Jerry have been hard. The pain is still ever present and the pain meds only do so much. The pain is making it difficult for him to sleep and of course, this waiting game isn’t helping any - but he is hanging in there with a pretty positive attitude.
That's all for now. Keep your thoughts and spirits up for Jerry and we'll let you know more once we know more.
They will not have the pathology results from the biopsy until the end of this week, perhaps early next week, however, the oncologist, liver specialists and doctors all consulted Monday afternoon and have decided on a different course of action. They are still planning on doing a bone scan within the next week or so, and may do a few additional tests that they deem necessary.
The big change is that instead of performing surgery on the tumor and removing over 60% of the liver, they have opted to go for Chemotherapy. Yes, I said Chemo. The type of Chemo they are planning on is called “Chemo-C” or Concentrated Chemotherapy. This means that Jerry will have one bout of Chemo (at most 2 if necessary) and the chemo is injected directly into the tumor. They are hoping to shrink the tumor as much as possible. They say there is no hair loss or other major side effects with this type- that patients often feel like they have the flu for a few days, and that’s about it.
They are trying to figure out when they can get him in for the chemo- sometime in the next 2 weeks or so, depending on all the doctors schedules involved. He will for sure have this treatment done by the end of the year. This is the hold up right now in trying to get him into the hospital and on the schedule.
After the bout of Chemo, they will then wait approx. one month and do another CT scan to see how the tumor has progressed/shrunk. The next step after that MAY be to do a liver transplant at that time. If they tumor hasn’t shrunk enough for them to do the transplant, then they will go in and do the original surgery of removing a percentage of the liver housing the tumor and the area around the tumor. At this point, the earliest Jerry would have surgery (of any kind) would be mid-late January.
It’s not expected that he should have to return to the hospital, other than for the Chemo treatment and bone scans – and will be at home. Not sure at this point if he can return to work yet – I think that will depend upon how the treatment goes and how he reacts.
Jerry goes in to see his regular doctor tomorrow and hopefully at that time, they will be able to determine when they can get him in for the Chemo. If not, heads will start crackin’ as they are dragging their feet too long. ;)
The last few days for Jerry have been hard. The pain is still ever present and the pain meds only do so much. The pain is making it difficult for him to sleep and of course, this waiting game isn’t helping any - but he is hanging in there with a pretty positive attitude.
That's all for now. Keep your thoughts and spirits up for Jerry and we'll let you know more once we know more.
Monday, December 8, 2008
The Waiting Game
Well, Jerry has been resting at home this weekend and enjoying lots of home cooked foods. I will say that he has been very tired and doing a lot of sleeping. Good? bad? Worse? He's feeling the pain these days, but thanks to Modern medicine and pain killers, he is able to function and make it through the days.
No word today from the doctore with the bioopsy results, so looks like tomorrow will be our results day. Fingers crossed it happens early and we get the news and can move on.
A heartfelt thanks to everyone that stopped over this weekend and/or has called or e-mailed to check up on Jerry this past week. Your thoughts, calls, well wishes and prayers are appreciated by Jerry and everyone in the Cahill family.
No word today from the doctore with the bioopsy results, so looks like tomorrow will be our results day. Fingers crossed it happens early and we get the news and can move on.
A heartfelt thanks to everyone that stopped over this weekend and/or has called or e-mailed to check up on Jerry this past week. Your thoughts, calls, well wishes and prayers are appreciated by Jerry and everyone in the Cahill family.
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Come One, Come All
Jerry is enjoying time at home and knows that many of you wanted to stop by and visit him in the hospital but either missed him once he checked out, or didn't want to intrude on all the chaos... sooooo... Jerry wanted to let everyone know that is going to have an Open House this weekend for people to stop by and visit.
Please feel free to come to Jerry's house and say hi, catch up and have a few laughs. (why do I feel like a Circus Barker just then? hmmm)
Saturday, December 6th 3:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Sunday, December 7th 3:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Jerry's Address:
207 W. 81st St.
Kansas City, MO 64114
Have a great weekend, and please feel free to stop by Jerry's if you are able/want to.
Please feel free to come to Jerry's house and say hi, catch up and have a few laughs. (why do I feel like a Circus Barker just then? hmmm)
Saturday, December 6th 3:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Sunday, December 7th 3:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Jerry's Address:
207 W. 81st St.
Kansas City, MO 64114
Have a great weekend, and please feel free to stop by Jerry's if you are able/want to.
Friday, December 5, 2008
No More Tests.. For Now
Today was the final bout of tests (as of now, and hopefully no more).
Jerry went in for his biopsy this morning at the crack of light and was in there for about 2 hours. They can't say much about how they think it went - you know Doctors and their vague ways, but we should have some results back by Monday..Tuesday at the latest.
For now, Jerry is at home resting and catching up on sleep. Reports from mom and dad say he's in good spirits and just extremely tired. He'll be home until they decide on surgery next week.
More later if anything changes.
Jerry went in for his biopsy this morning at the crack of light and was in there for about 2 hours. They can't say much about how they think it went - you know Doctors and their vague ways, but we should have some results back by Monday..Tuesday at the latest.
For now, Jerry is at home resting and catching up on sleep. Reports from mom and dad say he's in good spirits and just extremely tired. He'll be home until they decide on surgery next week.
More later if anything changes.
A Trip Home
Today was a pretty good day... the final hours of the afternoon being the best of all for Jer.
After the surgeons and the doctors consulted each other this morning and went over the results of the upper chest scan, they did decide to postpone surgery until next week, in the meantime they are doing a biopsy of the lymphnodes in the chest tomorrow morning (Friday) and the pathology results for that should be available by Monday. We are stiill planning to run a PET scan, and a full body bone scan - with any luck we can get one or both of those done tomorrow (Friday) afternoon, if not which ever of the two scans is not completed Friday afternoon will be done Monday or Tuesday - its all about scheduling. So we should have results for all 3 test then by Monday, Tuesday at the latest - we're guessing at this point that surgery to remove the tumor in the liver will likely not take place until Wednesday at the earliest. The good news is Jerry did get to check out of the hospital today and other than for the remaining tests will hopefully not have to return until the surgery is scheduled and get to spend the weekend at home.
...Showers at home, no medicinal smell, no nurses/doctors poking and proding at all hours and of course: home cooked meals prepared by MaryFace..... (I think I heard the jubilent cry of Jerry when Tuna Patties appeared on the menu) ....ahhh... the life.
After the surgeons and the doctors consulted each other this morning and went over the results of the upper chest scan, they did decide to postpone surgery until next week, in the meantime they are doing a biopsy of the lymphnodes in the chest tomorrow morning (Friday) and the pathology results for that should be available by Monday. We are stiill planning to run a PET scan, and a full body bone scan - with any luck we can get one or both of those done tomorrow (Friday) afternoon, if not which ever of the two scans is not completed Friday afternoon will be done Monday or Tuesday - its all about scheduling. So we should have results for all 3 test then by Monday, Tuesday at the latest - we're guessing at this point that surgery to remove the tumor in the liver will likely not take place until Wednesday at the earliest. The good news is Jerry did get to check out of the hospital today and other than for the remaining tests will hopefully not have to return until the surgery is scheduled and get to spend the weekend at home.
...Showers at home, no medicinal smell, no nurses/doctors poking and proding at all hours and of course: home cooked meals prepared by MaryFace..... (I think I heard the jubilent cry of Jerry when Tuna Patties appeared on the menu) ....ahhh... the life.
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