Thank you Christmas Crew

With such short notice and with being a Holiday weekend, we appreciate so much our family and friends that were able  to help decorate the tree and house and wrap packages.  It looks really great and Michael will be very surprised!!  He should be home Monday and off to Texas on Tuesday with his first treatment on Wednesday is the plan.
Thank you Grandma Betty, Nancy, John, Sherry, Tracey and Vicki!!!

Home for Thanksgiving + Surprise for Michael

Hello dear friends!  -this is Melissa writing -
Tuesday was a very good and busy day.  Brenda and Michael met with the proton radiation doctor and have decided to move forward with the new treatment.  Michael will start therapy preparations next Wednesday at MD Anderson, and treatment will hopefully be done on January 6, 2010, to be followed with chemo therapy. Cousin Kris helped them scout out long-term hotel rooms and got them to the airport for an evening flight back to KC.  Since they will be now living in Houston for several weeks, Melissa and Mark went up to Rochester to clear out their long-term hotel room (KC to Rochester back to KC in one day!)

We're very happy to be together for Thanksgiving, and we wish a very happy holiday to all of our friends and family.  We are so blessed to have you all.  We are so thankful for you.

THE BIG SURPRISE: Michael wanted to be done with treatment and home for Christmas, but the new treatment schedule won't allow for this, SO we wanted to have the house decorated for Christmas before he leaves for Houston.  We also have to sort the items from the Rochester hotel-room and get them packed for the Houston trip.  ALSO, Mike will be out of the house this weekend visiting friends in Ames, so we can get a lot done without him knowing :)   We've got a lot to do in a small amount of time, so we're opening our house to anyone who can help out!

What: Deck the Hills - Open House
When: This Saturday, 11/27, from 1-5pm
Who: Anyone!
Where: Our house, 27006 Herring Rd., Greenwood, MO 64034
What: Christmas decorating, Houston packing, General housework help, and some chatting :)

We'll have hot cocoa and apple cider.  We'd love to see you there.  Oh, and don't tell Mike, it's a secret!

RVSP with a comment below, or a text/call to me at 816-807-6024, or just show up :)

We like Texas!!

A lot has happened in the last few days.  Prior to leaving Rochester, James, Michael's friend from Iowa State came up and they had a road trip to Minneapolis.  Then Michael and I flew up to Minneapolis the next day on the way to Houston.  

We got into Houston last night (we knew it was big, but didn't know it was the fourth largest city in the country--but we believe it now).  Kris picked us up last night at the airport and got us to our hotel and to our appointment today, as well as some other runninge for us--Thank you Kris!!

Today, we saw Dr Cox.  We really like him.  He said he has treated 30+ patients with Lymphoma with similar tumors resistant to chemo.  We are proceeding with the process to begin the Proton Radiation.  He feels there is a very good chance the tumor will resolve with the Radiation.  Even though it is Proton as opposed to the conventional Radiation, there will still be a risk of damage to his heart, so we welcome your prayers.  
Also, he will still need a Stem Cell Transplant after the Radiation,as Lymphoma is a systemic disease.  We are not sure when the transplant will happen, nor where--it could be Rochester or Texas.  So Michael has a long way to go, but the news today was good.
The first step today after the decision to proceed was to start the simulation that will map out the angles and exact areas to be treated.  Hopefully, he will start on December 1, which will be one week from tomorrow.  Dr Cox said Michael could go home until it begins, so Melissa got us on a flight HOME tomorrow evening.  Before we go, Kris will help us check up some long term housing options for when we come back.
Thanks so much for following with us and thanks so much for your prayers.
Wishing all of you a Happy Thanksgiving.

Plans for Houston

Just a quick update on today.  We have an appointment at the Proton Radiation Center on Monday afternoon.  Melissa is closing in on the best flights for us and a hotel for a couple of days.  Then Michael's cousin, Kris, who lives in the Houston area will pick us up from the airport on Sunday evening and has volunteered to be our chauffeur on Monday to get us to the appointment.  He doesn't know it yet, but I have a list of places to check out--a few hotels around MD Anderson as well as to find a health food store near the Center in case we decide to stay.
As well as talking to the Radiologist, we are working to get an appointment with the Transplant Team in Houston, so we can see how this will work together.
Thank for for your prayers, they really help!!  

No change on PET scan

We started out early today, the PET scan starting at 6:15 this AM.  We talked to Dr Colgan this afternoon and the tumor by Michael's heart has not changed with this new chemo.  For the Stem Cell Transplant to begin, they needed the tumor to shrink considerably.  The recommendation from Mayo is to begin a really harsh chemo.
However....going back since about 12 days we have been looking into Proton Radiation (in the event the chemo did not work or for possibly a treatment option after the transplant).  A few centers, like Linda Loma and M D Anderson have been using it.  Benefits are that it is much more accurate and it  causes less damage to surrounding tissue--like Michael's heart.
We had previously talked with Dr Colgan about this and had sent his records down to M D Anderson in Houston last week.  They had told us he was a candidate earlier in the week, but we wanted to see if the tumor would go down with the chemo.
We plan to go to Houston on Monday to learn more about their program to see if adding this this would benefit Michael.  Melissa will be looking into making arrangements for a flight for us.
An interesting note this morning while I was waiting for Michael, on the news I heard that Mayo will be putting in a Proton Radiation Center on their grounds, but it will be a few years before that is done.  So they definitely see promise in this as treatment.
While this is a promising tool for cancer treatment.  The primary concern for us is "is this the right treatment now for Michael?"  We appreciate all of your concern and all of your prayers as we are making these decisions.  Thank you!!

Still waiting for the PET scan

Wednesday will be the day when Michael gets the PET scan and we should know by Wednesday afternoon the results. Today Michael's labs were lower, especially his white blood counts, but not unexpected.
Michael feels pretty good.  But, the hardest thing is not knowing what path he will be on.  But in the next few days we will hopefully have the answers.
We have been doing lots of research especially on diet.  Michael has made a lot of healthy changes, but he's still searching for the best combination.
We did get good news on the health insurance today.  It won't be changing (if it does change) until February 1.
Thank you so much for your continued concern and prayers.

Waiting

Labs today were pretty good.  Michael continues to feel better and we will try the new Pizza place tonight down the road (but we will still do some juicing later tonight).  Hopefully,everything will be quiet and not much new until next week.
It's a little cooler here in Minnesota, but still quite beautiful. 
Thank you for your prayers!!

Almost through the first week of chemo

Michael has tolerated this chemo pretty well and is better each day.  His labs today were okay.  Next Wednesday is when we get the PET scan and that will determine where we go from here.  We will talk with Dr Colgan the same day.  However, we are hoping to talk to him this week about additional options.  So we really appreciate your prayers as we are waiting and as we make decisions during this time.
Something else we would appreciate prayers on is that our health insurance may be changing in the next few weeks.  I have been spent many hours on this issue, much of that with Mayo about the potential ramifications and we are praying that this will not effect his treatment.
Need to close, got some juicing to do--spinach, beets, carrot, apple and broccoli.
Thanks so much for your prayers.  

Out of the hospital

Michael finished his chemo today and is back to the suite.  He tolerated the chemo pretty well.  Each time gets a little harder, but he doesn't complain.  Michael is trying to catch up on sleep he did not get in the hospital.  He will get a shot tomorrow to help his white blood cells recover.  Then the plan is to watch his blood counts over the next few weeks.  
Michael will get a PET scan on November 17, and that will determine if more chemo or on with the Stem Cell Transplant.
Tomorrow, Melissa will come up to visit for the weekend.  Mark is recovering well from his surgery.  He saw the surgeon this week and all reports from the surgery were good.
This was a hard week as this was not what we were hoping and praying for, and it sounded like we were so close to the transplant, but he was not ready for it. It helps so much to know your thoughts and prayers are with us as we continue forward.  Thank you for continuing to follow us on this journey.

more chemo

Not what we were hoping to hear today, but Michael will need more chemo prior to the Stem Cell Transplant.  The tumor by the heart had not changed in size from the last chemo, but it did not grow larger.  So now he is in the hospital about ready to begin the infusion.  Michael will be in the hospital for two nights for the infusion.  They are using different meds.  He will have one round and then in two weeks he will have another PET scan.  At this point there are three options:  1) good response and proceed with the transplant, 2) fairly good response and he will get one more round of this chemo and then the transplant, 3) not a good response and then he will get a very heavy round of a different chemo combination prior to the transplant.  
Michael had tentatively signed up for a couple of classes at Iowa State in the Spring, but that looks like it will be the Summer Semester now.
Thank you in advance for the prayers for Michael that this will be the chemo that will be the one for him, that his heart is protected and that his Neutraphils and Lymphocytes bounce back quickly.
Thank you so much for your concern and your prayers.