01-26-2011 Wednesday

Today Catherine and I met with my onocologist (cancer doctor) Dr. Masri. Grant and his wife Jody ( who works a coder for the CCTC sat in on the appointment as well. Dr. Masri showed us the results of the PET Scan which basically showed that all of the masses that had been found were malignant (active cancer cells were present). He said that because the cancer had metastisized outside of the lung, my cancer is diagnosed as Stage 4 Adenocarcinoma. Because the cancer is "on the move", surgery and radiation would not be effective because they would be a "hit and miss" approach at best. So, chemotherapy (chemo) is the treatment that will be taken. I'll start the initial 4 treatment (every 3 weeks) cycle next week. After that, I will be CT scanned again to see if the chemo is stopping or shrinking the cancer and further treatments will be determined from those results. Emotionally, everyone in the family (including me) seems to have come to grips with the situation and are putting our trust in the skills and knowledge that God gave the doctors and nurses and of course in God Himself. The Bible tells us that God only gives us burdens that we can handle with His help. When this all started I was ready to fall apart, but He took the load and gave me strength!