Merry Christmas one and all

A very Merry Christmas to everyone. Santa Clause found us, yep, even Caity. And her gave her a sign that says, "when you stop believing in Santa Clause you get underwear" and guess what she got with that. Underwear. It was funny. The kids are enjoying their presents, and we are enjoying the time off. I go in on Tuesday for our Digital CT Scan, and preparatory stuff for the radiation. I am not sure when exactly we will start, but I hope to have more answers on Tuesday after meeting with Dr. Kokeny.
We had our First annual day after Christmas "shoot-em-up" It was a lot of fun, we went skeet shooting as a family, kids and all. Alex (my nephew), and Morgan did really well. We played knock out and the kids beat the adults a couple of times. Everyone had a good time, and I think we will try to do it again next year.
Thank you all for your thoughts, prayers, and kind acts. May the Lord bless you all and keep you and your Families safe coming into and throughout the new year.
Merry Christmas and have a lovely day.
Love Andy.

Hi ya'll, Andy said I was to write the blog to explain what's next for us. So here it goes. Tuesday we met with Dr. Kokeny (radiology oncology) for Friday's scan results. She first told us that there is no other tumors, lesions, or blobs other than the three in Andy's lungs. This is great news. Next she went over her initial concerns with using radiation to treat the little buggers, however, she felt confident with the possible outcome after talking with others and the new scan. There are several concerns that Andy, myself, and the Dr.'s all have. One is that there will be damage to the lungs that is going to effect his overall health and well being for the time he is given. This damage is definite, but the amount and side effects from it are less defined. Originally Dr. Kokeny thought it would be more than we should gamble with. Now after the scan she is more comfortable and sure that the damage from radiation will not be severe. This does not mean that there couldn't be issues or problems along the way, it just means she is confident that this is the next plausible step in the battle with Andy's cancer. So, next week Andy will be doing the prep/planning stage of radiation treatment. They make a body mold of Andy while doing a Digital CT scan. The mold is made so during the treatment stage Andy will be placed in the same exact settings. This is because the laser they use is so precise it will target the tumors exactly each time as long as he is is the same spot and position each treatment. The Digital CT scan it to view how the tumors move within the lungs while Andy is breathing. Dr. Kokeny is able to see exactly where the tumors are with each breath and she can tell exact where damage will occur. This is amazing technology. We then meet with Dr. Grossman. He went over all the options again that we are facing. And decided that radiation is what we should do. I have to say I am thankful for Dr. Grossman, Karen, and Carolyn. They really have given us what many medical personnel forget to do. They have given us a voice. We have a great blessing of amazing Dr.'s and nurses. We love them and are extremely grateful for their talents and gifts of humanity.
I have to mention something that has been on my mind. Most people refer to cancer as a battle. I have to say lately I feel the affect of that battle. Our generals (Dr.'s) have done an absolute miracle in their stratagem to get ahead of and over throw the enemy has been a blessing. Andy's body is the battlefield and there are days that it shows. He lately has been feeling stronger, healthier, and better than any of us have even thought possible. It shows that some battles are invisible and we are unaware of the goings on. I and the kids feel as we are the watchers of this scenario. We watch and wait for news and information then pick up what we can find to hold on to and breathe through what doesn't seem possible to survive.
I need to also make some mention of the surgery (TIL). We are not at this moment doing it. When we talked about this with our beloved Dr.'s they said to still do the fundraisers. We are not doing the surgery this month, that doesn't mean that it is not out of the picture entirely. They advised us to continue with the donations. Andy's medical cost are going to keep rising from here on out and even though surgery may not be immediately in the future, more scans, treatments, and lots of other medical cost are ahead in the near future and long term.
Now I can be a little more goofy with this blog. I am so excited for Christmas!!! I honestly feel like a little kid who can't wait for the morning and see the tree all lit up and sparkly. This year we are trying to enjoy things as a family (hard to do when stress takes up all energy), so we are singing Christmas carols, watching Christmas shows, looking at lights. It has been fun. We downsized (like many of you)this year and made the presents that were bought more heart felt and true to the giver and the receiver. By the way, I have wrapped Andy's present and placed it next to the tree (heeheehee). He can see it and touch it and it is driving him nuts. I love this. I love making the hubby and kids squirm with curiosity. I love Christmas. I love seeing the kids open the presents and hear them say "I can't believe I got this", or Caity saying, "I fooled the old man, I got a present anyway." Yes, Caity who claims to not believe in Santa is always the most excited when she see that the "old man" brought presents for her. I hope this blog finds you having a great holiday season. Thank you for all you do for us. We are so thankful for the generosity and love you show us and everyone around. And I am actually going to end this with Merry Christmas.

Glow in the Dark Andy

Today I went and had a nuclear scan, I am waiting for the cool mutant abilities to start. Maybe I will be able to fly, or turn invisible, or eat large amounts of food and get fat.. oh wait...., Anyway,... I had my scan and it took forever! But no side effects so I'll take that over taking a long time any day. Now we wait.
The technician came and got me and asked me the normal questions, how much do you weigh, how tall are you, have you had any surgeries, hospitalizations, procedures.. 45 minutes later (j/k) we got to the prep for the scan. He then leaves and comes in with a lead encased syringe, and tells me don't worry, this is perfectly safe. What!?!?! Did I mention the lead encased syringe?!? Its encased in lead! and its Safe!? It really wasn't a big deal but I gave the guy as much crap as I thought I could get away with, he was still smiling when he left so I think I'm ok. Then I got to sit in this weird gravity recliner chair, that once you're reclined you need help to put the chair back down. There is a reason for that, they don't want you to move for an hour while your body lights up, really, while your body spreads the radioactive isotopes through your body sticking to the cancer. It lights up like a Christmas tree on the scan, wherever you have cancer the isotopes stick. ok, enough of that.
We will be meeting with our Radiologist next week to develop a plan. Since I was already at Huntsman, I snuck up and talked with Dr. Joan, and the nurses in the ICU. They pretended to be glad to see me..., no they really were glad to see me. We talked for a minute, but like always they were really busy. Keep up the good work! You guys/gals are awesome!!!! So now you know about as much as I do. In conclusion, Merry Christmas and have a lovely day.
Love Andy.

A call for help

Ok, I will finally admit it. I can't do everything on my own. It is a humbling experience when this realization hits. We have talked with the doctors recently and one of the promising options we have left, and we don't have many left, has the propensity for the highest costs. From what we have been told it can cost as high as $40,000.00. So we fall upon the good graces of our friends and family. Just for an update, I will be having another scan on Friday, Dec 17th. This is a new scan out of the normal cycle. My doctors, Grossman, Kokeny, and Samlowski, have been talking back and forth about the possible combination of treatments. These may prove more beneficial if done in conjunction, and could have some really good results. But health wise may beat the crap out of me. The scan will hopefully shed more light on the situation. There have been so many things discussed between the doctors that I am still unsure what the next step outside of the scan is. They have assured me once the scans have been read, they will meet with me and explain what is going on. So until then I am sort of in the dark. But that's ok, its easier to pray when the lights are off. And isn't it always darkest before the dawn? Merry Christmas and Have a lovely day.
Love Andy.
P.S. We have a new way to donate-- via Pay Pal. Also we will be sending an email out with donation information, and information about some fundraisers we will be doing in January. If you would like to help feel free to send me an email. adlayne@yahoo.com.

Radioactive Andy.....Dum dum dum.......

We met with Dr. Kokeny today. She is very nice and it was a very informative meeting. To make a long day into a long story, we left early and waited at the Doctors office. When we finally got to meet with Dr. Kokeny, she did a quick check up and got some clarification on my health history. She then talked about what options we have been given. We discussed the options that have been shared with us and the risks involved with all of the options. It was an interesting conversation. She was very intent on us understanding all the risks involved with the different treatments. Some of which we understood, some were new to us. The risk involved with the radiation therapy was higher than we were to believe, while the surgery option was a little less than we were originally led to believe. The conclusion we came to was; more information was needed. So we will be following up with her sometime in the next week or two.
We then went to meet with Dr. Grossman. It must have been a crazy day for doctors, we waited there too. When we finally had Dr. Grossman and Dr. Caroline together we talked a little about the meeting with Dr. Kokeny, and the options we had gone over with her. And the conclusion there, was pretty much the same, lets wait and see. Now while some of you may think this is a frustrating and dangerous thing to do, just to wait. You are mostly right, except that for the time being, my tumors have stabilized and are hardly growing at this point. So until we have some different news the plan now is to wait until the end of January for scans to get a look at the tumors and see whats going on. Now this may change if we get some enlightening news in the next two weeks. So for now the plan is to enjoy the holidays and plan for a wonderful new year. So (finally season appropriate) Merry Christmas and have a lovely day.
Love, Andy.