Our plan this year was to leave after my family reunion in September, head west for the Rose Bowl Parade in Pasadena, CA., stay til spring and visit the northwest. Unfortunately our plans were changed. In July of 2009 Don had some malignant melanoma removed from his back. He was treated at Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. Since the growth was so deep, they watched him carefully, getting CT and PET scans every 6 months. Last December they found 2 small spots on his lung which were too small to biopsy. Three months later, one had doubled in size. On June 24th they went in to remove the bigger spot (the smaller one was still too small to even put a needle in it). Unfortunately the spot they removed was melanoma. On July 28, after fully healing from the surgery, they did another CT scan and found 2 more spots on his lung and one on his liver. His first question was what would happen if he chose not to go for treatment. The doctor said he would probably have a year. Consequently, he has decided to go to the Muffitt Cancer Institute in Tampa, Florida to be part of a clinical trial. When talking with the doctor in Tampa he asked when he should go to Tampa. The doctor's reply was "If I had that type of cancer, I'd be down here as soon as possible." It took us 3 days to pack up and head to Tampa.
They are making lots of headway with treatment for melanoma. No radiation or chemo. They now treat the immune system. After MANY phone calls, he finally got his medical records transferred to Tampa. His first appointment will be Friday the 20th.
We are at a campground in Polk City that someone recommended to us. I was looking for a workcamper job (where you work 20 hrs. in exchange for a campsite). I found one but when we checked out the campground we decided we really didn't want to live there. We did some exploring and ended up subletting an RV pad at a very nice RV community, Mount Olive Shores, we move there on Monday, will send pictures but in the meantime, you can check the link. We've already made the trip from there to the hospital. It takes an hour but is very easy traveling.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Looks like a very nice community you found to settle in. Hope it is going well. Thank you for your medical update. Harold is loving his new Man Toy. I'll need to talk to you to get this all settled. He was so happy and surprised to find out it was Don he was talking to. Keeping you and Don #1 on my "middle-of-the-night-can't-sleep-" prayer list. Take care-we'll talk.
ReplyDeleteMary Ellen