I graduated from the University of Memphis in December 2010 and it took all of 10 months to get a job with Desoto County Schools teaching 8th grade. The decision to teach middle school was actually made out of desperation because there were still so many friends from college with Elementary Education degrees without a job. I found out that by taking the Middle School Praxis exam I could receive an endorsement to my degree. I now have 85 12 year olds that I absolutely love...most days.
In December 2011, Jason was diagnosed with a cancer called mucoepidermoid carcinoma (typically found in the head and neck) located in his upper left lung. Jason had pneumonia in July and then again in December and the Minor Med doctor told us that we needed to find out WHY he is continually developing pneumonia because obviously he's too young for such illness. She actually told us T.B. was a possibility, but cancer was the furthest thing from our mind. Ever since Jason's bought with pneumonia, he suffered from a continuous cough that was especially bad at night. There was a wheezing sound when he slept, much like that of someone with asthma. So, of course we went to an allergy and asthma doctor that I had seen the year before. He tried all different types of inhalers, breathing treatments, etc to solve these issues but nothing worked! Finally, in late November the allergy and asthma doctor realized that because Jason was still only breathing at 50% of his lung capacity, something else was wrong and he was referred to a pulmonary doctor.
The week before Jason was scheduled to see the pulmonary doc to perform a broncoscopy to take a look at the esophagus and lung is when the pneumonia developed. We rushed from the Minor Med to the ER in early December and ended up staying from Monday to Friday. The broncoscopy revealed that there was a tumor completely blocking Jason's left lung so this solves the mystery of why he was only breathing at 50% capacity. The docs did not give the impression of cancer at first and they even asked if Jason had swallowed a tooth or an olive pit! Strange I know! Unfortunately, test results revealed that it was in fact cancer but we were told that we were lucky because the lung can be removed and the cancer is so slow growing that we don't have to worry with radiation or chemo. "This is what we like to call surgically curable," is the statement we continued to hear. Yay! My husband ONLY has to have a pneumonectomy! It's funny how your priorities shift so rapidly and how you become grateful that God gave us 2 lungs, not just 1.
The docs advised us that no patient wants to undergo such an extensive surgery over the holidays, so we decided to wait until after the new year. The few weeks between the ER visit and surgery were filled with PET scans, CT scans, X Rays, blood work, "ebus", etc.Our family knew that the holidays would already SUCK because we knew what was coming up, but we were at least grateful that the test revealed the cancer was nowhere else in Jason's body. Jason's surgery was performed on January 11, 2012. We were initially told that this surgery could take anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours. From what I can recall I think it was more like 5 hours, though that could be me exaggerating due to anxiety at the time. We heard from numerous people that Dr. Robbins was the best cardio thoracic surgeon in the area, so we felt confident we were in good hands.
Jason came out of surgery and was in the CV ICU for several days. Before fully regaining consciousness, the anesthesiologist came in to tell us that the surgery went well, but he ended up spilling the beans! This man vastly overstepped his boundaries by telling Jason's mother and I that there were positive frozen margins. Well, with as many doctors as I had spoken to in the last month I knew good and well what that meant. "Is this man really telling me what I think he's telling me?" I asked for the man to repeat himself and spell out what this means for my family. He did not have an answer as far as what we are to do next and simply told us to refer to our oncologist. I told the nurse I needed to see our surgeon because in our consultation none of this was mentioned. Needless to say, this anesthesiologist got in quite a bit of trouble and both our surgeon and pulmonary doc were highly upset. They explained that they wanted to wait on the final lab results that would be coming in a few days and they wanted to develop a plan of action. This was such a big "whoops" in fact, that the hospital administrator set up a meeting with our whole family and reassured us that this was not a reflection of how the hospital generally handles post surgery. We were graced with sandwiches and beverages as a consolation prize for finding out that Jason has cancer by the loud mouthed, egotistical doctor. Lord God I wish they had waited to tell us because this was a huge burden on the entire family and we kept this secret from Jason for two days. We did not keep him completely in the dark and we did say that we didn't know the results from the final biopsy yet; we wanted Jason to recover quickly and become well enough to handle the unfortunate news.
So we get the final lab results and yes, they're positive. This is a rare cancer, in a rare spot in the body, oh and its RARELY non surgically curable. You can't help but ask the question, "Why my husband? Why does it have to be such a good hearted, young guy that will eventually be the father of my children?" Many many more doctors appointments followed surgery and we started preparing ourselves for treatment options. Our oncologist WOULD NOT make a clear recommendation on whether he thought Jason needed a combination of chemotherapy along with radiation or not. He pretty much said it's up to us to decide! Well, Dr. Raymond O, I do not have a medical degree and the life of my husband is in your hands so I'm gonna need you to be confident in this! With such uncertainty in the air we knew we would need a second opinion. Our original plan was to go to MD Anderson, however our surgeon informed us that they regularly speak with Duke and could easily get us in for a consult. We jumped at the opportunity knowing they were so far advanced in cancer and lung cancers specifically. At the beginning of February, Jason and I caught a flight to North Carolina to the state in which I was born. I only spent a year in NC, but there was some comfort found in returning to my place of birth.
The oncologist at Duke was so shocked by our age that he actually walked out of the room and apologized for bursting in because he really did not think we were there for treatment. This man was much more blunt in spelling out the severity of Jason's cancer, specifically due to the location. As difficult as it is to fathom, the doctor said that if Jason chose not to seek treatment at all, he would give Jason 36 months to live. While this cancer is luckily slow growing, it is in a hell of a spot. The remaining microscopic cancerous cells are located on the margin of where the left lung was sealed at the end of the esophagus. Because of the location, no more surgery can be performed and if the tumor grows it will cut off Jason's oxygen supply. A'int that a bitch! We were grateful for the doctor's honest opinion, but where do you go from here? He strongly suggested that we combine chemotherapy with radiation because Jason is young and his body can handle the beating. He would rather Jason feel like crap from treatment than risk not allowing the radiation to be as effective, therefore risking Jason's life. I agree! We also approached this man with the question of fertility. Although they would be targeting Jason's chest, we wondered if it would effect out ability to have children. The doctor said he was concerned about the chemotherapy because it would be given via IV and spread throughout the body.
We come back to Memphis and immediately set up appointments with the fertility doctor. Great, more doctors!! Oddly enough, they find that my husband's sperm count is VERY LOW! So low in fact, that the andrologist informed us that we will likely have to use In-Vito in order to have a baby. For those of you who don't already know, that runs about 15 grand per attempt and I'm on a teacher salary. Wow, we were not expecting that one! My husband is 31 so why in the world would this be ANOTHER issue we are facing? Our oncologist said that it has nothing to due with the cancer so we decide to freeze several "vials" and see a urologist. This is one of the issues that is still unresolved because they want to wait until the end of Jason's cancer treatment to find the underlying reason for fertility issues.
Jason began radiation on Thursday, March 8 and chemo on Monday, March 12. Radiation will be done everyday for the next 6 weeks. Chemotherapy (Cysplatin and Toxal) is given in 4 cycles one day a week every 3 weeks. Our last chemo treatment will be May 14th. Believe me, we are counting down the days in which this trying time in our lives is OVER! The radiation so far has not been an issue, but the chemo has exhausted my hubby all week. Monday we were in the office from 8:30-5:00! They tell us that the third day after chemo is the worst and his white blood count is at it's lowest on the 7th day. Jason is struggling with occasional nausea and continuing fatigue. He fears that he will feel this bad for the duration of treatment, but from what I gather from the docs, chemo weeks will be the worst. His face appears to be sun burnt, but we were told the steroids can cause redness and his skin will be especially sensitive to the sun. Tomorrow he is going to try and work from home and thank God Jason has a flexible job where he can do so.
I feel as if I have told the bulk of our journey thus far and I will continue to give updates on Jason's progress. Throughout these impossibly long few months we have felt the love of a God loving church and absolutely wonderful family and friends. I married my husband for his kind heart and with the response from his friends I can see I am not the only one who knows Jason's heart.
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