Well the ups and downs of a cancer diagnosis continue. Last week we had an appointment with Dr. Weinstein to get Devin's PET Scan results. It was not a good news day. There are some areas of the PET Scan that lit up where some of the scar tissue is and since he doesn't have any other post surgery Scan to compare it to Devin will have a MRI tomorrow and an ultra sound on Tuesday to see if it is scar tissue and not disease. He's pretty positive it's nothing but since it was a large tumor and an extremely aggressive cancer we and he don't want to take any chances. He also cancelled surgery. He would like her to wait 3 months until he can do another PET Scan to compare before Dr. Canaday starts moving things around in her mouth.
While she waits patiently (well maybe not so patiently) Devin will be concentrating on her physical therapy. He will be working on strengthening her shoulder and regaining her stamina. Also she is working toward finally getting rid of her feeding tube which has proved to be a challenge as one of the criteria is maintaining her weight which has been an issue .
Please continue to keep her and us in your prayers as we continue on this long journey of ups and downs.
Thank you all for your encouragement, and for
keeping her in your
prayers. Knowing you are all rooting for her really helps. She has to go
on COBRA for her benefits so that cost and continuing medical bills put a
strain on the budget so if you would like to donate to help Devin
with her medical
expenses here is a link to her Go Fund Me site. Thank you so much to those who have already donated.
Hugs,
Rose
Devin and Owen
Thursday, February 25, 2016
Monday, February 8, 2016
Update 2/8/16 - On the Road to Recovery!
Good Evening All,
We had two appointments this week and things went amazingly well! First on Wednesday we went to see Erin the Oncology Nurse Practitioner. She said that Devin's lesions have healed and the thrush is finally gone! We couldn't be happier for Devin. This clears the way for her to slowly get off most of her pain meds and prepare for her next surgery. She is finally beginning to eat small amounts again too!
Friday we saw Dr. Cannady the plastic surgeon. He too agreed that she is ready for surgery! The big surprise came when he said it can be done as an outpatient procedure. No trach, no days in the hospital and no new skin graft. The graft for her mouth has been in her new tongue all along. He will make a horizontal incision across her tongue and with some "fancy stitching" he will release her tongue which has been tethered to the gum line, and he will make a floor to the right side of her mouth. At the same time he will fix the scar on her neck where she had the infection which has really been painful and limiting the range of motion in her neck. As you all can imagine we almost danced out of his office. The surgery will be on February 23rd as long as her PET scan is clear. The scan is this Wednesday, 2/10 and follow up with Dr. Weinstein (the boss) is the following Wednesday 2/17. Please send lots of prayers that all is good.
After surgery she will have speech therapy and continue with PT. PT so far is going well but there is still much to be done to get her shoulder strong and improve the range of motion in her neck. The nerve injury is really throwing of the balance that "normal" muscles keep which isn't helping. She is also having a great deal of jaw pain and stiffness from all of the scar tissue from both surgery and radiation. Her PT said that her jaw is currently asymmetrical which will only lead to more pain down the road. She has a plan to address it, however this is on hold until after surgery to prevent from any further infection, thrush or tissue tearing from occurring which would just push surgery back further. As you can bet we don't want that to happen!
Thank you all for your encouragement, and for keeping her in your prayers. Knowing you are all rooting for her really helps. She has to go on COBRA for her benefits so that and continuing medical bills put a strain on the budget so if you would like to donate to help Devin with her medical expenses here is a link to her Go Fund Me site. Thank you so much to those who have already donated.
xoxo Rose
We had two appointments this week and things went amazingly well! First on Wednesday we went to see Erin the Oncology Nurse Practitioner. She said that Devin's lesions have healed and the thrush is finally gone! We couldn't be happier for Devin. This clears the way for her to slowly get off most of her pain meds and prepare for her next surgery. She is finally beginning to eat small amounts again too!
Friday we saw Dr. Cannady the plastic surgeon. He too agreed that she is ready for surgery! The big surprise came when he said it can be done as an outpatient procedure. No trach, no days in the hospital and no new skin graft. The graft for her mouth has been in her new tongue all along. He will make a horizontal incision across her tongue and with some "fancy stitching" he will release her tongue which has been tethered to the gum line, and he will make a floor to the right side of her mouth. At the same time he will fix the scar on her neck where she had the infection which has really been painful and limiting the range of motion in her neck. As you all can imagine we almost danced out of his office. The surgery will be on February 23rd as long as her PET scan is clear. The scan is this Wednesday, 2/10 and follow up with Dr. Weinstein (the boss) is the following Wednesday 2/17. Please send lots of prayers that all is good.
After surgery she will have speech therapy and continue with PT. PT so far is going well but there is still much to be done to get her shoulder strong and improve the range of motion in her neck. The nerve injury is really throwing of the balance that "normal" muscles keep which isn't helping. She is also having a great deal of jaw pain and stiffness from all of the scar tissue from both surgery and radiation. Her PT said that her jaw is currently asymmetrical which will only lead to more pain down the road. She has a plan to address it, however this is on hold until after surgery to prevent from any further infection, thrush or tissue tearing from occurring which would just push surgery back further. As you can bet we don't want that to happen!
Thank you all for your encouragement, and for keeping her in your prayers. Knowing you are all rooting for her really helps. She has to go on COBRA for her benefits so that and continuing medical bills put a strain on the budget so if you would like to donate to help Devin with her medical expenses here is a link to her Go Fund Me site. Thank you so much to those who have already donated.
xoxo Rose
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)