Posted on 09/29/2013 5:15:28 PM PDT by Jeff Head
Jeff Head Cancer Update: September 29, 2013
So, we've been gone for over two weeks from Emmett, ID. This has been my annual checkup for my Chordoma cancer down here in Houston, TX at MD Anderson. Week before last I had those checkups and they went extremely well. No sign of any new cancer around where my sacrum used to be and that is very good. As good a bone fusion to the bone from my right fibula that they used as a support down there as it can be. Very strong and lots of it. Also strong bone fusion all around the titanium they used for the support around my lower spine and into my hip bones...completely encasing it all in good strong, new bone.
After finishing, last week we visited up around Denton, staying with Brenda, my late brother Lee's wonderful wife, and visiting friends and relatives.
Now we are back in Houston to start my three radiation treatments this week. This has been expected and planned from the beginning. When they found the very large tumor in my sacrum, which had to come out, they also found three very small areas in my hip bones. They feel they can treat these and either kill them, or stop them. They wanted to wait until I was as completely recovered as possible from those very major and drastic surgeries from 3 1/2 years ago, and now is the time. They have not grown very much at all, and getting them now is for the best...so we will see how my body and I handle the radiation. It a procedure called stereo-tactic radiation and is really very advanced and sci-fi'ish, using 3-D models, multiple radiation beams, complex computer programming, a space age piece of machinery they pu me in, etc. It is similar to another radiation treatment called cyber-knife.
Anyhow, that's the update, and Gail, as always has been my hero in this, taking good care of me. A merciful Father in Heaven and His Son ave kept me in the hollow of their hands. Family, relatives and friends have shown their love and exercised their faith on our behalf for the which I am humbled and grateful.
I will write another update when it is done. We hope to e back in Idaho on October 1st or 2nd.
Be strong. Know you are in your freeper friends prayers.
May God continue to hold you and your family in the hollow of His Hand.
All systems are go! Prayers sent for your continued health and healing.
God bless you and your family.
Hers is called chondra sarcoma, a rare cancer with no known cause,or cure. It is responsive to neither radiation or chemo. It was found by accident, as she was having unusual pain after a knee replacement. They removed her left femur from just above the knee to the ball in her hip.
The doctor told us that if it returned, it would be most likely show up in her lungs. We held out hope for almost two years, hoping and praying it was over.
then came the news; an x-ray showed a spot on the left lung. We went back to see the expert and they removed half the lower lobe on her left lung.so we start over.
We were lucky in one respect. When it was first discovered, we were on vacation in Little Rock,Arkansas. The University of Arkansas cancer Treatment center is the home of research on this cancer.
One amusing, but sobering part of this whole story is that when she sees other doctors, they always want to see the x-rays and, without exception always comment that they would have amputated.
There are only nine doctors who specialize in this cancer in the United States and we just happened to be where the two best are located. Luck?, or divine intervention??
IF I MAY SUGGEST ... IN READING A BIT OF THE BEGINNING STORY.,, IN REGARD TO DIVERTICULOUS,
FYI ... SEVERAL YEARS AGO EXPERIENCING AN ATTACK MYSELF! ... VERY UNPLEASANT, my regular DOCTOR TOLD ME HE ALSO HAD DIVERTICULOUS and he recommended “ground flax meal” every day, take two or three tablespoons on cereal or yogurt, or in muffins, or other ways you might like to consume it. Ground flax meal only. No whole flax seeds. Watch seeds and things like nuts. I do eat nuts and then later an hour or two I will eat cereal with flax meal on it. IT WORKS . His other suggestion was to take dried prunes on a trip, they can be eaten out of hand and are easy to take along, eaten while sitting in the car, waiting, etc. This process works as long as it is faithfully observed. God bless you, Jeff..
No coincidence there at all...and Praise to our Father in Heaven for it. Thank you for your story, and your faith! I pray God in Heaven continues His blessings towards you and yours and know that He will. Each difficult experience is actually a blessing from Him that can strengthen us and allow us to better help those around us.
Jeff, Sorry to hear you had to have more treatments. We will be praying for your speedy recovery.
I don’t say Rozy has cancer, I say we have cancer. I know there some trails she has to walk, but I try to see doesn’t have to go alone.
I am sure your wife knows what I am talking about.
Rozy’s parents are in their nineties and need a lot of care. Her Mom is in a wheelchair and her Dad is slowly losing it. Rozy has been doing it alone as her one sister lives in Conneticut, and her other is a ditz.
I have convinced her to get help. One Granddaughter has begun to step up.
I don’t fault the sister in Conn, she has a family of her own. She sends money to help cover expenses. The other, excuses.
Rozy is in such pain, most days, I don’t know if I could stand it. With her leg operation, they say it is not the norm, but it is not unheard of. But, she can still walk!!
On her worst days, the phone inevitably rings....another crisis.
Get well soon! May the Almighty speed your recovery!
ping to ma: see update for Jeff in case you missed also do not miss posts 144 & 145
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