Chemotherapy Versus Radiation

I wish I had great news to report, but I don't. When we talked to Dr. Tucker last week, he said that the best chance for a cure would be doing radiation to Wayne's lung, with low-dose chemo at the same time. However, he was concerned about the condition of Wayne's lungs. He said he'd talk to Dr. Register the radiologist-oncologist and we'd decide on Friday.

On Friday, we went in and Dr. Tucker told us that he had talked to Dr. Register as well as to his mentor, who is a lung cancer specialist. They all agreed that to do the radiation right now would at best cause a great deal of damage to Wayne's lung. Apparently Wayne has advanced emphysema. His lungs have a number of collapsed air sacks. Radiation causes scarring and that will damage the healthy lung tissue that Wayne has left. Because the tumor is so large and there are some lymph nodes in other parts of the lung, they would have to radiate the entire lung. They just can't take that chance because at best Wayne would have to go on oxygen for life and at worst it could kill him now. This was not at all what we wanted to hear.

So what they want to do is a round of a much more aggressive chemotherapy first and see if it will shrunk the tumor enough that they can just radiate one small spot on the lung. As well, they will get another MRI of the brain to be sure the tumors are gone there. If they are, and the lung tumor is smaller, then they will go ahead and do the radiation at that point. So it's going to be a while before we know anything.

The chemo won't start for three weeks because they want Wayne to recuperate some from the radiation. And the effects of the radiation continue for up to four more weeks. Right now he is exhausted much of the time. He has lost interest in most everything and spends most of his time lying down with his mp3 player, listening to music. He sleeps a lot as well. But sometimes he can't sleep. When he is up he likes to just sit and talk. This tiredness is called cancer fatigue, which is a byproduct of radiation or chemotherapy. We expect that it will get worse before it gets better.

Our wonderful friend Denise, who flew out from Missouri to help when Wayne was in the hospital, had colon cancer. She was subjected to six months of aggressive chemo, and she said that it got worse each round. She had hers every two weeks. Wayne will be getting six treatments, each three weeks apart. They give time in between for the body to recover some before the next, so I think that since his is a three week recovery, it is going to be a tough one. As well he is going to have to get a cathaport put in so that the chemo won't burn his veins. That will be put in by a surgeon in a couple weeks.

As for the prognosis, we don't really know yet. It is possible that the chemo will shrink the tumor enough to radiate. And it is possible that the radiation will still get rid of the rest of the tumor. But we don't know for sure. We don't even know if he will get to have the radiation, and without it, there is no chance for a cure.

And although he has agreed to stop smoking, he hasn't yet. He says he is tapering down, but I still think he's smoking a lot. I know how hard it is. I did it 14 years ago, but if he doesn't stop the whole treatment thing will be moot. Nagging doesn't help at all. Rather it makes him want to smoke more. But if anyone has any ideas on ways to help him quit, I am open to hearing them. I can then gently pass them along to him.

We have moved into temporary housing at a hotel that takes people on weekly or monthly rates. We will be trying to find an apartment for the next few weeks and with luck, we can move into one soon. Meanwhile, this isn't the worst living situation. We could have gone to the homeless hotel, where there are degenerates and shared kitchens and TVs and no air conditioning and rooms 8x8! Yikes! This hotel room is better than the studios they gave the teachers in Korea who were single. At least this room has a stove with four burners and an oven!

I had expected to find some dishes to use, but there were none at all, so we went to the Goodwill and found a couple of really pretty plates as well as some other things that we will need. The plates are really Asian looking, square, with light yellow calla lilies and white and black. We are always drawn to Asian looking things. When I got them home and started washing them, I noticed on the back that they were made in Korea!

I am reading Wayne all the comments, so keep them coming! I hope you all are having an easier time getting on. Wayne needs lots of support and love right now. The news on Friday was really upsetting to both of us. Keep all those prayers going as well. We really appreciate that.