Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Wednesday, May 31

Christi and I realized that the next day was a big day, so we decided to go the movies to get out mind off the coming news. We went to go see “The Da Vinci Code” with Tom Hanks, which was pretty good. Then something strange happened. As we were walking out, we ran into Dr. Thomas, who is my primary physician. Talk about a coincidence! We chatted with him for a minute about several subjects, but of course my visit for the next day came up. He asked me if I had spoken to Dr. Jervis, and I said I had not. He told me good luck tomorrow. That is the point I knew I had cancer. It was in his eyes. He did his best to conceal it, but I knew. Christi and I said our goodbyes and went to the Tahoe. Christi saw it too because she was crying when we got into the truck... She tried to be so positive about this for so long, but I think that was the straw that broke the camel’s back. As we drove home, there was not too much to say. Bill and mom were watching Addi, and I told them what had happened. Mom was of course positive, but I went to bed that night thinking I had confirmed cancer.

Monday, May 29, 2006

Sunday, May 29 – May 30

The waiting was really hard. There were a couple of people I told some of the story, but most I did not. I think some people suspected something, but no one really knew. We just tried to live the best we could at this time. There was not much sleep either. I also was supposed to go play in a pro-am this week in Des Moines, IA. I have played in it for 4 years in a row, so I was very disappointed that I could not go play. Trust me, I knew this was more important, but still wanted to go play.

Saturday, May 27, 2006

Saturday, May 27

I had a bronoscophy at Presbyterian Hospital in Charlotte. Dr. Jervis did the procedure and it went very well. The nurses were very nice and made Christi and I feel very comfortable. Dr. Jervis took a biopsy in three places on the same tumor. He said that it would take a few days for pathology to see what the biopsy results were. Basically, after this, it was a waiting game. We had an appointment for Thursday June 1st.

Friday, May 26, 2006

Friday, May 26

Needless to say, I did not get a lot of sleep last night. I went into work with somewhat of a fog in my mind. I knew the possibilities of what could happen, but I was really just trying to wrap my arms around possibly having the same disease as Reggie White. Some people thought that the disease killed him, but Dr. Jervis pointed out that many people live with the disease just fine. I had an interview that day with Susie at 11:00 am. She was coming all the way from Minneapolis, so I felt like I had to be there. Jo and Bill were out at Jason Kestler’s wedding, which I was missing as well because of this news. I was interviewing her when Dr. Jervis called me on my cell phone. He said he would like to do a bronoscophy on me, which was going down my throat and looking into my lungs. He said the CT scan was very scary and he was afraid I had cancer. He said it still could be some sort of infection, but he doubted this. I was shocked!!!!!! This is the last thing I thought he would say. He said that he could get it done on Saturday if I wanted to. Of course I said yes. He set the appointment. I had to call Bill and mom, and I also went home to tell Christi the bad news. The weekend coming up was Memorial Day weekend. We were having people over for a cookout, and I think Christi wanted to cancel. Even though I was really upset, I wanted to go on as though nothing had happened. I guess I was still in denial in some ways.
This is the story of my fight with cancer. I did this blog just to make sure that all of my family and friends would be able to keep up with what was going on if they wanted to. I also hope that anyone who is going through the same situation I am would be able to read this and see how positive I am. If anyone can beat this, it is me. I have never considered myself a statistic, and I will not now. I am a healthy 34 year old male, with a beautiful wife and daughter that need me as much as I need them. I also have a lot of responsibility at work as well as with my family, so I have to be ok.

I am doing everything I possibly can from my point of view to be well. I am exercising and eating right, as well as just taking care of myself. Everything else is up to God and medicine, and I would be willing to bet in that order. I will try my best to describe all that I am going through, including the good and the bad. If you have any questions, please let me know. Since I believe I am going to get better, it is really ok to talk about this. Please do not act like I am dead, because I am not.

Here we go: I have been diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer. The subset category of my cancer is adenocarcinoma, said like AD-in-o-KAR-sih-NOH-muh. This is cancer that begins in cells that line certain internal organs and that have glandular properties. The next category subset is Bronchoalveolar. Bronchoalveolar carcinoma surfaces as layers of cells (arranged in columns) that quickly disperse from the lung's lining through the airways, impairing breathing and lung function. Once relatively rare, bronchoalveolar carcinoma is becoming an increasingly more common form of large cell carcinoma. This cancer is only in my lungs; however, it is considered a metastasis spread since it is in both sides. So far, it is no where else.

I will try my best to go buy dates from this point on. Please be patient with me, since I am doing this from memory and anyone that knows me well knows that is scary. I have also tried my best to talk about all of the people that have been nice to me and sent me cards, etc., but I know I am forgetting a lot of you. Please know that I really grateful for all the well wishes and emails, etc.