Skip to main content

Update

I thought I'd share an update with you guys about how everything has been going lately with Matt. He's still doing well, getting in his workouts every other day and doing physical therapy.

We went out Saturday to try a new pizza place that he's been wanting to try since the day after his surgery three weeks ago! He was on steroids for a couple of weeks after surgery and was told to watch his carbs, which is why we had to wait so long. It was worth the wait!
So for the last couple of weeks we have been meeting with different doctors to figure out what the treatment plan will be for Matt moving forward. He had a spinal tap done last Friday, which came back negative for cancer cells in the spinal fluid, which is a great thing! We were very relieved to hear that. 

We then talked with the radiation doctor and the oncologist at Norton Hospital last Monday. We were given some options as far as what they thought would be best, which was to go with radiation and then oral chemotherapy, along with a device called Optune. 

We then met with a doctor in Cincinnati on Friday...which only left us more confused and was not very helpful at all. He actually told us something completely different in that he felt radiation would NOT be the best option for Matt and that it could potentially damage his optic nerve and lead to blindness. When we told that to the radiation doctor here in Louisville, he disagreed. 

To make matters more confusing, Matt also talked with the doctor who treated him ten years ago, and he gave a different suggestion as far as treatment than the doctors here in Louisville. He suggested something called Avastin, and he thinks we should wait on the radiation rather than doing it right away.

Sooo that's where we're at right now. It's very confusing. Like, how can we possibly choose who's opinion to go with? Then we're being sent messages from people about all these other alternative therapies out there to try....and it's just very overwhelming. 

I guess the thing is that there is no "right" or "wrong" way to go. It's just a matter of differing opinions about what the best strategy is, and if we ask ten doctors, we will probably get 10 different suggestions. So the decision is up to us...and ultimately, it's in God's hands. 

Hopefully today is Matt is going to talk to the doctor here in Louisville about what his old doctor suggested, and then we may even try to get him in to see the doctor at Duke, since they have one of the top brain tumor centers in the country. 

Again, I just want to thank you to all of you who have reached out to me to offer words of encouragement and for all of the prayers. It means SO much to us to have the support from all of you. I ask for continued prayers, specifically that God would give us wisdom and  guide us in the right direction and for peace with whatever treatment plan we decide to go with.

"Many are the plans in a person's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails." -Proverbs 19:21

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Putting My Heart Out There

Hey guys. Here's where we're at right now: Matt finished his radiation treatments last week. Did they help? I don't know. He's sleeping a lot more. Having trouble chewing and swallowing. Not eating much. Not talking much, at least not in full sentences. It's just been a slow, steady decline for the last few months. I think it was really too late for radiation....But who knows, maybe it is delaying things. We went in last Tuesday for his infusion and talked with his neuro-oncologist about everything that we've been seeing with Matt, and he decided that we're at the point now where we should discontinue treatments...I feel like it's the right decision, even though it breaks my heart knowing that there is nothing else we can do. But I feel like we've done everything. All the supplements, the diet, the chemo, the radiation... Matt has fought hard. He never gave up hope. He kept the faith. He never complained through any of this. Not once did I hea...
258 comments
Read more
People always said That time would heal the pain But how can that be When mine still remains? The tears still fall At just the thought of you So I know that what they say Just can't be true As the years go by I miss you so much still  No matter how much time passes I know I always will How are you not here To ease my hurting heart? Never could I have imagined We would ever be apart My world has been shattered A piece of me is gone And all I can do is pray For strength to live on I know that one day soon I will see you again I just have to try to suffer through And make it until then
8 comments
Read more

One Year...

One year ago today... the day it all changed. It was a Tuesday. I got the call from Matt around 3:00. I remember I was sitting at the computer at home. Matt told me that he was at the hospital, and that Bob Scott, his boss, had driven him there. Then he said those 4 words I never expected to hear: “The tumor came back.”  My heart stopped. Matt had gone in that morning for an MRI, as he has done numerous times in the past 10 years. He was now at the point where he had an MRI just yearly now, and that one was done in February, which showed that everything was fine. There was no sign of tumor growth, which had been the case for the last 10 years, praise God. But because Matt had been having some seizure activity for the last few months, they suggested he go in for another MRI in July. We then decided we should move up the appointment, because he had been having a headache every day for the past week. Good thing we did.... After I hung up with Matt,  I immediately brok...
70 comments
Read more