Bill's Phone Conference: Chemo is a Go!

Dr. Thomas called today. It was nice he called soon, because Bill couldn't leave the house till that happened for fear of missing the call.

Bill put him on speakerphone so we had a 3-way talk.

I REALLY REALLY liked Dr. Thomas after this talk! He was not rushed, he was personable, extremely knowledgeable, and his approach matched exactly with the approaches all the medical journals recommended. I felt a HUGE relief! I felt NO CONFLICT with his way of thinking and mine. [Bill doesn't have a "way of thinking" hahaha because he leaves all the thinking to me, because it stresses him out too much. And I love to be in that position, so we are well matched! :) ]

Bill will be taking between 5 and 6 drugs! More than planned. Because they don't know what will work, so they're throwing everything at him.

He will get scanned after every 2 rounds to see what is working and what isn't.

FINALLY! I've always thought he should be scanned during chemo to see if it's working. So happy about this!

He will begin in the next 2 weeks. He will have about 2 or 3 days a week at the Chemo Palace in Boone.

EXTRA GOOD THING ABOUT DR. THOMAS: This was the first doctor who has taken the time to list all the downsides as well as the upsides and let Bill be 100% in charge of deciding what BILL wants to do.

However......it was the first time a doctor talked about giving up the fight, as an option. That was stressful for Bill to hear, but we want facts and decision power, not someone's substitute judgment, and that's what we got.

Specifically, Dr. T said, "Now, you need to realize this. The cancer is only in a few nodes (we thought only one), and those nodes are not causing you to feel sick. So you feel kinda good. We can't make you feel better. We can only make you feel worse. And you're going to feel much worse. This is VERY heavy duty chemo, and your body is still damaged from all the previous chemo, so this is going to be rough. But the only other option is not doing anything. And then it will spread." Whew.

"But," Dr. T continued, "you can always call it quits if you can't take it, or if the tumor is not shrinking and you are suffering too much. You can always stop."

Surgery is not an option, nor radiation, because of its location. It's chemo or nothing.

So Bill said he wants to start the chemo and see if he can take it.

One of the drugs is nicknamed "the red devil." It's the worst chemo drug of them all. It was discovered from a crazy Italian scientist taking RANDOM soil samples around a castle in Italy. By chance ONE of the samples contained a bacteria that killed cancer. Simultaneously, some French scientists randomly ALSO figured this out (weird!), so the two groups agreed to share its name, so Doxy came from the Italians, and Rubicin came from the French, because it turns parts of you RED (ruby), and there's Doxyrubicin. [Atheist friends, skip the next two sentences.] Isn't God the wildest Guy? Almost a comedian.

Dr. T. warned, also, that this regimen is going to kick merry hell out of Bill's bone marrow, and will REPEATEDLY give him a WALLOPING case of the dreaded Neutropenia, which is where your pelvis and sternum undergo screeching burning Brazilian fire-ant pain levels. The docs give you pain meds which only help, but cannot wipe out this pain. Bill is willing to undergo this.

If Bill stops, of course, it's kind of the end of the battle. Bill knows that, but he told me that he loves our life together so much, and loves me, and loves his daughter, and loves our little black poodle Babyjack SO MUCH, that he just isn't ready to go. He wants to stay.

So it's settled. Bill now enters the hardest battle of his life. And I will live to serve and help him with every cell of my being. And your love and prayers will be the greatest gift we ever received. Thank you for caring, loving us, and reading all this.

Our love and infinite gratitude. God be praised.
Love, Bethie