Go Steve

About a week ago today we met with the Radiation Oncologist.  A doctor comes up to Logan once a week from McKay Dee Hospital to over see the radiation treatments done up here at the Cancer Center in Logan.  When we met with her, we left more confused than when we went.  She told us that Steve has a 50/50 chance of having a tumor return to the same location as the first one because the cancer was found on the outside of the lymph node.  That is why they at the Huntsman were recommending  radiation treatments for him.  But her opinion was that because of his favorable pathology report that came back after the last surgery and because of his profession as a chiropractor and the need he has for the use of his right arm, she felt that the risk of server lymphadema was to great.  She felt it is more important for him to get started on a systemic treatment like Chemo rather than do radiation. They can't do both at the same time because they are counter productive.  The other issue we have is that Steve still has 2 drains in his chest draining fluid from his last surgery.  It's now been 4 weeks since his surgery and there is a window of 6 weeks after surgery that they have to start radiation treatments.  What to do?  That is the big question.  The doctors at the Huntsman have all recommended radiation treatments as his next step but after talking to the radiation oncologist, we just weren't sure if that was the right choice for us??  We have another appointment next week with the medical oncologist at the Huntsman.  They told us that he will be our quarterback in this process.  So we are just going to wait and see what his opinion is on this whole mess.  Steve is now back to work full time and treating all his patients.  That feels good to be back to doing what he use to.  He's still not 100% yet but he's getting there.  We continue to feel an out pouring of support from our family and many neighbors and friends.  That makes this much more bearable to go through.  One of the things that my family did was to make a special quilt for Steve.  They all got together and spent many hours making this especially for Steve.  It meant so much to him and to me to see how much they all love him.  It was truly a labor of love.  It's hard not to tear up when we look at this special quilt knowing how many people worked on it for him and how many hours it must have taken.  It will be used and enjoyed through this entire journey. Once again, THANK YOU!