Super news received today

Got the call that I have surgery tomorrow at 8:30 am to get a port installed. Tomorrow’s a big day for me as I believe this is the first step in winning this battle. Once the port is in, I can easily receive new drugs and procedures just by plugging in. I have felt the power of your prayers and good wishes.

I GOT THIS !

The MD Anderson trip was a humbling, eye-opening journey. It is an unbelievably well-oiled machine.

They have a team of people in color-coordinated scrubs and cover your situation from soup to nuts.

I had gone there hoping they would say, “Go down to second floor. They are going to take a biopsy put you on some radical new drug and cure you.”

Well, no magic bullet. There is no known cure, but they have two exciting things they are recommending for medical care for me.

They are going to send my blood out to be analyzed in Seattle. I take the second half of the test in Lexington and hopefully return to MDA in 2 months.
Also taking genetic markers from my cancer and seeing if:

1. I am a carrier of prostate cancer
2. Another type of drug would be better for me

Again, no magic bullet but I’m on the cutting edge of technology.

I’m much more buoyed with confidence seeing such a place as MD Anderson and knowing I am now a patient and soon to be a returning patient (it’s important to secure the next appointment).

Again, thank you for the many expressions of goodwill and prayers!

My most sincere love to all.

Hi all from Houston. We’ve been down here for two days now and have had one full day of talking to nurses, doctors, techs, and phlebotomists. I can’t say enough about how friendly everyone is here. Southern hospitality is not a myth! We had good news today at the end when they told us we could use Dennis’s tests taken in Lexington for the majority of what they needed, so we are to be excused after today and are headed home tomorrow afternoon. Just one blood draw, and that was it. The future plan is still up in the air, but we are tentatively scheduled to come back here in two months. All good news, and everyone seemed positive about the available treatments that he might be eligible for.

-Susan

If you didn’t read the Houston paper and see that there is an oil and gas convention being attended by thousands of people from around the world, and that Houston is the petrochemical center of the US, you would think there is nothing here but the Texas Medical Center.
It has its own skyline and a 2.1 square mile complex.

MD Anderson is the facility dedicated solely to eliminating cancer. TX Medical Center employs more than 106,000 people and has a gross domestic product of $25 billion. It has 21 hospitals and eight specialty institutions, four medical schools, seven nursing schools, three public health organizations, two dental schools, and two pharmacy schools. In 2016 they preformed 13,600 heart surgeries and 180,000 surgeries overall – one every three minutes. 25,000 babies delivered – more than 1 baby every 20 minutes. 3,300 patient visits a day – 8 million total visits a year.

You look around and see all these like-minded smart people and figure something big is going to happen here.

I know you are tired of hearing MDA stats, but it’s a habit I picked up on all our “educational” vacations during childhood.

We are locked and loaded in Houston!

We made it to Houston and found out no further blood work was needed and just show up tomorrow.

We are staying in an Extended Stay here with no affiliation to MDA but everything is geared towards seriously ill people.

We had been told to be prepared for  the overwhelming and crushing sadness of so many sick people. Just so far in our lobby children and adults all with such grave looks. You just hope that whatever their situation they get better.

We are ready for tomorrow and armed with the many sincere good wishes and prayers from this site as well as texts and emails. I know we won’t be alone.

I think we got this one!

Love to all