Roger McOmber Update (from Becky)
Hi Y'all,
We are home from Roger's last treatment. What can I say except that he is one "tough man". It is such a difficult thing to handle and Roger did extremely well. I was talking to the doctor on Wednesday and he said that once in a blue moon a patient comes through that is like Roger. He was able to deal with the bio/chemotherapy incredibly well. He felt extremely sick, nauseated, weak, tired...basically like the flu but times it by a thousand!
A PET scan (it is a metabolic scan where he drinks radioactive glucose and it shows up where there is action...cancer cells are lazy and they will "run" to the sugar) was done before he went in for this treatment and it showed that the tumor is still shrinking. That helps in going through the treatments. His counts (white, red, platlets, etc.) are all extremely low right now and he doesn't feel much like eating but he will start improving a lot next week. He is very soft spoken and extremely tired.The way his hair was falling out in chunks after his second round I thought he would have a shiny head by now but he has held on to his hair. It is thin but if you didn't know him you wouldn't think he is a cancer victim.
Rog is scheduled for surgery on April 26. They are going to cut into the same 10 inch scar (from November) and remove all of the lymph nodes. We won't know what the next plan of action will be until we have the pathology reports. They need to figure out what the cancer is doing...whether it is all dead, barely there, etc. Melanoma is a scary cancer because it can move around the blood in a microscopic cell. I thought the bio/chemotherapy would kill it all especially if it is killing the big tumor. The doctor said in theory that seems right but it can't attach on to the one cell and kill it, therefore, melanoma isn't a cancer that you can say is gone if it hasn't shown up in five years. Not until a tumor starts can the chemo kill it. That is why the biotherapy is used..hopefully the body's own immune system will be able to take care of it. Lots of research and lots of good things happening with melanoma cancer.
Thanks for all of your support, faith, prayers, letters, phone calls, and visits. Roger is a fighter and we have been constantly blessed through this trial. We are growing a lot from this experience. We know we are loved, we know we are being watched, often times during each day we feel we are being carried. We are so blessed to have the gospel and the scriptures. They have been a life line. I'm so glad we have the tools to make it through trials. More than ever we are understanding the purpose of this life and the eternities. We love you all!
Love, Becky
We are home from Roger's last treatment. What can I say except that he is one "tough man". It is such a difficult thing to handle and Roger did extremely well. I was talking to the doctor on Wednesday and he said that once in a blue moon a patient comes through that is like Roger. He was able to deal with the bio/chemotherapy incredibly well. He felt extremely sick, nauseated, weak, tired...basically like the flu but times it by a thousand!
A PET scan (it is a metabolic scan where he drinks radioactive glucose and it shows up where there is action...cancer cells are lazy and they will "run" to the sugar) was done before he went in for this treatment and it showed that the tumor is still shrinking. That helps in going through the treatments. His counts (white, red, platlets, etc.) are all extremely low right now and he doesn't feel much like eating but he will start improving a lot next week. He is very soft spoken and extremely tired.The way his hair was falling out in chunks after his second round I thought he would have a shiny head by now but he has held on to his hair. It is thin but if you didn't know him you wouldn't think he is a cancer victim.
Rog is scheduled for surgery on April 26. They are going to cut into the same 10 inch scar (from November) and remove all of the lymph nodes. We won't know what the next plan of action will be until we have the pathology reports. They need to figure out what the cancer is doing...whether it is all dead, barely there, etc. Melanoma is a scary cancer because it can move around the blood in a microscopic cell. I thought the bio/chemotherapy would kill it all especially if it is killing the big tumor. The doctor said in theory that seems right but it can't attach on to the one cell and kill it, therefore, melanoma isn't a cancer that you can say is gone if it hasn't shown up in five years. Not until a tumor starts can the chemo kill it. That is why the biotherapy is used..hopefully the body's own immune system will be able to take care of it. Lots of research and lots of good things happening with melanoma cancer.
Thanks for all of your support, faith, prayers, letters, phone calls, and visits. Roger is a fighter and we have been constantly blessed through this trial. We are growing a lot from this experience. We know we are loved, we know we are being watched, often times during each day we feel we are being carried. We are so blessed to have the gospel and the scriptures. They have been a life line. I'm so glad we have the tools to make it through trials. More than ever we are understanding the purpose of this life and the eternities. We love you all!
Love, Becky
posted by JerzyGrl | 7:00 AM
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