Update On My Husband’s Cancer Treatment – Surgery

The good news is they still think Garry is in remission. But the doctors have continued chemo because they say they don’t have an adequate baseline of comparison with the cancer clinic in Oklahoma. Garry will be requesting his records again to go to the surgeon and cancer doc here so they have a better handle on what has gone on previously with his case.

The cancer doc has reduced the chemo a further 20% but it is still occurring every two weeks. They have also stopped Avastin as part of chemo because it stops the healing process. Garry has to be off it for at least six weeks prior to surgery. We took him off his blood pressure medications because we thought that was what was making him so tired all the time and his bp was too low. His bp is now normal but he is still exhausted. It is probably a result of cumulative chemo.

We met with the surgeon last week but he does not want to do anything until he gets Garry’s records. Garry will see him next Thursday. At that time, they will do an MRI, as well as a physical and camera examination of the tumor. He does have a large hernia around his ostomy now and it is not a normal one. The doc says he wants to see if he can reverse the ostomy but when he gets in there, I’m sure he will find it is permanent.

Garry will definitely have the hernia surgery. It is also likely he will have to have the rectal tumor removed because of discharge, bleeding, and pain. That is a harsh surgery that will have him down for almost three months. It’s also a dangerous surgery so prayers are appreciated if we have to go that route.

If you want to help Garry out, you can give at GoFundMe. You can donate here. You can also donate on PayPal. My email there is [email protected] or you can use the PayPal link on the upper right side of NoisyRoom.net to get there. If you would like to donate some other way, email me at [email protected] and I’ll send you instructions.

To give you some insight into what gives on the financial end, we paid over 22k in medical bills last year out of our own pocket. We paid almost 11k in additional insurance charges and another 8k to move back to Reno. Without your donations, we would not have made it and frankly, it was a miracle that we did make it. God was looking out for us. We are still 10k in debt and are trying to handle that before we do the surgeries. If you can give, we would really appreciate it as this is a major struggle for us now.

Garry will get through this and I still have faith that the cancer will be eradicated and he will live many more years. We always rely on our faith and take it one step at a time. It’s just that the next step is a doozy.