By: Terresa Monroe-Hamilton
The last week or so has been a monumental shift for us in our fight for Garry’s life. For those of you new to his cancer updates, my husband was diagnosed last December with Stage IV colorectal cancer. We have been through a very rough series of radiation treatments, chemo, blood transfusions, and Garry almost passing away because of pain and deterioration.
Then his surgeon performed a colostomy and saved his life. Garry is just about his old self these days and his numbers are surprising the doctors even with on-going chemotherapy.
We were unable to get a definitive diagnosis from the doctors though on whether this was really curable or if he would be on chemo the rest of his life. I cornered the oncologist who said he did not think Garry was a candidate for cyberknife radiation to remove the tumor in his lung. That meant the surgeon would never remove the colorectal tumor and Garry would be on ongoing chemo indefinitely. But the doc did say Garry would live many more years that way.
That was until we got a new radiologist. Our old one got breast cancer, so now Dr. Mrackian enters the picture. He’s from Australia. He asked us questions we had never been asked before and compiled a complete timeline of Garry’s case. He was angry it had taken so long to do the colostomy and that this had not progressed faster. He also said Garry was a slam-dunk for cyberknife radiation. That changed everything because it now means this is curative… not just maintenance.
We told the doc we were on a tight deadline as we are moving back to Reno, NV at the end of September. He immediately got us appointments to get this going and done before we go. He also told us the colorectal tumor could be removed in four to seven months depending on a PET scan. When that surgery occurs, Garry will be down for two months.
With all we have been through and the medical costs decimating us, we feel blessed. My husband will beat this, we will be together and take over my son’s townhome in Reno. It’s amazing how good news can lift a weight from your heart and soul the way it did this week. And we are finally going home.
If you want to help Garry out, one of our daughters put up a GoFundMe page and we have already met our goal but it is being extended for additional costs – she increased it by six grand to help with final medical expenses and moving. 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.
