Jerry's Progress 1

As you all know, Jerry has been diagnosed with Lung Cancer. He is having a series of radiation treatments now. He will have a total of 20 treatments and has completed 12 as of yesterday. He will finish the radiation treatments on August 15 and will see the chemo oncologist on the 27th of August and will probably start chemotherapy sometime that week. The results from the MRI showed that the cancer is in his back and his hip bone. The Oncologist said that it is just there in the hip and spine and isn't doing anything. (which is a good thing!) The radiation that he is already having is treating the spine and the chemotherapy that he will be having will treat the hip. If it is not successful in the hip they will add more radiation for it. The doctor doesn't know how many chemo treatments he will have. They will do comparison xrays of his chest to see progress and if the chemo is working. If it doesn't work they will stop them. He will have one treatment every 3 weeks. He has begun to become fatiqued from the radiation and is napping a lot. His appetite is good and we have been able to go out to eat after treatments several times this week. He enjoys being able to get out but is still so short of breath and is on oxygen full time. He is also sleeping at night in the Lazy Boy chair because it helps him straighter and is easier to breathe. We are hoping that soon the swelling of the tissues in the chest cavity from the radiation will go down and he will begin to breathe easier. We are so thankful that his cough is so much better. He has a coughing spell occasionally, but not anything like it was. We are thinking positive about this and hoping for the best with the treatments.