GOOD NEWS!!!

Hooray! We just received a call from Vanessa (Dr. Nick's nurse and our earthly angel), and Dan's scan looks good! Both the radiologist and Dan's neuro oncologist agreed that on preliminary readings things are looking good for us. PRAISE GOD!

We had just composed a joint email asking for prayers for peace and patience when the phone rang (5:20 PM). Our wonderful medical team stayed on late to give us this news! This means that the chemo and radiation have been effective in retarding (if not stopping) the growth of Dan's cancer. Any time that we have together is precious, but this gives us a real chance to take a deep breath and not think about cancer for at least a few weeks.

We will meet with Dan's doctor tomorrow to discuss our next phase of treatment. We know that he will receive chemo on a 23 days off, 5 days on schedule, but we think that he will not need the gamma knife treatment at this time!!!

This is such exciting news for us. Of course, this is the end of phase I, but for now we can tally the score as Cancer-0, Dan-1! Thank you prayer warriors and support team. We know this is going to be a long fight, but it sure feels good to be on the winning side for now. We are offering up huge prayers of praise and thanksgiving!

Lots of love,

Leah and Dan

Monday In Beautiful North Carolina

Hello everyone! It seems like a long time since our last update. We are now in the gorgeous mountains of Highlands, North Carolina. Highlands is located just above the town of Cashiers about two hours outside of Atlanta, Georgia. As I write this message the weather outside is close to the 50's and DRY! During the day it never exceeds 75 degrees. It feels incredible up here. (Too bad we have to come home on Wednesday.)



The kids, Leah and her parents and I are having a wonderful time. We have hiked up Whiteside Mountain, had a picnic lunch up on Sunset Rock and gone trout fishing with Grand Daddy. (M.K. and Ross have each caught 2 fish! We will post the pictures once we get back home.) I am actually sleeping in for the first time in a while. I still wake up early but I am able to go back to sleep up here. (Must be the lack of responsibility and chores that I have at home.)



My last radiation treatment was on Thursday morning at 7:30am. We promptly hit the road and arrived in Buckhead around 4:00pm later that day. We stayed at the InterContinental Hotel and had a wonderful dinner at the french restaurant located in the lobby. The next morning we slept in and had breakfast at the Concierge's Lounge before proceeding on to North Carolina. The trip from Buckhead to Highlands only took about 2 hours and we got to have lunch with our children and Leah's parents at the Wildcat Cliffs Country Club.



As I said before, our time up here has been amazing. I truly feel as though I am able to rest and heal. When I get back my M.R.I. is scheduled for Thursday morning at 6:30am at Celebration Health. They tell me I should be able to get the results back by the end of that day. I am going to ask for my own set of films just to see if I can see anything. If there are "hot spots" in my brain they will show up as white spots on the x-rays. Hopefully I will not see any of those. I am also going to be sending this second set of films to a Dr. Friedman up at Duke University. This is the gentleman who is associated with the Tug McGraw foundation. He is considered the top brain tumor Oncologist in all the world.



I have been signed up for the Gamma Knife procedure in case the M.R.I. shows something. Apparently most patients in my situation have to undergo this secondary procedure to erase as much doubt as possible concerning the eradication of the tumor. The Gamma Knife is very precise pinpoint radiation that targets the cells on a microscopic level. It is supposed to be VERY intense from what I hear. I will be fitted for a new mask that will be tighter than the first one. (I was sent home with my first mask after my last treatment. Graduation gift?) The thought of being refitted for a new mask is a little frightening. Remember the scene in Alien when the man is attacked by the egg laying parasite? That is the mental picture in my head concerning the fitting of the mask.



Y'all are probably wondering how I am feeling. I am surprised at the level of energy I have been able to maintain. All of the personal testimony I heard from those who have been here before, (even the same doctors and the same protocol) say that the last 2 weeks are very rough. I was even told to expect side effects from the radiation for up to 6 weeks after the treatments end! (Radiation side effects include but are not limited to loss of smell, loss of taste , loss of hair, fatigue, headaches, etc...The radiation basically fries everything.) Although I have experienced some mild appetite loss, (I have lost a total of 10 pounds since I came out of the hospital) and taken a few naps, the only real problem I've had are the headaches. The headaches are nowhere near as intense as they were before, though. The only fear I have concerning the headaches is that the tumor is back. I am told that what I am feeling is my brain swelling from the radiation. It is sometimes hard to ignore the fact that my head is still hurting like it is, though. These headaches I suffer toward the end of the day are in the exact same location as before. Besides the headaches, though, I am feeling really good. My appetite is still a bit off and I do suffer the occasional fatigue, but for someone in my situation I think I'm doing great! The refreshing mountain air and the time with my family has been wonderful.



Leah and I are still praying for total healing. We are very hopeful going into this M.R.I. and feel confidant that the results will be good. We miss all of you very much and look forward to seeing you again. As far as the backyard play gym, all I have left is the porch roof. Thank you so much to Jimmy for helping as much as he did during the last day. Thanks to Eric as well for helping complete the set during the week. Everyone has been so wonderful to us during this time and we appreciate all everyone has done. Thank you!



With love and blessings,



Dan and Leah

2 Days 2 Go!!!

We now have a slide!!!

The perfect rainbow (taken from our front porch).






We are still missing the swings (we are on step 75 out of 99).


I can hardly believe that we are 2 radiation treatments away from the end! Dan and I will not know what to do with ourselves without that trip to the cancer center each day. If you have to get radiation, the Cancer Institute is a wonderful place to go. The staff treat us like family and we have grown very fond of the patients who share our general appointment time. The doctors are more like buddies than anything else. It is fun to sit and visit with other cancer patients and their caregivers. We all get excited when someone "graduates" from treatment, or gets a port removed, or gets their radiation dose lessened. I have to say that if you want to hang out with some pretty remarkable people, hang out at a cancer treatment facility. Most of the people you meet will have their priorities in order (or they are actively looking for a way to do it).

Danny is out in the yard working on the playground with his friend, Erec, as I compose this blog. I just took a couple of photos that I will add. This playground will be better built than our house. The directions say that it takes 2 moderately skilled individuals to put it together. The directions fail to mention that the 2 moderately skilled individuals will be master craftsmen by the time that the project is completed. Tomorrow we will get in a 13 foot magnolia to try to block the mega playhouse from street view.

As you can tell from our playground, Danny doesn't do anything by halves. He attacks every project (including his cancer) head on. Dan is pushing through these last few days of treatment with the same intensity. He has had to take some afternoon naps, but all in all he is astoundingly tough. I know that he is looking forward to some real rest and healing over the weekend. Our prayers for this weekend are specifically for the chemo and radiation to have been effective and for God to use Dan's body at a cellular level to destroy any of the cancer that may have been left behind.

Thank you for your prayers for travel mercies. Danny's parents made it safely to Odessa, and my parents and our children arrived in Highlands this morning without a hitch. Danny and I will head up the road on Thursday following his "graduation" from radiation.

Dan and I have spent our time together (without children) discussing the many blessings in our lives. We are so appreciative of all of you. It has been humbling, to say the least, to see your posts each day. There have been many early morning hours that were warmed by the gift of your written words. We even go back to the beginning and re-read your messages on really hard days. Thank you.

Lots of love,
Leah

P.S. It is now 9:30 PM and construction crew #2 has arrived! ("Thank you," Erec & Jimmy)~L

The Home Stretch

"Thank you," Tim, Shel, Roger, Jimmy and Mark for working ALL day on phase I of the playground--what a great job!

Dan and his buddies spent the entire day building a playground for our children. I am so appreciative!!! The playground is wonderful. It is located right outside of my kitchen and living room windows where I can watch the children play while I "work" inside the house.

I know this was a HUGE sacrifice for the men involved as well as their families. As a wife and mother I realize what a gift of time they all gave---Thank you!

This was a wonderful week. Dan's parents came in from Texas and brought a great big dose of energy with them. As usual, my mother-in-law has been cooking, cleaning and generally nurturing up a storm. She has not only made meals for us, but for some of our friends as well (can you believe it?!?). Susie is a real miracle. She is a cancer survivor herself! Bob, Danny's dad and best buddy, has been a loving and peaceful presence in our home. We are really blessed to have them as parents.

I hope to fill you in with an update again on Monday. That is when we anticipate the completion of our playground. It is also the day that the children leave for N.C. with my wonderful parents for a little holiday while Dan finishes up his first round of radiation (on Thursday). Susie and Bob will be headed back to Texas on Monday as well. We are asking for prayers for travel mercies for our whole family on that day. As always, we appreciate any prayers offered up for total healing for my dear Danny.

As we near the end of the active treatment, the anticipation of Dan's next MRI is beginning to increase. This is a BIG deal. It will be the determining factor in our next phase of treatment. Ideally, there will be no cancer/tumor growth on the films. If so, then he will progress to the 23 days off treatment followed by 5 days of intense chemo and radiation schedule. If the cancer is back, then we will hit it with the big guns.

What ever the MRI shows, we are OK. We trust that God loves us and we trust that his perfect plan surpasses our limited understanding. We praise God for his many gifts, especially for this time that we have today.

Lots of love,
Leah (and Dan)

1 WEEK TO GO!

Hello everyone! Today is a beautiful day! I am sitting in my office right now with a cup of coffee in front of me and the house is completely quiet. This is a good time for me to catch up with all of you. My folks are in town this week which has been a wonderful blessing. We went to Sam's club yesterday and waited for over an hour for the staff to bring us a backyard play set for the children that we are going to build on Saturday morning. Besides that being the most painful test of my patience everything is going well.

On the last day of my treatment the Cancer Center has moved my radiation to 7:30 in the morning. Any driving volunteers? Just kidding, we are actually going to that session packed up and ready to go to North Carolina for the week. My wonderful In-Laws are arriving at our house on Sunday of this weekend to take our gorgeous children up to the mountain on Monday morning. We will be childless all week! I am not sure what we will do with ourselves but I bet we can come up with something. The last day of treatment my Father-In-Law has reserved a room in Atlanta in a very fancy hotel. We are so excited! We can't wait to have a night to ourselves in a high end hotel in downtown Atlanta. Thank you Lionel, thank you Kathy.

As far as the radiation and chemo goes, I was told by some very reliable people (the last two folks I wrote about) who had gone through my exact same treatment to expect to feel really lousy the last two weeks. I'm just not there yet. I ate four meals yesterday! I have only lost about 8 pounds since this has all started! Don't get me wrong, I still get bad headaches and fatigue in the afternoon, some days I don't feel like eating very much at all, but overall I think I'm doing really well. My blood work for my immune system has come back good from the beginning. (Thanks to Dion for the holistic medicine recommendation.) Does that mean I'm due for a delayed reaction? I have no idea. If I do get wiped out it will hopefully happen while I'm recovering in God's country, the beautiful mountains of North Carolina. That reminds me, I have not been to the North Carolina in over 6 years. I had been so busy at work I could not take time off to be with my family in the mountains. That is just another reminder of how messed up my priorities were before my diagnosis.

If y'all have been looking at the guestbook you have probably noticed an outpouring of my fraternity brothers from college. I would like to commend my Brothers from my chapter and say thank you for being so awesome! I even met a friend of a brother who is going through a very similar experience that I am. He is located up in New York and is receiving treatment at Sloan Kettering which is one of the three top brain tumor centers in the U.S. I would like to add him to our prayer list, he has a family and his name is Matt. Please specifically pray for his total healing and that his treatments are good to him. If all I got from the contact with the brothers was the ability to reach out to one individual, that would be great. That is not all I got, though. My brotherhood is an amazing group of men. This has been a reminder to me of why I joined a fraternity; a lifetime of friends and love. My spirits were a little down when the brotherhood contacted me. I felt lifted up and cared for. The way it happened was a bit bizarre. I bumped into on of my brothers at an Indian Princess's sign up. After we met, within literally 3 days, I received almost a dozen posts from the brothers. I do have to publicly thank Jimbo for posting a link to our alumni website and sending out the e-mail that made the brothers aware of my situation. Jimbo, thank you very much.

Well, the kids are about to wake up and get ready for school so it is time for me to sign off. I can't wait to get to the mountains and see God's work first hand. I know it will be a wonderful place for me to heal and feel His presence. I love all of you and thank you again for you continued love and support. God Bless!

Dan and Leah

P.S.- I just got the best snuggle from my son as he came down to say good morning. God Bless the little ones!

4 Weeks Down, 2 To Go!!!

Dan and Ross building a model airplane--(Thank you for the materials and idea, Jeff!)



The kids in their "Team Dan" gear

Friends and Family,

It seems like every one of my posts starts off with an apology, so I will I try to avoid that here. We have had a tough week this last time around. Nearing the end of my treatments has become difficult. I was told that the chemo and radiation have a cumulative effect on the body. Boy, whoever said that was right. Apparently every 5th radiation treatment, (after my brain gets a double dose from the mapping) the amount of radiation is increased. As of this coming Friday I will be at my highest dose of radiation ever. If you look closely at my head I have a tan line from the treatments. I also have a radiation burn on my forehead which tends to look pretty crispy by the time Friday rolls around. At first I thought it was really lousy that Florida Hospital would take the weekends off from treatments. Now I see the need for it!

I broke down for the first time on Thursday of last week. I woke up that day at 2:30 in the morning and could not go back to sleep. I know many of you suffer from the same problem I sometimes get. I call it racing brain. I wake up at some ridiculous hour in the early a.m. and my brain just starts going a 1,000 miles per hour. Try slowing that train down! The bizarre part is that my body and mind are not tired at that point in the morning. It is not until the time I need to be productive that I get tired. (Figures, right?) I missed taking the kids to school so I could attempt a few more hours of sleep. When Leah returned we started to talk and it just poured out. I have not let go like that since all this began back in early July. When I was initially given the news of my diagnosis my mother and Leah were both there with me. I felt I had to remain strong for them. When I eventually sat down with my counselors I felt I had to remain strong for him/her. (All this male macho crap was taking a toll on me.) I would have moments of tearing up when I read some of your posts, but this was Niagra Falls. I felt like a little baby. I don't know why I shared that with you, I just felt I needed to. The Lord is sometimes speaking to me in strange ways, I feel as though this is one of those times.

The children and Leah all seem to be doing well. I am doing more than I ever have with my family which is VERY nice. Last week I took the kids to school all but one day. I have become involved in after school activities which is very cool. Monday Ross and I start t-ball practice and on Saturday Mary Kathryn and I signed up for Indian Princesses. I am going to use this time that God has given me to the best of my abilities. I have felt like the absent father for all of my daughter and son's life. I know it is time to get involved.

It is amazing the support group of family and friends that we have. We are never lacking for food, rides, fellowship, babysitters, play dates, etc. All of y'all are amazing people and we love you. Tomorrow both of my parents arrive for the whole week. Leah and the kids and I can't wait to see them! My mother tends to come in and take over and we let her. It's awesome!

I once again feel very blessed with my current circumstance. I know that sounds crazy but it is true. I don't think anything short of a malignant brain tumor would have changed me so much. The hardest part will be the waiting at the end of my treatments. I will not have a conclusive MRI until two weeks after my last radiation treatment. The reason for this is apparently I will have "hot spots" from the radiation in my brain for awhile after the treatments are over. Oh well.

Thanks to everyone again for your love and support. We need it and love it and miss every one of you. Thank you so much for being there for us. You make us feel special. Thank the Lord for his blessing's and love upon all of us. I pray daily for all of you and for all of us.

Sincerely, with love,

Dan and Leah

Hello! A Special Homecoming

This is a photo of Dan coming home from the hospital.


To All,

I would like to start by thanking all of those who have once again been so helpful to Leah and I. We have had several people help out with drives down to treatments, meals, and carpool for the kids. We also would like to thank all of those who are praying for us. I truly feel as if I am in Gods hands now. I sometimes feel lousy from the side effects of the chemo and radiation, but besides that, I feel really good. I don't know what brain cancer is supposed to be like, but I feel better than I did before my diagnosis.

I have to tell y 'all that my surgeon is a complete stud. All the research I have done puts a huge part of my final outcome at the hands of the surgeon. (I have been doing a lot of research over the past few days.) The complete and successful extraction of the tumor is incredibly important for the survival of a patient with GBM IV. I have seen and read the films (MRI and CT scans of my brain pre and post op, that means before and after surgery for you non-medical lingo types) to the best of my ability, (which is actually pretty good because of my medical career) and the tumor looks to be completely gone. I never experienced any of the potentially disabling side effects from the surgery. I have read a lot of testimonies from other patients in my same circumstance and they all seemed to have a rough experience of some sort or another. (Multiple surgeries, bad side effects from surgery, infections, etc.) My road so far has been a very smooth one.

The months leading up to my diagnosis were not pleasant. Back in early February I started having what I thought were panic attacks. I saw a doctor for it who prescribed Xaniax for me. Unfortunately, the Xaniax probably masked a lot of my symptoms from the tumor. (The area where my tumor was growing affected anxiety, moods and emotions.) After a period of time I began to see a counselor for my emotional detachment at home due to what I thought was stress associated with work. The stress at work was and is real, (ask anyone in our industry and they will tell you) but it was not causing my lack of emotions. That again was apparently the growth of the tumor. It was not until I started having the devastating headaches that we knew anything was truly wrong. The final straw was a headache that lasted for 3 days and would not go away. The day I checked into the Celebration ER I could tell that the Doc there did not really believe me. It took a CAT scan which showed the golf ball sized tumor to convince him that I was telling the truth! That night we were checked into the ICU at Celebration Health and had a MRI for the final determination of the tumor. (The MRI was for final diagnosis and size and location, which ended up being 5cm and frontal left lobe.) We were told Sunday evening around 11:30pm that I would be having emergent surgery for my tumor by the neurosurgeon who was on call that night. The day of surgery would be Tuesday because the surgeon needed 24 hours to reduce the swelling in my brain and to get me ready for the procedure. (Cardiac clearance, surgery work up, etc.) Leah and I both were trying to seek a second opinion and were told by the hospital that there was no time. If I did not have the surgery on Tuesday I would be dead within 24-48 hours because of the tumor rupturing in my brain. (Apparently the rupture of the tumor is what caused my final headache that settled in for 3 days.) Luckily I had found out by 9:30am on Monday morning that I was in VERY good hands. My surgeon was considered the BEST neurosurgeon in all of central Florida. (Celebration Hospital had hired him to elevate their status in their neuro department.) I have since given him a much higher status as the best surgeon PERIOD! I was bumped to the first case on Tuesday morning and prepped for surgery. Part of the prep was being told that I may wake up to partial paralysis on the right side of my body and limited or no ability for speech. Great! That was uplifting to hear. At this point I asked God to please watch over me and my family and to not make me a vegetable during the surgery. Actually, what I really prayed for was healing and to provide for my family and to please guide my surgeon's hand.

I remember nothing of the surgery except waking up in recovery and being very disoriented. Leah was there and I reached for her hand with my right side and pulled her down to whisper in her ear. I initially thought that my surgery had been aborted as I was being put to sleep. It took me awhile to figure out that the tumor had been removed and I was still in Celebration Hospital. (I had some sort of dream that I was transported to another hospital and then had a bad reaction to the anesthetic and was not operated on.) It startled Leah that I was able to grab her hand and talk to her. Then I was telling her that they didn't get the tumor and some other gibberish that she did not understand. As I was transported back to my room, I realized that I was still in Celebration Health and then I saw the "turban" bandage on my head and had a feeling that the surgery was a success. It was a still few hours until I came to the full realization that the tumor was removed and everything had gone well. It would not be until the following Thursday that I would be given the full diagnosis. Apparently, poor Leah knew the day of my surgery what we were up against. For right or wrong my surgeon had instructed her not to tell me until I asked. I was on some good pain medication for a long time and never thought to ask anyone until I saw my surgeon for my post-op up check up. That was when I was given the tough news about the cancer. I was told that I had to wait for about 4 weeks for the swelling to go down from the surgery before they could start my treatments. I was concerned that during that time the cancer cells would grow and start to infiltrate my brain. My concerns were not justified, just me being a bit paranoid.

I have come to terms with my cancer since all this has started. Once you are faced with your own mortality your life takes on a whole new meaning. I have finally fully committed myself to our Lord. I have put my life in His hands. As I have shared with y'all earlier, I feel His hand in my life in almost all that I do now. It feels divine and scary all at the same time. I sometimes don't feel worthy. I still pray every day for guidance and help. I still pray for others who are in need.

I thank all of you for everything. Thank you so much. We love you.

Sincerely,

Dan and Leah

These are pictures of the kids on their first day of school. Ross is with Danny and Mary Kathryn is with her wonderful new teacher!