Best Christmas Present EVER!!!

On December 15th, Dad had an MRI to check and see how the tumor had reacted to the chemo and radiation treatments that he had finished about a month ago. He was supposed to have an appointment with the oncologist on December 17th to go over the MRI's and discuss the next step, but the appointment was cancelled because the oncologist was out of town. The appointment was rescheduled for this Wednesday, December 22. I met Dad over at the oncologist at 8:30 that morning. He had gotten over there early to get his lab work done and check in. For the first time since Dad has been seeing the oncologist, we got into the appointment right on time. The doctor asked Dad how he had been feeling and told us that he had good news. The cancer is GONE!! The tumor is still there and will always be there, but the cancer inside the tumor was dead. We could hardly believe the news!

Just to make sure they completely take care of it, Dad will undergo a 5 day chemo treatment starting this next Monday. He has done so well with the pill so far and we are hoping that he continues to handle it well. He will take a pill for 5 days, be off the pill for 28 days, see the oncologist at that point, and will take another 5 days worth of the chemo and they will address the situation at that time. I'm assuming that he will undergo another MRI in a couple of months, but the oncologist said that we will talk about that when the time comes.

He is also going to slowly taper off of the steroids again. The doctor said that the goal is to be off of the steroids all together, but some people will always have to be on a low dosage to keep the symptoms at bay (the swelling of the brain and headaches). Dad was happy to hear that as the steroids have made him eat like crazy and he weighs in a 204 pounds, which is the most he has ever weighed! He typically weighs around 170 or so. The doctor said he should get the weight off as he gets off the steroids. Since he had issues the last time when they tried to lower the dosage of the steroids every two weeks, they are going to now lower it a month at a time to make sure his body handles it well.

So, Dad got up from his chair in the doctor's office a new man. His shoulders were back, his chin was up, and he WON! We had dinner at his house last night and he told us that the news has not fully sunk in yet. It's such a relief to know that he does not have to worry about this. I'm sure that he will continue to go through preventative scans and treatments, but for now, he is doing great!

This is definitely the very best news that we could have hoped for this Christmas and we are so very blessed to have received this news! We are looking forward to celebrating Christmas with a cancer free Dad!