I guess if Andrew has to have cancer, I'm glad that he has Johns Hopkins as a hospital and Dr. Katherine Thornton on his side. Dr. Thornton is young, outgoing and optimistic that with a lot of hard work will be able to beat Andrew's cancer.
Since Dr. Thornton is located in Baltimore and we live in Northern Virginia, she and our oncologist in Reston, Dr. Felice, have decided to work together so that Andrew does not have to travel to Baltimore every time he needs treatment. That is more of a relief than I can ever express especially after making the drive yesterday. I felt like cancer was going to be the easy part of situation -- the driving was going to be the scary part. (HAHA, I'm a bad driver, I know. I learned my driving skills from my mother!!!)
Andrew will begin chemo treatment some time next week (probably Thursday) after he gets an EKG, Chest CT and full spinal MRI. They are the last tests that need to be done so that treatment may begin.
His treatment will be broken up into a few section by both the Chemo treatments itself and the surgery that will interrupt in the middle. In total with the Chemo-Surgery-Chemo regiment, it will take about 49 weeks to complete. If anyone's counting that's about one year from now, or right around Andrew's 30th birthday!!!
The treatment will go as follows:
3 days in the hospital receiving the chemo regiment: vincristine (Oncovin®), dactinomycin (Actinomycin D®), cyclophosphamide (Cytoxan®), and doxorubicin (Adriamycin®).
then 21 days off
then a 5 day regiment (Monday - Friday) of outpatient (about 2-4 hours a day) of : ifosfamide (Ifex®) and etoposide (VePesid®, VP-16)
then 21 days off
and complete the cycle again.
After 4 full chemo cycles or 12 weeks -- Andrew will have surgery to remove the leftover tumor and any infected bone.
No chemo during recovery but soon after he will begin the regiment again
3 days in the hospital
21 days off
5 days outpatient
21 days off
3 days in the hospital
21 days off
and then for the rest of the time
every 21 days he will have the 5 day treatment until complete.
When he is finished and given a clean bill of health, which I know he will, he will only need to have scans 4 times a year for 2 years and then bi-yearly after that until the 5 year mark to make sure he's clear. Dr. Thornton is optimistic that we can beat this cancer and that Andrew and I can live a very normal life -- if you call our life normal!!!
Of course now that I've told you all of the good news, here's the catch: with the extremely high level of chemo Andrew will be receiving, he will be more susceptible to catching diseases that his body would usually be able to fight off. With that said, we appreciate all of the support and offers for visits but we will need to limit them and ask everyone to not be around Andrew or myself if you have come in contact with other people who may even have even just the common cold. We will also be vigilante's with hand washing and sanitizer when you enter any house we are in and are around us.
Andrew and I feel very lucky to have caught this disease in an early stage and are committed to winning the battle. I have recently found myself saying that Andrew is "Surviving Cancer" and not just "beating" it. The more positive the better.
Thank you all for all of your love and support .....
WE ARE ...... SURVIVING CANCER!!!!!!
