Super Heros have Birthdays Too!

Dear HeMan Hubby,
Today is 2 months and 9 days since you left.
Today is your birthday... the 1st one without you here to tease me about still being older than you even though today makes , or made, us the same age...
A lot has changed. A lot is changing.
When I think of how we spent Valentine's day this year talking about our plans to move to Florida when you were well...and how a week later everything started to unravel...
You you went from having 15 to 20 years to maybe 5 years to 6 maybe 9 months... and then you were gone... just 3 months and 8 days after we made those plans to move... when you were well.
You are well now. Not here with me like we planned... but you are well and whole and no longer in pain... which is what I prayed for every day since your diagnosis.
It just came in the one way I didn't want it to come.
But my birthday wish for you came true... you are well.
I know you are with me.
I feel you in my heart and see your smile in our children's smiles, and when I am alone in our room I feel you beside me, holding me and hear you telling me it will all be okay... I miss you more then I thought could be possible but I am okay, because you are with me.
I love you.
HAPPY 52nd Birthday to the love of my life, the one who made me whole and made me feel loved every minute of every day.
I miss you John LeeRoye Bassford and dream of the day when we will be together again...
You are...
And will always be...
My Super Hero

Link to BratChild's facebook tribute to her SuperHero Dad! 

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1977397842305132&id=100001048060376

The best laid plans of Doctors and men...

HeMan Hubby began his Immunotherapy treatment trial on July 13th.

He had an infusion every 3rd Thursday thru the month of August.

Mid-August there was a scan that showed no change in the original lung tumor...

Side effects of the medications were minimal...

Slight fatigue on Saturday and Sunday following the infusions...

minor aches and swelling in many of his joints...

Surgery to remove the lung tumor and a small lymph node next to it was scheduled for August 30th.

Pre-op was great. Saw the rheumatologist who said the joint pain was arthritis triggered by the immunotherapy drugs... 

not uncommon at all.

Surgery day came and the plan was for the lower lobe of the left lung to be removed...

2 hours into the surgery the doc came out to see me...

This is not good when the surgery should have been 6 hours long...

The look on his face said it all...

When he had taken the lung out and turned it over to visualize where the cut should be...

a small area of 6-8 tiny pin-point sized spots was visible in his peripheral vision on the chest wall behind the lung...

Biopsies were done and they were positive for cancer cells.

Oh crap! 

So, he made the decision to put the lung- un-cut and in it's original state- back into HeMan HUbby's chest ...

The post-op meeting with Cancer Doc was not great...

but then, it was not bad either.

The tiny area was still in the left chest so the cancer hadn't gone far...

the areas appeared to not be active...

meaning they were very likely dead ,like the original tumor appeared to be...

The immunotherapy seemed to be killing the cancer as predicted so it made sense to continue the immunotherapy protocol ...

Okey Dokey then! 

More scans and labs and samples were done, taken, collected for the research trial...

Everything was wonderful...

no other signs of anything...

ANYWHERE! 

Yay!

Every 3rd Thursday HeMan Hubby had infusions...

and bloodwork, and stool samples and urine samples and spit samples taken...

for DNA, for research, for health monitoring...

HeMan Hubby was so healthy it was insane.

Cumberland Island,GA wild horses and ruins on kayaking trip

So much so that we went to Florida in mid-October for a week of hiking, biking and an all day kayaking and hiking trip to Cumberland Island.

He felt great...

a little stiffness in his shoulder from the surgery and a little pain in his knees and shoulder on occasion from the arthritis...

But he looked wonderful.

He felt like a million bucks.

He was living his life and enjoying every minute of it.

The scans in November showed some inflammation in the shoulders and knees from the arthritis..

no cancer anywhere but that pesky little lung thing...

December was the same so it was decided that immunotherapy would end and that a few rounds of chemo would start in January ...

'Just to make sure it's all really dead' 

HeMan Hubby cleaning off  the van to head to chemo

January 11th... my 52nd birthday...

Chemo started.

A low-level drug regimen given every 3 weeks...

February 22nd... 

routine scans before the final chemo dose ...

And the plans of Doctors and men came to a screeching halt!

The Worst Words You'll Ever Hear...

You would think that hearing the words, " You have cancer", would be the worst thing you could ever hear...
But you would be wrong...
Very wrong.

How do I know this, you may ask.

I know because 1 year and and 68 days ago the doctor told us that my husband, HeMan Hubby, my personal SuperHero had lung cancer.

The very next words were very positive and reassuring that this was treatable, even curable.
I mean, a 50 year old man with one small tumor in the bottom of his lung and no other health issues was the ideal candidate for cancer, if there is such a thing.

Treatments could be aggressive, because, hey, his body was SuperHero healthy, except for the pesky little cancer thing.

And, with the new immunotherapy regimens, and the newer DNA- targeted chemo drugs, 95-98% of lung cancer patients are, if not cured, then put into a state of cancer inactivity...
a dormancy, if you like, that meant HeMan Hubby had a projected outcome of 15 or 20 more years..
possibly even longer with the new treatments and screenings coming out every year.

So, we sat in the office of the cancer doctor and learned about the newest treatment protocol trials about to start.

We heard how HeMan Hubby was an ideal patient because his cancer was not advanced and he was so young and healthy and that the 2 immunotherapy drugs on their own had 75-95% cure rates so...
when given together the rate could only be improved upon...

The wonderful cancer doc then asked if HeMan Hubby would be interested in this trial...

HeMan Hubby, in perfect SuperHero form, responded...
" Well, I gotta get some sort of treatment, right? And this trial may help find a way to cure more people, right?... so, what's there to think about, sign me up."

And that people, as they say, was that.

The doc went over the how's and when's and why's and where's of the treatment plan...
then he sat back and in his lovely Irish accent asked if HeMan Hubby had any questions for him...

And well, you KNOW he did...

"1- So Game of Thrones starts July 16th... and my treatments on July 13th... will I be feeling well enough to be able to watch the season premier?"

Ok... Cancer Doc, did I mention he is Irish? - was a bit taken aback by this very non-clinical question...
and not knowing HeMan Hubby's sense of humor, answered very seriously...
"Yes, you may be a bit fatigued, but you should be feeling well enough for television"

Cancer Doc then says...
"Ah, you had 2 questions?"

Then, he leaned forward, elbows on his knees, a very serious look on his face, hands steepled together in a very doctorly manner, and looked HeMan Hubby in the eye...

And then question #2...
"So, after the trial... Ummm, what super power will I have? Because I'm thinking I want to be Deadpool... "

At this the doc sat back in his chair, looked to the Research Nurse, the Lovely Ms. S, and shook his head ever so slightly, with a more than slight look of bewilderment on his face.

But, never fear ,the Lovely Ms. S took control and with a smile said...

"Unfortunately, none...
these are not new drugs being used in the trial, but rather drugs currently being used that successfully treat your kind of cancer...
the trial is basically seeing how they do when used concurrently, er, together...
And, sadly, no one to date has reported any Super Hero powers from the use of either of these drugs, but , hey... ?"

And that is how we began our journey into the world of cancer.