Surgery Day...

Firstly, I would just like to say how important my daughter Stefani Rae Scott is. She is the light of my life, the bee to my knee, the flutter in my butter and because of these wonderful things I put her in charge of today's blog:

Aww thanks Dad :)

So today was the big day! We woke up this morning around 4:30, got dressed, powdered our noses (Dad included), and drove to the hospital. We arrived around 5:30 and immediately went into pre-opt. The nurses had told him that he had to take a shower with "special soap" because he hadn't done it the night before. When I was younger, that's what the nurse would always give to the dirty girl in school when she hadn't bathed either. Anyway, after his shower, they wheeled him into the holding room to discuss the procedure and went over everything, twice, three times, and so on...We then said our prayers and kissed him goodbye.

About two hours later, Dr. DeArmond walked into the waiting room. He told us that he had removed 3 tumors from his right lung. One tumor was apparently more difficult than the others to take out, but everything else went well and he could possibly be going home as soon as tomorrow.

Now, he is in his room recovering. Of course he is in pain, but in high spirits as usual. He seems to be doing extremely well! He's conversing, laughing, and even telling some jokes.

We would like to thank each and every one of you for your prayers, calls, texts, and kind words. You guys mean the world to us! Dad, you are an inspiration to us all :) Mmmmmuah! Love you, need you, goodnight!

Sorry if this is diffucult to read it has been a looooong day, it is late, and I don't speak well English.

The time has changed...

We went in to the hospital this morning to get everything ready for tomorrow and found out that the surgery is scheduled for 7:30, not 9:30 as we were told before. Even though we will have to be there at 5:30, we feel good about it being earlier. I am sure that mine will be the first surgery, which means there should be no scheduling delays because someone else's surgery went longer than expected. It will be good to get it done and over with early.

Helen and I stopped by CTRC after leaving the hospital this morning since we were in the neighborhood and we needed to pick up some barium "smoothies." We were hoping to maybe see a patient or two that we haven't seen in a while. Heather, whom we haven't seen in months, from California was there. A 26-year old who has fought cancer since she was 12, Heather has blown us away with her story. She has been coming to San Antonio from near San Deigo every other week for the past five years for treatment, mostly alone, at least since being grown. She is the epitome of what it means to bravely face giants in life with strength and grace. It really made our day to be able to see her.

It has just begun to rain here. The four of us went down to the Riverwalk this afternoon and saw Toy Story 3 at the Imax in 3-D. A great movie! So many of my childhood toys grew up to be great actors. Who woulda thought? We have had a great day, and now we sit and enjoy the rain and each other's company.

God Bless You All...

Pre-op stuff

We are sitting in a motel room in the Alamo City as the sun sets, marking the end of another Lord's Day. On our 99th trip to San Antonio since 2003, we decided to stay in close proximity to Medical Center here for at least a few days. I will go in tomorrow morning for pre-registration and blood work, EKGs, urinalysis and X-rays in preparation for the surgery on Tuesday morning. The girls are heading this way as I write and are planning to stay through at least Wednesday. Having a room within a few minutes of the hospital will make it nice and handy for Helen and them.

Surgery is scheduled for 9:30 Tuesday. The plan is the same as it was in February for my left lung. Hopefully, a thorocoscopy will be all that's necessary. Three incisions are made, the lung is collapsed, the doctor goes between the ribs to cut out the tumors, and the lung is stapled closed. If he is unable to do what needs to be done, the more invasive thorocotomy would be done in which a very large incision is made, a rib or two is broken, and the tumors are removed. Obviously, we are hopeful that the former is done and not the latter. My hospital stay should be anywhere from three to ten days, depending on how it goes. We plan to be in San Antonio for at least a week, but we are prepared for longer if necessary. I will probably miss four or five weeks or work as well.

Dad's condition has improved some in the past week, making our decision to proceed with the surgery a lot easier. He still has a long way to go, but we are thankful for the progress we have seen.

Helen will get the word out at least to a few people how things are going on Tuesday. She or one of the girls may post on this blog on Tuesday. I will update as soon as I am up to it. But if you have the urge to call, feel free. If the call comes in at a bad time, we just won't answer.

We know many of you are lifting us up to the Lord. We are confident in Him and trust Him for the outcome. He never fails us!

We love you all!

Kenny and Helen

More milestones...

God has carried us past several milestones in the past few days. Helen and I celebrated our 34th anniversary last week. I have been so blessed to be married to my best friend for all these years. Seven years ago, it seemed like a long shot to even make it to our 30th, so we are so thankful to still have each other through God's grace.

The 15th of June marked the three year mark since finding out cancer had been found in my lungs. It had been a little over four years since my original cancer diagnosis, synovial sarcoma in the left forearm, and now this same cancer had moved (metastasized) to both lungs. We remember being told that, outside of finding some kind of treatment that would work against metastatic sarcomas, my tumors would probably turn aggressive within six months. At the time, there were no promising recommended treatments, so we went home with nothing to do but to wait on the Lord. If something needed to happen, He was going to have to make it happen. Within two weeks, a new clinical trial with a crazy experimental drug had opened up, and I was a good candidate for it, so we went for it. This drug contained a live virus, actually millions of them, and for the first full year I took this drug the tumors didn't grow. For the next six months, there would be slight growth, enough to conclude that the drug was no longer effective, meaning I was ineligible to continue taking it. Two more clinical trials, and today, three years later, we are still standing. God has directed our steps as we have depended on Him to lead the way. He has never failed us!

Also last week we completed one full year on this latest new drug, LDE225. Having been one of the first patients in this "phase I" trial, I have had a few unfavorable side effects, but things could have been so much worse. Anyway, another milestone we celebrate.

We had another appointment on Monday. Most of our discussion was about the implications of my surgery next week. Dr. Mita wanted me to quit taking LDE225 for at least the next three weeks, until after July 12th, when the first post-op CT scan is scheduled to see if there are any measurable tumors remaining in either lung. If there are none, I will probably officially be taken "off study", no longer eligible to take the drug. If there are any tumors detected, the doctor and the drug sponsor will decide whether I can begin to take the drug again. So for now, I am not taking LDE225. (Maybe my taste problems will go away.)

We are preparing for next week. We expect things to be similar to the surgery on the left lung four months ago, but we know the outcome is entirely in God's strong hands. We are planning on being in San Antonio for at least a week, but nothing is certain and we'll be prepared to stay longer if necessary. While I'm not looking forward to it, we are ready to get it over and done with.

Dad has shown some improvement in the past week. He has been at Lamun-Lusk-Sanchez Veteran's Rehab Center for the past 15 days, which we believe has been good for him. It looks like he may be there for another 15 days, the Lord willing. We appreciate your prayers and concern for him and our family.

Again, we want to express our love and gratitude for all of you for all of your support shown to us in so many ways. We could not make it without you!

Love you all...

Two trips this week to San Antonio...

Before any updates on my medical stuff, I need to update about Dad's. Dad has been sick for several weeks now. He was in the hospital for ten days, during which he suffered a mild heart attack. After three and a half weeks at home, he is now in Laman-Lusk-Sanchez Veteran's Home. He has not been able to eat much for a month or longer, he is in late-stage heart disease, and is in pain all of the time. While we are hoping things will turn around for him with the help of the professionals at the facility, we know that it may not happen. He is not doing well at all, and we don't know how much longer he can survive the way things are going. Our family really needs and appreciates your prayers for Dad and Mom, whose 61st wedding anniversary was Tuesday. Dad asked us to pray specifically for two things: his suffering and for God's will to be done.

Our appointment in San Antonio on Monday included a DEXA scan, which measures bone densities. One of the possible side effects of my drug is bone loss, so I am required to have this scan every six months. They are not really looking for cancer with this, so we will not know results for a few days. I did gain the two pounds back that I had lost, so I seem to be holding pretty much where I am, which I am OK with. I think I needed to lose a few pounds anyway. Everything went all right, so we came back home on Monday.

We had an appointment today with Dr. DeArmond and set a tentative date for surgery on my right lung on June 29. He said he is seeing four masses that he hopes to be able to remove, none larger than about one and a half centimeters in diameter. Two of them should be pretty easy to get to and cut out, but the other two may be more difficult to get. He expressed confidence that he could get them all. The procedure should be about the same as last time on the other lung. We have been discussing this with Dr. Mita, and she is in agreement that this is a good move for us. We continue to seek God in all of this, and are counting on Him to make things happen that need to happen for us to remain in His will. We look forward to what He has for us.

Please pray for Lou Warren, our church secretary, who has recently been diagnosed with renal carcinoma. She is a faithful believer who loves the Lord and is leaning on Him during this time.

God is good...