Round 2

Round 2 of the radiation to the lung was this week, and it went well. Swelling of the eye is a constant problem though. It must be so frustrating!
My parents had a great time on their trip to Tampa. Louis'retirement ceremony was very nice and the retirement party was even better! Louis presented my Dad with a shadow box full of medals and ribbons etc. that Dad had earned over the years during his own Marine career. He was quite touched that Louis would take the time to honor him at his party - he felt like he was having his own retirement party all over again! Thanks to Louis and Jacquie for doing that and to mom for slipping the medals and mementos to them! I have posted some pictures of the retirement events and you can see the treasured shadow box in a few of them.
Thanks for the many prayers - keep praying that the cancer stays away and that the swelling would finally recede ~~

Radiation update

Today, Jan. 20, my dad had the first round of radiation to his lung. All went well and he doesn't seem to be experiencing any side effects. He isn't really expected to, maybe some tiredness, but that's all that is anticipated. His eye remains swollen and that is a big challenge right now. He doesn't complain, but its clear that it's a huge discomfort for him.
As mentioned previously, my parents head to Tampa on Thursday. We hope that they will travel well and have a great time while there! Thanks for checking in with us ~

Monday, Jan 13th Info

A quick update on today's activities. The day started out around 4:30 a.m. in order to get to the Radiosurgery Center for 6:00 a.m., so it was quite an early start! After being fitted with a frame for his head, an MRI was done to make calculations for delivering the radiation. They had to wait awhile for this to be completed and finally around noon he was taken back for the actual gamma knife procedure. Just to give a nice visual - Star Wars is a big hit with Sandi's 5 year old son Kylen and for Christmas he got a mask and several different colored light sabers. We all got to play "Star Wars" many times over the holidays and apparently with the frame on his head, my dad looked like something straight out of Star Wars and would have been a very worthy opponent for Kyle! OK - back to the update, after the procedure was done, they kept him for about another hour or so while he recovered, and then he was able to come home. He had a slight headache and was starving, other than that it was just like a day at the park - OK, slight exaggeration, but really, overall he is doing well and can resume normal activity after 24 hours.
The MRI that was performed today was more detailed than the one he had on 12/31, and the neurologist could readily visualize the necrosis taking place in the first tumor, so that was great to hear.
Tomorrow, he will return to the Radiosurgery Center to be fitted for the body mold for the synergy radiation to his lung. He will have the 1st treatment on 1/20, the next one on 1/29 and the last one on 2/5.
In between the Radiation treatments of 1/20 and 1/29, my parents will get to make a trip to Tampa, FL to attend the Marine Corp retirement ceremony of son-in-law, Louis (Jacquie's husband). They are glad to get the green light to go ahead and attend as they are extremely proud of not only Louis for his service to our country, but of Jacquie and all she has done to support Louis and raise two great kids as a military spouse. So a big Marine ooh-rah shout out to Louis as he completes his 28 year military career! Thank you, Louis for your service and commitment to our great Country.
We didn't get many pictures at Christmas as it was kind of a whirlwind event (we were busy playing Star Wars after all!), but we'll make sure to have pictures from Louis' retirement to share with everyone.
We appreciate continued prayer for successful results from the radiation treatments and that this would be the last time the cancer makes an appearance. It's enough already....

Bumps in the road

This has been a bumpy week, hearing results that we weren't expecting and processing new information. Unfortunately, the Pet scan did show a small(1cm) metastatic spot on my Dad's right lung. This does not mean that he now has lung cancer as well, it means that there is a cell from the original kidney tumor that has materialized in the lung. Encouragingly, this is the only place that "lit up" on the scan, and there are high hopes that treatment with Stereotactic Body Radiosurgery (same type of radiation used this summer) will bring about good results. This type of radiation uses precise, pinpoint radiation beams to converge on the cancerous tumor from many different angles. Because it is so accurate, it minimizes the chance of damage to the healthy tissue surrounding the tumor. Large doses of radiation are delivered to the tumor over a period of one to five days, which is better than the older standard of weeks of daily radiation. There is about a 90 percent success rate associated with this method of treatment. Kidney cancer is so persistent that this will probably become routine, i.e, find a spot, zap it, wait, find another spot, zap it, wait again etc etc. This was mentioned to us at some point, but I think we all stuck that somewhere in the back of our minds, thinking it really wouldn't happen in "our case". As we know realize, we haven't been spared this exercise and we are wrapping our minds around yet another new normal way of life. We remain ever thankful that there are treatment plans available, and that over all my Dad feels ok. The diabetes is under better control, and his blood pressure is good. So at the end of a long week, we have two new tumors identified and two new treatment plans in place, and as it seems to be our mantra - we press on. The Gamma Knife surgery on Monday morning is the next event on the schedule, and we'll let you all know how that goes next week.
I just wanted to take a quick moment to address the many expressions of gratitude that have been made about the blog - its so overwhelming to us to have so many people on this journey with us to even have the need for a blog, that really the gratitude is ours extended to each of you reading this. Thanks for caring about us, loving us and praying for us ~ The Daniel Family

Its true cancer has a mind of its own ~

And, despite our recent optimism, we have received news that my Dad has a new tumor on the left side of his skull. Due to some new areas of swelling, the MRI scheduled for the 8th was moved up to last Wedensday. We received news late on Wed. that the MRI showed a new tumor had developed, but because of the holidays, we weren't able to get additional information until today. Here is what we now know, in layman's terms of course. (I feel like the doctor should review this to make sure I'm conveying everything correctly, but here goes...)
Several Doctors have now had the opportunity to review the MRI and have come to a consensus that this is not a new cancer metastasis, which is significant. They believe the cells were always there, but were located deeper than what could be seen. The radiation that he received this summer would not have gone deep enough to hit these cells, as they radiated as far in as they felt they could go and not damage the brain. Simply put, these are exsiting cells that have formed into a tumor at a new site in his left temple.
This new tumor is treatable with Gamma Knife radiation, which is different than the type of radiation they used this summer. They will use this type because the tumor is rapid in growth and is getting dangerously close to the brain. If necessary, surgery is an option, but they would like to proceed with the Gamma Knife treatment as it is less invasive/risky. He will have this procedure next Monday, January 12th at 6 am. The results won't be known for another 3-5 months, however, even without the expectation of immediate results they will be doing more frequent MRI scans. This will help to discern if there have been other undetectable cells lurking around that decided to morph into yet another tumor and provide swift treatment in such case. All of this will be clarified at a face to face Doctor's appointment this Wedensday (1/7). It will be good follow up as there will have been some time to process this information and a better opportunity for questions and answers, so if I've misrepresented anything, we'll let you know!
The following is information on the original tumor: It has shrunk about 30%. They would have liked to have seen greater reduction at this time, but do not believe that the results are abnormal in relation to renal cell cancer's typical response to radiation. They still expect to see continued dying of the tumor and are hopeful that within the next 6 months, the total reduction will be around 70 percent.
Lastly, the full body PET scan is still scheduled for this Thursday. We are hopeful that it will show no other cancer anywhere else in his body.
All in all, there are nuggets of good news mixed in with the bad news of another tumor and we are pressing on. We are thankful that there are treatment options to continue fighting the cancer. We pray that the new tumor responds to the Gamma Knife radiation, that the original tumor continues to shrink, that there are no more lurking cancer cells and that the PET scan is clear. Thank you for your continued love and support - we will provide another update later in the week. ~ Tami and family