Saturday, February 18, 2012

To be continued . . .

Well, it’s been a crazy couple of weeks and our world is spinning around like a Bull with a bee in his ear – OMG Surprised smile the cowboyisms are contagious! I’ve been hanging around The Cowboy too long.

I’m going to refer back to last fall before we left Trillium Court, our summer camping spot in Ontario to head South for the winter. The Cowboy had developed hoarseness in his voice which we at first we thought was laryngitis. He had no other symptoms or discomfort.

We put off having it checked out as we were travelling and waited until we were settled down here in South Texas. His first doctor’s visit was followed by a trip to an ear, nose and throat specialist. Dr. Glatz used a small scope and suspected a fold in his vocal chord and knew that there was something either in that fold or behind it.  By the way, these are my terms, not the correct medical terminology. He wasn’t able to see anything clearly enough with the small scope so he set up a date, February 8th, for a procedure, including a biopsy to be performed at a surgical centre. The follow up date was set for February 15th. The results are The Cowboy has Stage 1 throat cancer.

While it’s not great news it sure feels better at least knowing what it is. It’s very treatable and we are very confident in Dr. Glatz’s expertise and professionalism.

The very first recommendation he made was to leave the Rio Grande Valley. This type of cancer is not prevalent in the Spanish nationality and he strongly suggested 3 other locations for treatment.

One of our options is M D Anderson Centre in Houston. It is one the top ranked Cancer Centre's in the world and the very largest in North America offering 70 years of experience.

There is also an organization in San Antonio. Another option is Southern Illinois University in Springfield, Illinois where Dr. Glatz served his internship. SIU is a smaller centre it would offer more personalized care.

We are relying totally on the suggestion of the Dr. and weighing out all of our options. Right now we are leaning towards M D Anderson. Dr. Glatz would like us to get a second opinion from them and if we get a warm and fuzzy feeling while we are there he suggests having the surgery done there as well. If we don’t get that feeling then he recommends we head to his old school mates in Illinois.

Must admit that it has been overwhelming at times and we still have quite a few things to get done before we get the wheels rolling. Will cover some of those in future posts as I document the events with the intention of keeping everyone apprised of our daily adventures.

While there are many uncertainties ahead, there is always one certainty – God’s Love. We continue to Thank Him for this abundant life and the opportunities that He has provided for us. We are extremely grateful for being right where we are  today - living in our motorhome and being able to travel anywhere in this nation to get the care that The Cowboy needs.

We’ve been totally overwhelmed by the love and support of our friends and family. Emotionally, we have been blown away by all the phone calls and emails from everyone offering prayers and positive thoughts. We are so grateful to all of you. Thank You!

I will make an extra effort to post more on a regular basis in an attempt to keep everyone informed.

Thanks again for all of your prayers.

Side note and more cowboyisms from The Cowboy:

The Princess has picked this very cute and sexy little Mexican in the Valley just in case things don’t work out. I guess I’ll offer to put blocks on the pedals in the motorhome so he can drive it for me.Winking smile

Just 'cause trouble comes visitin’ doesn't mean you have to offer it a place to sit.

Courage is being scared to death and saddling up anyway.

Every trail has a few puddles.

Happy Trails to You.

2 comments:

  1. Prayers for your Cowboy and for you as you face this challenge together. We are so blessed to be living this life and the freedom to move around if we need to. God speed.

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  2. Sending you my love Ma & Pa, I guess I too am grateful for your lifestyle. Love the cowboyisms....saddle up!

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