Summary of Lou

First, I must apologize to so many of you who have been writing and calling and not always getting through and / or receiving information back from me! Lou and I both appreciate and covet your thoughts and prayers during this very difficult time! However, the Dr.'s have us on such an intensive / aggressive course of medical protocol to try to help Lou - and with the lack of mobility on Lou's part - it's quite difficult for me to keep up with all of his needs along with the responsibilities of my job - therefore, leaving precious little time in between for e-mailing or making calls! However, do hope when things "slow down" a little - there will be more time for individual e-mails and calls!



Also...since there are going to be several people reading / hearing the news for the first time - need to give a brief summary of the events leading up to where we are today!



At the end of October first of November, Lou was having some abdominal pain and I sent him to the Dr. Through tests in the following couple of weeks - it was determined that he had a tumor in his colon and it had spread to his liver. The Dr. said the best course of action would be to resection the colon to remove the tumor there and then go to an oncologist to try to deal with the problems in the liver. So, he had the colon resection surgery the first week of December and all seemed to be going as well or better than could be expected. However, his right side became very weak - especially his right leg. After further testing that week, it was determined that he had a "lesion" on his spine, but...it was not the cause of the weakened right side. The follow week after the surgery, I took him to a neurologist - further MRIs were done and two brain tumors were found. The larger of the two was the cause of the weakness on his right side - especially his right leg. All of the results of all of these things were sent to his chemo oncologist. He referred us to a radiation oncologist to try to deal with the brain tumors. From there, we had to see a neurosurgeon about those tumors also. The larger tumor had to be "drained" surgically before it was possible for the radiation oncologist to do an SRS radiation surgery - a one time radiation of the tumors to kill them. During the process between the radiation Dr. and the neurosurgeon - they also discovered another type of cancer not normally associated with colon cancer - in fact is a rare situation - and this cancer is in the spinal fluid and lining of Lou's brain. Literally within a span of 6 weeks - Lou went from being "fine" to all of this stuff. To date, he's had colon resection surgery, chemo port surgery, brain surgery to drain the one tumor (which also led to Lou becoming insulin dependent between surgery and steroids!), SRS radiation surgery on the two brain tumors, 1 1/2 chemo treatments, and 11 radiation treatments to his spine (only 2 left!). The Dr.s all agreed that to try to get a handle at all on the aggressive cancer in Lou - they had to come up with a very aggressive cancer treatment plan. At least we think we know about all of the existing problems and we're hoping and praying that the chemo treatments will be able to help bring some control to the liver. And of course, we're also hoping and praying that as the brain tumors shrivel up from the radiation surgery - Lou will regain at least usable function of both his right arm and right leg. The immobility is mentally the hardest part for Lou right now.

Our days are long and the nights are LONGER! Because of the drugs Lou has to take for the brain tumors - steroids and anti-seizure meds - he cannot sleep! He has sleeping pills - but...they just don't help at all! We begin the days getting ready to get to the hospital - Monday through Friday and sometimes Saturday! We leave the house about 10 and arrive back home about 12:30 or so. To mobile people - this wouldn't be too bad - but...with Lou now 100% dependent for getting out of bed, bathroom / bathing, dressing, eating, moving, getting into and out of the car, etc. - he and I are both exahusted from the daily endeavors! We both think next week - without the daily trips for radiation at the hospital - we'll both be feeling better! And, the Dr. finally reduced the amount of steroids yesterday - so....hopefully, it will help at least somewhat for Lou to be able to sleep more at night! And...for those of you who I haven't communicated with lately - Christopher did stay home this semester from college to be here to help with Lou. With Lou's inability to help himself - it was best for all of us for Chris to be here to help and to be with his Dad. Gabrielle is also living at home - but....working full time. She helps on her days off and after work! Since Chris and Gabrielle have both helped with my Mom and Dad over the last 7 1/2 years - they both have good experience for lifting, positioning, helping in general. So, it is a big help and I think a comfort for Lou (and me!) for us to all be together during this very unfortunate and sad time.

We have been extremely blessed to have very good friends all over the world who have spread Lou's name to prayer groups and prayer warriors all over the world! He and I both find it overwhelming to know that his name is being spoken to our Lord and Savior daily ! Being lifted up in prayer is truly awe inspiring to us and we pray every night together - lifting up all of the relatives / friends / neighbors / and unknown people who are lifting us up and thanking God for each and every person who is lifting us up in prayer! At this point, prayer is everything to us and our only real hope for Lou to get better. We have also had a group from our church - "Healing Hands" - that have come twice to pray with Lou and with me. They will be coming I think about once a week to pray for Lou in particular and to touch him praying for the Lord's healing hand. Lou and I both find this to be of great comfort and enjoy the time and prayers of this group immensely!

We have also been blessed with several people from our church providing us with meals for the last couple of weeks. This has been extremely helpful during these daily trips to the hospital! The generosity and delicious meals provided have been most appreciated during this very strenuous time!

I hope you'll check back next week for additional updates and notes on what's going on with Lou! And, again, my apologies to many of you for not being able to return phone calls, e-mails, etc. these last 2 - 3 weeks!!! Between taking care of Lou and working, there just haven't been enough hours in a day yet!! I have shared your notes, messages, and prayers with Lou and he is so very appreciative for each one - me too! I hope next week when we aren't on such a tight schedule - I'll have more time to communicate! With Lou's mobility limitations - he's not able to e-mail any more and unfortunately, he's so tired much of the time - he doesn't talk on the phone much either! Again though - we hope when the schedule becomes a little more reasonable - maybe he'll regain some strength and be able to do a little more!

In the meantime, thank you more than we can say! Knowing so many people are praying and knowing how many people care gives Lou a much needed boost! Blessings to all of you! Deb