Medical Summary

I forgot that I had promised to give a history of what has gone on so far so here it is.

Back in January or February of this year - Harry had a swollen gland in his neck, he went to the doctor, they gave him medicine and it went away. We thought nothing further about it.

Then in April or May he started getting constant headaches and was having some chest pain. He started taking aspirin on a daily basis and they would go away. Towards the end of May and all during June he started complaining to me about the headaches and how he never had to take so much aspirin.

At the end of June - I told him to call Dr. Pereda and have him put in him the hospital for a complete physical or whatever it took to find out what was going on.

On July 3rd - he saw Dr. Pereda who thankfully ordered a full blood workup and chest XRAY.

On July 7Th, we had the blood work and chest XRAY done. On July 8Th, I flew out to a job. That same day Dr. Pereda called him and told him they found either a cyst or nodule behind his breast plate and they wanted to do a CT scan of his chest to see what it was.

On July 10Th - while I was out of town he went for this scan. The headaches were still very predominant so he was given the first round of pain killers to assist with this and we requested that he have a CT scan of his brain.

On July 13Th, I returned home and we went on July 14Th for the CT of his brain. That afternoon we got a call from Dr. Pereda who told us that this was a serious condition and he was referring us to another internist in Metairie (Dr. Pereda is now practicing in Kentwood and felt like he was too far away to lead the efforts here) so he referred us to Dr. Wallace Jeanfreau. He also changed his pain medication to Tylenol 3.

We saw Dr. Jeanfreau for the first time on Friday July18Th. He gave Harry a physical, checked his prostate(no problems) and told us he was referring us to a pulmonologist for further treatment. By this time we knew it was cancer but no one would say it because of the legal requirements.

On July 21st we met with Dr. Matthew Schuette at Southshore Lung Center, again no confirmation of the cancer but the films made it pretty obvious what we were facing. He prescribed us Darvocet because the pain was still severe. He referred us to 2 separate doctors, they are Dr. Paul Monsour, our radiation oncologist, to see if would start radiation without a diagnosis and a Dr. Ken Smith, another pulmonologist who has a new bronchcoscopy toy that had a lesser risk of causing a lung collapse during biopsy.

We saw Dr. Monsour on the July 22ND, while we were at the office he went and met with Dr. Smith and they decided not to start radiation until they had the biopsy so that they caused no additional harm. But he ordered a PET fusion scan for Monday July 28Th.

We were scheduled to meet with Dr. Ken Smith on Friday July 25Th and get an additional CT scan of his chest but he was in such bad shape we went to the Emergency Room instead. At the emergency room they did an ECG, blood work, CT scan of his chest, Chest XRAY etc.... he ended up being OK. He quit taking the Darvocet that day. He went back to the Tylenol 3 and ibuprofen that day.

On Monday July 28Th, we went in for the PET fusion scan and then finally went to see Dr. Ken Smith. He told us that he was able to use the CT scan we had had on the Friday to do the biopsy and so we were scheduled for the bronchcoscope on Wednesday July 30Th.

Tuesday I got a call from Jennie at Dr. Monsour's office to let us know that the PET fusion scan showed that the cancer had not shown up anywhere but his chest cavity.

On Wednesday we arrived at EJGH and checked in. They started the procedure at 1pm. Around 3pm, Dr. Schuette and Dr. Smith came out to tell me it was Non Small Cell Lung Cancer, Stage 3B. That means that it not operable, but it is treatable and they tell me we are going to be aggressive and will not talk about prognosis. Stage 3b designates that the cancer is on both sides of his chest. There are 2 tumors in the left lung and the lymph nodes in the center of his chest and right of his chest are also diseased. It is, they believe, the lymph nodes that are causing all the pain, because they are squeezing his left pulmonary artery and probably some other veins as well. The radiation should be able to shrink these and give him relief, but it will take a couple of weeks. Before we leave the hospital Dr. Smith suggest we get and MRI of Harry's brain just to be sure that the cancer has not spread anywhere else for sure. We have an appointment the next day with Dr. Schuette.

We also get a phone call from Dr. Monsour's office to let us know that we are going to have 35 radiation treatments. Everyday Monday through Friday, no weekends and holidays. That means we start treatment on Wednesday July 6th and his last treatment should be around Sept 24th.

Thursday July 31st we meet with Dr. Schuette, he orders the MRI of Hary's brain and he refers us to Dr. Marcus Black, a medical oncologist we are scheduled to meet with him on Monday August 4th.

Monday August 4th, we meet with Dr. Black and he tells us about the Chemotherapy we are going to have, he also tells us that the MRI shows nothing. He suggests that we have a Bard Port surgically implanted in Harry's chest so they can do the chemotherapy and pull blood work through it instead of through a vein every week. It is Dr. Black's intention to use a low dose chemotherapy during Harry's radiation treatments, then probably do a full course of chemotherapy after the radiation treatments are complete. We are then scheduled for a chemotherapy class with the nurses and an appointment with Dr. R. Karlin for surgery.

On Friday August 8th we met with Terry, the chemo nurse and she went through all the side effects, nutritional things we need to know and schedule his first chemo treatment for August 20th after his port surgery.

On Tuesday, August 12th we met with Dr. Karlin. He wants Harry off all aspirin for 5 days before surgery. So we are scheduled for surgery on Monday August 18th at 3pm. Harry will have a radiation treatment before we check into the hospital and we will come home that night with no complications.

So we have been going for radiation everyday and it seems to being going very well. He is fatigued but other than that no real problems.

On Thursday August 14th, we went to pre surgical registration and although it was long it went well. Harry wants Ashley who drew blood on him to follow him everywhere and always be the one to draw his blood. She was very good at it. Then we met with the Anesthesiologist for the surgery and got instructions for Monday.

So that completes the history so far... I know it is a lot but now you know.

Thanks,
Mona & Harry