Test Results from Vic (AKA Dad)

I wasn't sure if I was ready to tell everybody my last scan results. I hadn't gotten around to telling people close to me. Thanks to dear old dad (yes, old :)), I didn't have to. He did the job so well. 


Hi To all

We have the whole family back together for the weekend. It's th dog days of summer and all the dogs are here for a visit. Roxy, Nika,Anne and Lily. A nice relaxing weekend near the pool, Just a time to reconnect. Allen is up with me at 3:00 am. He is working on his theses. He has to defend it this month for his Masters. He is now taking Graduate level classes at MIT. I could not be prouder. Now if could teach him which end of a hammer to use it would be great! Heather is a great mom to Pierce and Preston. Pierce turns 4 this month and Preston 2 shortly after. Just bought a new house in Hopkinton Mass.
Patrick and Grace are doing well. She is now working at Dartmouth Hospital. Patrick is working with me. They are building a house just above us. A young couple with good educations ready to blossom. I couldn't be happier for them.
Hillary Jon and Xander are amazing. Jon is a big guy 6'7" 300lbs. He is doing amazing aerospace engineering. He has not been able to finish his associate degree but is doing cutting edge design on the new next generation airplane fan blades. Xander is the biggest and strongest kid in the soccer league. He score a goal with 10 seconds left in the game last night to tie. He is very strong willed. Hillary of coarse always is looking continually in pain but never complains. She pushes herself. She would have made a great nurse practitioner.
Nancy is the chairman of the ADEX hygiene exam. She had a 3 hour tele conference after work this week to try to please all the states in the nation to have 1 dental Hygiene exam. Hygienists now have to take the exam again to practice in different parts of the country.

I tell you all this because I am very proud. But also I want to convince myself That God and fate has brought us to this time. We are extremely lucky to be blessed with our family. I need to believe that we have been successful and want to be accomplished in life. We have an amazing support system. We all have great friends and relatives. Sure we all have aches and pains and sometime we complain and get depressed but we always have someone to help us up. We have an amazing life. If you all look at your life, focus on the good that you have accomplished. You will see what a difference you have made in this world.

I tell you all this to try to understand why Hillary's Cancer is back stronger and more aggressive than ever. She only missed 1 chemo treatment. She wanted a summer to enjoy life, family and friends. The PET scan this week show the cancer now in her Bones as well as in a lot of the places it had been knocked out of before. We need to move quickly now as at this pace it will be back shutting off the use of the kidney soon. We have an appointment to see if she qualifies for a trial treatment at New York university on thursday. Dr G thinks she will need the stent in the kidney by then to be able to make the trip. We could see the pain in Dr G's face as he tried to tell us what the new treatment plan would be. He consults with a wide field of specialists and gets lots of advice from everyone. Hillary knows all of the staff at the cancer center on a first name basis by now. At the reception desk yesterday, Hillary walked in and all 3 receptionist greeted her by name and pulled her file before she actually got to the desk. Like I said we couldn't have a better support group. Everyone wants to help, from the janitors to the doctors.

I have a lot more thoughts but they are all spinning in my head tonight. The description of the cancer, strong and aggressive are traits of our family. Those traits have made me very proud. I feel accomplished. They have helped me successful in looking back. Strong and aggressive is not a good trait for cancer. Well now you know why I took so long in my last update. It was too good to be true. We really thought she had beaten this. We didn't want to get our hopes up too high.

I want to tell a story of a hospice nurse that we have recently met. She was the hospice nurse for my dad. My mom called up the nurse as she was mad as heck. Dad wanted to go run his bull dozer. He was lifted into the seat with the loader. He worked on the dozer for almost 4 hours. The next day he was in awful pain. Couldn't move, could hardly breathe. Mom asks the nurse to tell him that he can't do that again. The nurse asks him if was worth it. He looked at her with a twinkle in his eye and said "yes it was". 12 years later she uses this story with most of her patients. Now I know why Hillary would take a chance and skip 1 chemo so she could enjoy the summer. She is not ready to give up. She just wants to enjoy what she can in life.

Thanks for listening. I feel better now. I could not have said this in speaking. The emotions flow , my focus jumps all around, I don't make sense to myself. I think I will try to sleep. I know I will put back all the weight I lost in the last 6 weeks. When I worry I eat.

Thanks for keeping us in all your thoughts and prayers. You really are a great support team.

Vic, Nancy, Grace and Patrick, Allen, Heather, Pierce and Preston, Xander, Jon and especially Hillary