The beginning

I never thought that I would be a blogger. I love reading them. I'll admit it that I will spend time wandering around on other peoples blogs but never thought I would start one of my own. Things changed about two weeks ago when our world was turned upside down.

Drew went to his family practice doctor after finding a small bump on his testicle. He then was told to head to Holland Hospital to have an ultrasound done and a referral to a urologist. The next day he headed to see the urologist, who told him that he thought it was most likely cancerous and he should have it removed. They scheduled surgery for the following Monday (Sept 27). We went in early Monday morning for the surgery and everything went really well. He has been sore afterwards, they had to go in through his lower abdomen so it has been really difficult for him to bend over, turn, sneeze or laugh hard.

I think the hardest part of the whole situation is the waiting. It took until Wednesday to find out that it was for sure cancer and that it was a mix of both seminoma and non-seminoma cancer. ( There are two main type of testicular cancer, seminoma and non-seminoma. The seminoma is more of a slow growing cancer and responds better to radiation and the non-seminoma is a more aggressive form of cancer and usually repsonds better to chemo). Drew was scheduled to have a chest, abdomen and pelvis CT scan on friday and we were going to meet with the urologist again on monday about the results of the scan and what the options would be.

Monday finally arrived after a long weekend of waiting and today we talked with the urologist about the scan. We keep calling it "middle of the road" kind of news. Its not the worst you can get but its not the best you could get. The urologist showed us his scans and informed us that the cancer had infact spread into his lymph nodes in his abdomen. He then told us that we had some options. We could meet with a oncologist here in west michigan or we could get another opinion from other urologist in west michigan or we could head to Indiana University who is a leader in testicular cancer treatment. We left with agreeing to meet with the oncoloist here in west michigan and talk about heading to I.U. After we had time to digest the news we both agreed that we are so blessed to have one of the top two hospitals in the US for testicular cancer within a couple hours drive and it would be silly not to head down there to see what they have to say.
The two main treatment options are chemo or have a lymph node dissection and remove the enlarged lymph nodes. Most doctors would say to have the chemo first and hopefully the mass will shrink and there wont be any more issues but if they dont shrink then the surgery is a little more risky since you have had the chemo and more scarring might occur. Then there is some doctors that would say get the surgery first. There in lies the dilemma.

We decided to start this blog because it is a really easy way to update everyone at one time. We will try to update as much as possible with new information as we get it and decide what we are going to do.

Thanks:
Thanks to all our family and friends who have been praying for us, we really appreciate it.
Thanks to everyone who brought food the past week, it has been delicious!
Thanks for the cards and messages. They have been so encouraging!

Prayer request:
... for quick response from the onolcogist and I.U so we can meet and decide a plan of action.
... for anxiety levels to stay down as we sit and wait for information
... full recovery for Drew