Update from the Oncologist

Justin is continuing to heal great.  Each day he is building a little bit more confidence on how his skin graft looks and its healing amazingly well.  As you all know our next step was to see the Oncologist.  We were going into the appointment yesterday thinking that they were going to tell Justin that everything looks great, he’s cancer free and send him on his way.  But that’s not quite how it went.   Because Justin’s cancer was so big and deep it’s pretty much guaranteed that it will come back within the next 1 to 5 years.  And because it’s a very aggressive type of Melanoma it will probably come back even more aggressively and attack an organ such as his liver or brain, ect.   I was always under the impression that Melanoma showed up outwardly on the skin but it’s not always the case.  It can attack an internal organ that you and I can’t see with our eyes.   So the doctor has highly recommended Justin go for a years worth of Interferon treatment.  Which is basically Chemo treatment for his type of cancer.  Other than instead of killing the cancer which is what Chemo would do, it’s going to build his immune cells to prolong the cancer from coming back so quickly.  She said that this is Not a guarantee that his cancer won’t come back.  But it’s going to prolong it.  So instead of coming back in 1-5 years it could be 3-8  years before it returns.  So he is basically “buying himself time” with this treatment, in hopes that if it does return the medical field has advanced even more and there are better drugs and treatments.  The doctor said she doesn’t necessary like this drug because of the rough side effects but for Justin’s case she highly recommends it because he is young and strong and healthy and should be able to pull through this.  It will be a year worth of treatment; the first one to two months he will go to Moffitt Monday through Friday and get daily injections.  After that phase, for months 2-12, he will give himself injections 1-3 times a week.   As far as working…..Every case is different.   She said you won’t feel great and you probably won’t be able to work at all the first few months when he gets the daily injections but after that he should be able to work depending how he feels.  But will want to rest at every chance he can get. 

Soooo……like I said it wasn’t quite the news we were expecting to hear from the Oncologist yesterday.  She sent us home with information pamphlet and an overload of “thoughts on the brain” to think about over the next few weeks to decide if we will follow through with the treatment or not. 

August 11^th is our next appointment.  He will be getting a full body scan that day to double check that the cancer hasn’t spread to other organs in his body.  Assuming that comes back clear we will meet with the oncologist that day to let her know if we will be starting his treatment or not.  If we decide not to do the treatment than he will just go back every 3 months for a routine checkup, in hopes to catch it when it comes back before it’s invaded too much.  

One of her last words to us was that the Interferon treatment will prolong his life.  And in his eyes anything to prolong his life or the cancer from returning too soon I think we will probably opt for.

Thank you so much for the prayers.  Prayers that the scan comes back clear, prayers that we will have a clear answer of how we should proceed to the next step, prayers for JB Lawns and how it will continue to operate through all this, prayers for us financially, prayers for our beautiful precious children, prayers for me and most importantly prayers for my husband to continue to keep his faith, stay focused on God, and continue to be the strong man he is with a positive outlook on life and a long healthy life.    

We are still processing everything we heard yesterday but believe that God has brought Justin to this and will not let go of him throughout it. 

On a side note my family is amazing.  I honestly don’t think we could endure this without God and without them.  They have helped us through this fog.   My mom is going to have a garage sale in either August or September to help raise money for the medical bills that have started to roll in and for our personal living bills as we are unsure of what the future holds as far as income.  So if you happen to be doing any type of summer cleaning and have anything you want to donate for the garage sale it would be greatly appreciated.  

Love to you all!