Let's start from the beginning for those who are just tuning in.
Please feel free to come visit Thom. We do not want anyone to feel that they are not invited to come visit and spend time with our family. We do ask that you please remember we are trying to focus on my dad and help him the best we can, as well as texts, phone calls, FB messages and emails. It is a bit overwhelming for us so we have decided to have Lisa and Jennifer be the advocate for extended family, friends and neighbors with questions in regards to my dad. We would really like to focus on my dad and this process.
We haven't had that much information ourselves, and we are not trying to exclude anyone else from the information we do have. We have decided this blog is the best for updates so please feel free to share with family and/or friends. We will update this blog with the latest as soon as we have it ourselves. We are hoping it will be a few times a week, if not daily and will not start until this Tuesday after meeting the oncologist.
We are so thankful for all of the love, support, prayers, dinners made, blessings, fasting, thoughts and words of encouragement and comfort. We are so blessed to know all of you.
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On March 5th my dad went into surgery to have his gall bladder removed. While in the surgery the surgeon found a large mass on his liver. They sent a piece of the tumor to pathology for biopsy.
A week later we still had no answers, and the results of the tests were all incongruent. He had a CT scan done to find out if there were more tumors and where the primary source of the cancer cells were coming from. The scan didn't show any other tumors but that the large mass was in fact, cancerous. Now we just needed to know where it had come from.
Dr. Ayers, who is a Doctor at Intermountain Medical Center, classified Thom’s type of cancer as “Cholangiocarcinoma” also known as “Bile Duct Cancer”. One bile duct on Thom’s liver is blocked with cancerous tumors and is being identified at this time as the primary source of cancer which has metastasized and formed a larger tumor that sits against the liver and is responsible for squeezing off a second bile duct (healthy) causing Thom’s jaundice condition. Here’s the miracle….During Saturday’s endoscopy/surgery the surgeon discovered that Thomas’ large tumor somehow had (miraculously) shifted its position which in turn freed the healthy bile duct from being pinched off. Nothing but a miracle! Thank you for your prayers! (This explains why Thomas’ condition began to improve suddenly last Thursday.)
During the surgery on Saturday, the surgeon wasn't able to insert the stent into the smaller bile duct because of the tumors getting in the way so the plan is now to begin chemotherapy and shrink the tumors which will allow insertion of the stent at another time.
Yesterday, Dr. Ayers released Thomas from the hospital with the instructions to eat non-greasy and non-oily foods which is funny because right after the doctor stepped out of the hospital room, the staff brought in a meal for Thom consisting of Roast with plenty of mashed potatoes and gravy…Not exactly non-greasy foods…..hahaha. Crazy. Needless to say, Gina is very relieved to have checked Thom out of that hospital and they are home at this time.
Going forward….
Thomas has an appointment Tuesday, March 25th, with Dr. Nibley who was Chandy’s cancer doctor. She and Gary (Gina's brother) love him and his staff which is very comforting and encouraging. It is expected that plans will be made to begin chemo treatments very soon.
Please feel free to come visit Thom. We do not want anyone to feel that they are not invited to come visit and spend time with our family. We do ask that you please remember we are trying to focus on my dad and help him the best we can, as well as texts, phone calls, FB messages and emails. It is a bit overwhelming for us so we have decided to have Lisa and Jennifer be the advocate for extended family, friends and neighbors with questions in regards to my dad. We would really like to focus on my dad and this process.
We haven't had that much information ourselves, and we are not trying to exclude anyone else from the information we do have. We have decided this blog is the best for updates so please feel free to share with family and/or friends. We will update this blog with the latest as soon as we have it ourselves. We are hoping it will be a few times a week, if not daily and will not start until this Tuesday after meeting the oncologist.
We are so thankful for all of the love, support, prayers, dinners made, blessings, fasting, thoughts and words of encouragement and comfort. We are so blessed to know all of you.
