A friend emailed last night and asked if everything was okay since we haven’t posted since April 3. I hadn’t realized it had been that long! It’s been a fairly quiet few weeks for us, a nice respite. Neal has been feeling great. He has been walking a lot, able to go to resturants and even did some yard work yesterday! He will go to the University of Chicago Tuesday for his donor lymphocyte infusion. Amazing modern medicine will take some of Karl’s frozen cells and seperate out the “T” cells which are the fighting cells. The will infuse them into Neal through a drip bag into his port. This will hopefully attack any remaining cancer cells and prevent any further growth. Neal may or may not have any reactions. The doctor said a few weeks ago that we don’t have any groups of people to follow their protocol for treatment. Neal is out there in his own league.
We decided to get some fresh eyes on Neal’s case and contacted University of Washington, Seattle and MD Anderson in Houston for second opinions. I was kind of hoping to travel out to both places as I have relatives in Seattle and a good friend in Houston! But Neal was able to talk to doctors on the phone. Both places pretty much agreed with the plan at University of Chicago. So we are forging ahead.
Neal’s brother, Karl, is halfway done with his radiation. Many people are taking turns driving him in to Northwestern everyday since he cannot drive. He is starting to feel the fatigue of the radiation. Karl and Jamie were over to our house last night and the two brothers were standing next to each other getting coffee. We commented on how much they are looking alike with Neal’s hair growing back and Karl’s turning gray!
I was concerned about Neal getting more of Karl’s cells since he had a malignant brain tumor. The doctors reassured us (mostly me) that it is fine. Brain tumors usually stay in the brain and don’t spread to other places. When Neal had his extensive chemo he received some methotrexate chemo into his spine which goes directly to the brain as preventative.
Please continue to pray that both Neal and Karl’s treatments work and keep the cancer away!
On the journey,
Trish
Thanks for the update Trish. Will surely be praying for both Neal and Karl and will update our fellowship. His best to you both.
Steve and Dawn