We Have a Plan!

We went back up to UW Madison today to meet with Dr. Minesh Mehta. He is a world renown expert in my type of tumor. We met with him last week and he wanted to run a bunch of tests. Today we went over the tests and determined a course of action.

1. UW reran the pathology of the tumor and confirmed the original findings of a grade 4 glioblastoma multiforme.
2. The MRI Confirmed that Dr. Crute did an excellent job removing the bulk of the tumor, but due to the nature of the tumor, there is abnormalities in other parts of my brain that have to be attacked with Radiation.

THE PLAN

1. We will start with a 6 week (5 days/week) course of radiation focused on my entire brain to attack any remnants of tumor.
2. In conjunction, I will be taking an oral course of chemotherapy (a pill) every day (7 days/week) throughout the course of the radiation 42 days.
3. We decided to enter a clinical trial for the chemotherapy. The clinical trial will begin 4 weeks after my first course of chemo and radiation. Depending on which "arm" of the trial I will be in (random) I will get one of two courses. Course 1 is 5 days of Chemo per 28 days for 6 months, course 2 is 21 days of chemo per 28 days for 6 months. We decided and the doctors encouraged us to consider this trial because of my age and general good health. I make a good candidate and I am committed to taking an aggressive course to attack this disease!

I go back to UW Madison for the Radiation Planning Session on Friday. This is where they set up the machine and create a special mask for me to wear. Once we complete that, we will schedule the first sessions of Radiation. I will be going up to UW every day M-F at the same time every day. The radiation takes only about 30 minutes, with about 1 hour each way commute. We have had a ton of offers to help with travel, which has been wonderful and after we figure out how I react, we will take people up on some of those offers.

My back has improved dramatically and I am feeling generally better. I am excited that we finally have a plan of attack and are going to start soon. I have started reading up on side effects of both the radiation and chemo, and am a little nervous about them. However, everyone reacts different and the Dr.s have lots of options to help me deal with them. The most common one will be fatigue. Luckily I work from home and can take breaks often.

SOME THANK YOUs

I have to take a minute to thank a few people that have been amazing for me throughout this process.

First my wife, Kim...she has been my ROCK. She has been amazing. From helping me get up to managing my drugs, to getting me to and from appts, to just sitting with me and helping me through the pain, to helping me cope with my overall mental health.

Thank you to my parents who have been with me every step of the way including multiple trips to UW. Thank you to my Brother and Sister who keep me sane with phone calls. It is great to have the support that I have. I am truly blessed.

Thank you to my business partner Jeff and his wife Mendy! They have been awesome. From taking care of the dogs to babysitting me to most importanly keeping our business running! I could not have lucked out with a better business partner.

Thank you to Mark Patrick! He has been my communication conduit to the world! Not only does he keep me laughing, his positive energy and relentless drive to notify people for me is amazing. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!

Thank you to the entire crew who spent the majority of 12 hours at the hospital during my surgery. You know who you are and I really appreciated it! From what I understand, Lyle truly saved the day with Jimmy Johns for the entire group to make sure they ate! Thanks!

Thank you to everyone that have sent cards and baskets...Thank you all!!!

And really thank you to each and every one of you that have sent me your thoughts and prayers. I have not been able to thank you all individually, but I truly truly appreciate it.

I have had such an amazing outpouring of positive thoughts and prayers that it is truly impossible to thank everyone. Just know that I really appreciate it and your thoughts and prayers have fueled my recovery and continue to fuel my attitude and mental health to allow me to tackle the disease!