Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Long Overdue Post

When Dave was first diagnosed, I searched and searched for anybody and everybody that had the type cancer he had.  One thing I noticed was, it seemed once anybody and everybody got better or stopped treatment, they also stopped writing about it.  I totally understand this now. Once everything seemed good, I wanted to think about other things.  Really just didn't want to visit this subject anymore. I also felt a little guilty posting my good news when so many of the women I met through this journey were losing their husbands to this beast.  I blogged my way though Dave's cancer journey.  I did it because it helped me cope. I did it to keep our family and friends informed. I don't go back and read it often, but Dave does.He doesn't remember everything so its good for him to look back and remember what we were doing at certain times of the year.

I'm glad I wrote all those words so that I can remember.....if I want to.

Its been 4 years since his diagnosis.  He was 37. Abby was 10.  Erin was 9.  Samuel was 7.  I was unaware of what I could do If I had to...........how much I could handle.  I was stronger than I thought.  Nothing really ever seems the same after cancer. I guess we see everything through a different lens.

Dave had a scan in June.  He got great news.  No evidence of disease. 3 years of no disease. His doctor thinks we may be able to put sarcoma behind us. Did you hear that!!?!  Put it behind us. Can you ever really do that? He still wants to see him every six months for a couple more years.   Then he will move him to yearly scans.  That's pretty good news!!!

We celebrated our 16th anniversary in June.  The kids are growing up.  FAST!!  Abby just began the 9th grade.  She loves music of all kinds, reading, and playing the French Horn.  Erin is in the 8th grade.  She loves drawing, painting, and is beginning to love playing her horn.  Samuel is in the 6th grade. He loves soccer, football, and just began playing the trombone(and if you ask him, he is a master of all 3).

So.....Erin has to have surgery on Nov. 6.  
 During the summer of 2013 she developed what appeared to cyst on her back.  We went to a local surgeon and they did a punch biopsy.  We really thought it was a sebaceous cyst.  It wasn't and they biopsied the tissue that came out.  It came back as nothing so we just forgot about it.  But the tissue grew back and this time was bigger.  We took her to the dermatologist and she scheduled an appointment to remove it in the office.  So we had the cyst removed in February of this year.  They biopsied this time and it came back as cellular dermatofibroma.  This means its a tumor and there is more in her back.  It does not appear to be malignant......but it scared us to death.  There is a sarcoma called  dermatofibrosarcoma. So you see why we were a little on edge. We have been waiting since February to see a surgeon at Children's Hospital.  We saw him today and set the surgery date.  It is important to get this out
and get all of it....clear margins.  It is not cancer!!!  It is rare though(we are the rare family!!) It will grow and could be bad if we don't get it out.
So......we are gonna get it out. 

June 13

22 Years I wrote this blog post several years ago. I have added to it each year.  It's good to remember...... 1st year (1998-1999) o...