Good morning.
Here’s the update on Bucko.
Bucko has begun #6 to 10 radiation treatments. I think they’re going well. He seems to be feeling ok.
During the scheduled pre-treatment consult appointment Lindsay (the oncology PA) cancelled his immunotherapy. She said about a quarter of the cancer cells in his lung learned how to resist the immunotherapy medicine. Now there are a couple new spots in his lung.
They’ll let his brain rest & recover for a couple weeks and then do a new chemo treatment starting mid-July. It will be a one day treatment every 3 weeks. She didn’t say how many treatments and she said this treatment has been pretty effective against this type of cancer. The chemo med is called Lurbinectedin. Dr. Schneider and Lindsay call it “Lurby” for short.
Recently, Bucko had a full body CT and brain MRI. Unfortunately there are new spots that have shown up in his brain. The radiation oncologist called us earlier and he’s scheduling brain radiation treatments.
He’ll have the radiation simulation soon where they make the cradle to do the radiation treatments. Then he will be able to start 10 days of radiation treatments. They will be done 5 days in a row, with the weekend off.
In the last couple weeks Bucko has been having trouble reading, and when I read messages and things aloud it takes a while for him to understand. He has been having trouble finding words. I thought this might be related to the Parkinson’s, but it seems that it’s related to the cancer cells.
The radiation doctor prescribed a steroid for him to start right away. The doctor says it will help with the swelling/inflammation being caused in his brain, which should help with the previously mentioned troubles.
The radiation treatment is going to cause a high level of tiredness, he may lose his hair temporarily, and his scalp may feel sunburnt and/or sensitive. There’s a chance of short term memory loss, but they’ll do what they can to minimize that. There may be some other side effects like nausea and he’ll be getting medicine for that too.
I am sorry I didn’t send an update earlier. For his last 3 immunotherapy treatments it seemed like his bloodwork showed that it was working. Although I did notice in the test results at the end of May there were a few things just outside the normal ranges – the oncology PA didn’t seem concerned at the time.
So, we’re planning for Victoria to take him down for that first week, then we’ll spend the weekend with Arlene, or Sarah & Bucky? And I’ll take him for the second week of treatments. Also, Austin is scheduled to have his hip surgery.
So we’ve got a lot going on.
Please keep the prayers coming.
Thank you / Gchi-miigwech.
We love and appreciate you all.
Michele
Vic posted recently and most of what she covered is also already covered here. A couple of things we wanted to add was that we’re hoping with the spring semester concluded we’ll all have more time to get caught up on some projects, work on some house fixes, and maybe hopefully relax over the summer; also scans are coming up in June, so now we’re in the monitoring stage to see if the immunotherapy is working. Miigwech!
In late February, we had an appointment with the radiation oncologist and he ordered a higher resolution MRI for March.
We have since completed the MRI and it showed no evidence of metastasis, the doctors and team are attributing this to the chemo (there was something concerning in the January MRI). We believe it’s the combo of chemo, traditional meds/doctoring and prayers/healing energy everyone’s sending to Bucko, we appreciate all of you!
He is tolerating immunotherapy infusion well, we’ll continue with this treatment on an ongoing basis and assess as we go.
The placement of the port in his chest went well and they were able to use it right away for his infusion treatments and blood draws and upcoming immunotherapy infusions.
Bucko’s vitals and blood work continues to hold steady at or near normal ranges.
Chest CT results - the spots in the affected lymph nodes and his lung have shrunk considerably.
Upcoming appointments for the ongoing and monthly immunotherapy, and brain MRI are scheduled and Bucko is feeling alright. The immunotherapy does have one side effect that he’s managing with OTC medicine and natural supplements.
His attitude remains very positive - which we think also has a powerful impact on his treatment and healing.
We are very thankful that Bucko is enduring the treatment so well. In the middle of his 3-days of infusion treatment, Michele had an unexpected health event, she went to the ER, and ended up having an appendectomy.
She took Bucko with her to the ER at 6:30 am because they didn’t know how the day was going to play out. They were in the ER long enough for him to get to and from his chemotherapy appointment, and late in the afternoon the doctors said it would be best to have the appendix removed.
Thankfully, it was not severe enough to admit Michele overnight. She had the surgery, and was released later that same evening. Bucko drove for the 24 hours after Michele came out of the anesthesia (per doctor’s orders). The next day, they took turns driving, took their time, and had good weather, so they got home safe and sound.
Our family and friends have been wonderful-providing us support for travel, food, medical supplies and additional love and prayers.
Bucko is going about his days enjoying the good food from everyone, and we visited with some of our family throughout the crazy week we had.
Thank you for your patience on this delayed update, here’s what we have to share:
The January MRI helped us determine that currently the cancer seems confined to the chest.
Over the last several weeks, Bucko has had his second round of chemo, as well as adding immunotherapy treatment during the third round. He’ll have another round of immunotherapy along with the fourth round of chemo, then we can reassess for radiation therapy.
We have a chest CT and an MRI scheduled soon.
The doctor originally thought that Bucko had pneumonia a few months ago but that didn't seem to be clearing up with medicine. The scan showed a mass consistent with cancer so a bronchoscopy was scheduled in Ann Arbor, which ultimately confirmed that the mass was cancer.
Bucko completed his first round of chemotherapy and made it home for resting and recovering. He will have a few more rounds to schedule and should be able to get infusions through a facility in the Sault. He's been using some traditional medicines that were given to him as well.
We have an MRI scheduled soon.
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