Treatment Update

Hello all. I want to provide you with a brief update on where things are with dad's treatment schedule. Mom, Dad and Cassie went over to meet with two doctors at UNC-Chapel Hill yesterday to discuss treatment options (I wasn't able to make the trip over). Dad began the day with another MRI (likely better at UNC-CH than the one done in LB) and upon closer inspection, they found what they believe to be a 4th lesion on the top of his brain. Then, they met with the first doctor of the day. He is a specialist that does the cyber knife treatment I mentioned on Monday. The doctor laid out the details on what the cyber knife treatment is, what it does and what the side effects are. Essentially, they go in for one treatment that takes about 2 hours and use a system of lasers to burn off the tissue of the affected areas. As of right now, the main side effects we are aware of-- and these are just possibilities-- are being very tired and the possible loss of some motor skills. The doctors indicated that these are potential side effects, but they can't say for certain whether or not they will actually happen. So, we'll pray that they do not. The cyber knife treatment is mainly designed to eliminate the spots that are currently there, but they do not treat any other cells that may be lurking under the surface.

Then, they met with a neurologist to discuss in more detail what the game plan should be to treat all of this. The neurologist let them know that melanoma is one of the hardest cancers to kill because it reacts differently in different bodies. But, with that said, the doctor laid out a plan that is designed to aggressively go after it and eliminate it from dad's body. So, here's the plan:

1. Dad will undergo the cyber knife treatment on Friday afternoon (tomorrow) at UNC-Chapel Hill. It will take about 2 hours and he has to remain perfectly still during the treatment. They created a head mold yesterday to use on Friday to help him remain still. During this treatment, the lasers will be used at different angles to burn off the affected tissue. Dad should be able to go home soon after the procedure is finished and he'll need lots of rest. As far as we know, there will only be one cyber knife treatment session. The downside: it will take about 4 months to get the results of this procedure as they will need time to allow the tissue to either be absorbed by the body or hang around waiting to be removed. During that time, they will be looking to see if any new cancerous cells have appeared. If none, then it looks good. If there are more, we go back to the drawing board.

2. Early next week, dad will go back over to Rex to meet with Dr. O and Dr. Wu. They will do a consultation to begin dad on whole-brain radiation. I know I wrote on Monday that it looked like we wouldn't have to do that, but the medical team at UNC-CH recommended it as a way to get any of the cancerous cells that are under the surface. It kind of makes sense-- you need to go after the root of the problem or you will always be dealing with whatever pops up. Still, it's kind of tough to hear. Nonetheless, the sessions will be done at Rex, they should take about 3 weeks (Monday - Friday) and last about 10 - 15 minutes per session. The side effects here include hair loss, weakness and potential loss of appetite.

The medical team we are working with is still very positive and focused on eliminating the cancer from dad's body. And that's exactly what we are praying for. Dad continues to stay positive about the situation as well, and that is critical as the next few weeks will be challenging.

I want to relate one final thought. I was listening to a Bible study on the drive in this morning and Dr. David Jeremiah was discussing the concept of thanksgiving, why we should thank God (in good times and in bad) and how hard it seems to do that. As he was discussing this, I thought about something that dad said to me yesterday. He was talking with the doctors and said, "you know, I eat reasonably well, I work out, I take care of myself and I'm just a little puzzled and frustrated as to how my body can develop this." And the doctors in turn replied, "you know we look at it a little differently. We see patients that come in having smoked a pack of cigarettes each day, they are significantly overweight and have other medical issues to deal with in addition to something such as melanoma. So we are thankful that in your case, all we have to deal with is the melanoma." And with that, dad was able to change his viewpoint and stay a little more positive about this situation.

I tell you that story to say this-- stay positive and look at the different possible perspectives of the situations you are facing in life. We are choosing to give thanks to God for a few different things: 1) that other than the melanoma, dad is in pretty good health. 2) that we live in an area with top-level medical professionals that are the best at what they do. Not everyone has access to that kind of care. 3) that we have a great network of support from family and friends like you.

Please continue to pray specifically for healing for dad and for this melanoma to be eradicated from his body. Pray for the medical team and that God will grant them the wisdom to know exactly what to do to treat dad. Pray for strength for our family as we help dad during the next few weeks.

As always, thank you for your prayers, kind words and loving support. And, be sure to keep up the comments as they mean a lot to dad.

Many thanks.

The Situation Thus Far

Up front disclaimer-- this will be a longer post as I'm going to try to summarize what has happened during the past 48 hours. Future posts to this blog will be a little more brief to provide a quick status as things change.

As many of you are aware, my dad-- Norman Parks-- was in Long Beach, Calif. (just south of LA) on a business trip for the bi-annual American Society of Plumbing Engineers (ASPE) convention. Dad is a member of the executive board and a longtime active member of ASPE. He arrived in LB this past Wednesday for a series of executive committee meetings prior to the start of the convention. While he was out a dinner on Friday evening, he got up to go to the bathroom and while in there, he collapsed. He was quickly rushed to a nearby hospital where ER staff determined he had experienced a seizure. The doctors worked to get him stabilized and then performed a CAT scan to determine what was going on. It was at that point that the doctors discovered the presence of two lesions on his brain. The lesions were leaking blood onto his brain, which is likely what led to the seizure. Doctors started him on a round of medicines designed to relieve the pressure around his brain and also put him under heavy sedation to help keep him stable. All of this happened between 11 p.m. and 1 a.m. eastern on Friday night/Saturday morning.

My mom was the first to get the call from some very good ASPE friends of dad's. She in turn contacted my sister and me. Needless to say, all of this came as a shock to everyone and we are still struggling to come to grips with what has happened. As of tonight, my mom, my sister, my sister's husband and my Aunt Betty are all in Long Beach to be here with my dad.

We've spent a good portion of the day today with my dad in his ICU room at St. Mary's Hospital in LB. He's shown some good signs of progress. The medical team has been reducing the amount of sedative he's been receiving in order to begin to wean him off of it. As a result, he's had a few periods of alertness where he was able to open his eyes and respond to our questions by nodding his head. Unfortunately, he's quite a bit of a fighter to the point that he wants to flail about and try to pull out his breathing tube so he's having to be restrained. We found out late today that the doctors are planning to take out the breathing tube in the morning to see if he can sustain oxygen levels on his own. If he can do that, they will keep the breathing tube out and he will be able to move on to the next step which is an MRI. As one of the doctors put it to us today, the MRI will be like a Hi-def image of his brain so they can get a good look at the lesions. They believe that the lesions are metastasized, which essentially means that they travelled to the brain from somewhere else in the body. Once they know more about whether or not this is the case, they will know more about potential treatment options.

Here's a quick note about the background of dad's cancer history. About 3 1/2 years ago, dad had a mole removed from his back and there were some concerns that there might be skin cancer present. So, he had it checked out. It turned out to be melanoma and he had several lymph nodes removed from under his left arm. Those showed a low occurrence of melanoma. At that time, the doctor felt positive that he had successfully resolved the issue and all was well. Then in 2007, he had an occurrence of prostate cancer and as a result, had his prostate removed. Lastly, a few months ago, he had a follow-up visit to check in on his melanoma and the PET scan turned up something suspicious. Further investigation showed that the melanoma had resurfaced, this time under his right arm. So, he went back over to UNC-CH to have more lymph nodes removed (26 in all) and only two of those turned up signs of cancer, and those were at stage 3, which is a good situation to be in. So, we thought that all had looked good and he was on the road to recovery. He was to begin a round of treatments that would take a year and were designed to make sure that all of the cancer was eradicated from his body. Those treatments were to begin after he returned from this trip to Long Beach.

So, here we are in a place that we did not think we would be in just a few days ago and my dad is just down the street in a hospital and fighting for his life. Plainly put-- this stinks. However, as many of you know, our faith in God is strong. We don't know what His plan is for my dad and in this situation, but we know that He is in control and ultimately, He will use this for His glory.

Many of you have asked what you can do to help. At this point, there is one thing that will help above all others-- prayer. I don't know where you are in your faith, but we need as much prayer as possible.

Thank you for your love and support. It means more than you will ever know.