This is Taylor. And his mom, Jennifer.
See the resemblance? Yes, we all look very much alike. Genes are strong in our family.
I took this picture from her blog. This is when they were getting ready to go in for his PET scan and staging tests.
They have diagnosed him as a stage IIB (2B).
She called me on their way home from the hospital. I was in the car driving to the high school to get the carpool. I pulled over and she gave me the news. Then I had to cut her short and get on my way, but
I think Jennifer says it best so here is a clip from her blog. This way I will get the details correct:
"It's good and it's bad, to have a diagnosis and a treatment plan. Or do we?
"We met with Dr. Verma and Dr. Barnett today. For hours. One of it was spent waiting for someone to come into the room. After a whole hour of not seeing a soul I went and asked what the hold up was. Apparently Taylor's case is pretty complicated and everyone likes to weigh in on it. They had several doctors going over the scans and trying to figure things out.
"Here's what we were told. Taylor is at a stage IIB. In layman's terms, this means the cancer has spread to two areas in the body that are in the same region. Taylor's is in the neck and below the collar bone. The B means that it is more aggressive and shows more outwards signs. (Such as fever and weight loss.) Which Taylor is experiencing.
"However, they are concerned that he could be a Stage III or IV because of the size of his spleen and some things that are going on with his organs. Because of his colitis it is hard to tell for sure what is happening with some of them. So, we really don't have a "definite" stage yet. Best case a II, worst a IV.
"On Monday they will take a bone marrow sample to help them evaluate things better. They will also put in a Port-o-cath (which is a semi-permanent i.v. line which sits in the chest under the skin) run more pulmonary testing (to make sure his heart and lungs are strong enough to stand the chemo treatments).
"We should have the results of this testing by Wednesday. At which time they will decide the proper dosage of chemo. Either way, he starts chemo on Thursday. It is just the dosage that remains in question at this time.
"If we remain IIB they will do chemo two days in a row. Have a week off. Receive another treatment and then have 21 days off. That cycle will repeat for six months. Then once that is done, he will have radiation 5 days a week for 4-5 weeks.
"The doctor flat out told Taylor that he is going to feel like crap probably until near the end of summer. Also that he will start losing his hair by the second round of treatment. That his school days are numbered. They said he will be to weak and it will be to hard to concentrate to continue attending. Also, he can't be around the kids and all the risk of infection.
"He was to the point and very up front with Taylor and I think Taylor appreciated that."
LOVE YOU GUYS.
(We are all trying to process it, but Christine especially. She has a heavy school load, finals coming next week, lacrosse, and church stuff. We have been talking a lot and I try to work in as much frank gospel discussion as I can and how that relates to this life experience. But I know the uncertainty of it all weighs on her mind and heart. She is a good girl and a stong girl and this is a tough learning curve. I do think that our own personal family trials have given her a more mature/deeper perspective than a lot of her peers. And that has sometimes also distanced her from them as well. Being the youngest in our family among a group that for the most part are the oldest in their families creates a gap born from different life stage experience. She has gone through more than most at a much younger age. She doesn't realize it now, but it will serve her well.)
(We are all trying to process it, but Christine especially. She has a heavy school load, finals coming next week, lacrosse, and church stuff. We have been talking a lot and I try to work in as much frank gospel discussion as I can and how that relates to this life experience. But I know the uncertainty of it all weighs on her mind and heart. She is a good girl and a stong girl and this is a tough learning curve. I do think that our own personal family trials have given her a more mature/deeper perspective than a lot of her peers. And that has sometimes also distanced her from them as well. Being the youngest in our family among a group that for the most part are the oldest in their families creates a gap born from different life stage experience. She has gone through more than most at a much younger age. She doesn't realize it now, but it will serve her well.)
