We were able to get an appointment Monday morning (today) at 7 am with Dr. "Chappie" Conrad. He was recommended to us by drs. from Virginia Mason, Friends that knew Doctors, and actually just some random people that reached out to us after reading this blog. (Thank you to all of you!) Dr. Conrad is a professor at the UW and is one of the only doctors in the US that actually specializes in Osteosarcoma. I will tell you after meeting him and the people at his practice, going to see him may be the best decision we've ever made! Dr. Conrad actually invented the type of mechanism that replaces the portion of Jonathan's femur that will be removed. It was very apparent today that this Dr. knew his stuff! But not only that, but he was surrounded by the people that form up the team that would treat it, and knew specifically about osteosarcoma. We were able to see an actually medical oncologist that went over in detail how chemo should go, what to expect, etc. This Dr. is going to work hand in hand with our oncologist here so that Jonathan can still go to Sacred Heart here in Spokane. I guess there is a chemo type that Jonathan is going to receive that "separates the men from the boys". The side effects become very hard to manage and Jonathan will need to be closely monitored over that coarse of treatment. It is comforting to me to know we will have all of these resources during this time.
We did get a lot more information, and specific information. Once again these doctors told us the chemo regiment would be different. (3 different doctors, 3 different answers) This is somewhere in the middle of the other 2. So I think better than what we thought... He will have 4 days on a dose of both Cisplatin and Doxorubicin (specific Chemo types). Then he will have 2-1/2 weeks off. Then the really rough stuff starts... 5 days of Methotrexate, 2 days off (he may or may not be making home after that) then another 5 days on the Metho, 2 days off. Then repeat the entire cycle over. This will take about 70 days all together.
We decided we will then head back to Seattle for Dr. Conrad to do Jonathan's surgery where he will be in the hospital for at least a week. We aren't sure how long before they will start him back up on the chemo regiment again, but he said you only have a window of 6 weeks. So No longer than a 6 week break.
We head back to the Dr. tomorrow to get Jon's PET scan, hickman cath (port for chemo) implanted, and then 1 last meeting with the oncologist before they start chemo first thing Wednesday morning.
Please continue praying as we start down this very scary journey. We know God is so much bigger than this! We are not sure what his plan is for us, but we are trying so hard to trust his plan for Jonathan and our family. Continue to pray for the boys... They need to get over this cold thing. They are home with us, but still not 100%. We have started talking to them about daddy going to the hospital, but we aren't sure how much they are understanding yet. So pray for them as they begin to realize daddy isn't home like he was.
I will update you all again soon!
Tonight I may sway from my typical scripture and leave you with a quote. I got this from a friend at the gym and it gave me just a little more fight. "When you are going through hell... Keep going!" Winston Churchill So as we begin our road through hell, we aren't going to stop to look at the scenery, our eyes are forward and we will run through this as fast as we can! (Thanks Bernie)
We're here for you! Anything...anytime...we mean it!!! Ryan Pettibone and Carrie Everman
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