During radiation, John surpassed all expectations.   By the time he completed radiation on April 6, he was using the walker comfortably and beginning to be comfortable with just a cane. Last week he started to have back pain and could not get comfortable.  On April 12, he had a spine x-ray which showed no tumors or cysts.  They treated the back pain with heat, ice and Advil and it seemed to help. The past few weeks John's motor skills have regressed.  He is back in a wheelchair and is once again dependent.   Some of that could be attributed to after effects of radiation.  He also has some severe headaches, so they did an MRI on Saturday. The news was not what we wanted.  The disease is very aggressive and there are nodules throughout his brain and spine.  There are no surgical options. Monday after meeting with his oncologist, John was admitted to Hopkins. He is expected to be sent home tomorrow afternoon. This time in the hospital was for a "tune up" to help manage his pain. Prognosis is poor. We met with hospice today. John will be coming home tomorrow for hospice care at my mom and Sandy's. John has fought valiantly since the first tumor in 2008. He is still our hero.

Ringing the bell

Today will be the last radiation treatment I have forth time being. There is tradition at Hopkins of ringing a bell after your last treatment. Pretty excited. I will have about a month long break before I start the next stage of my treatment. It will include chemo. But today is about celebrating getting through stage one. One step at at a time