In Eddies words

Radiation Done!

Words from Eddie. I just typed them for him through my tears. 

My last session was Tuesday. It’s been a humbling journey. I’m cancer free and a very lucky man. The sights that I’ve seen in the last 30 days of treatment of the children, men and women who have endured far more than I ever had will be etched in my mind and in my thoughts and prayers forever. 

I wish to thank all of you who sent your thoughts, prayers, text messages, emails, calls, lunch dates and stopping by the house. Because of all your support gave me the strength to fight through it. 

But the people I want to thank the most are, my wife Mary Ann, my girls Crystal and Maria, my in-laws Fred and Mary, my brother and sister in-law Rick and Megan and of course my nephew Grant. Without them I could not have done it. 

The strongest advice came to me at 4:00 in the morning for when she said for better or worst. I love you, Mary Ann. 

So now that I’m cancer free and my neck looks like a fried lobster and my Jason mask is ready for Halloween come join us at The Dirty Blonde on Saturday, October 20 from 2-6 to celebrate me being cancer free. 

The Dirty Blonde Tavern

4929 W Chandler Blvd.

Chandler, Az

https://g.co/kgs/N16WHG

8 Days to Go!

It's been awhile since I updated last. Sorry about that. I've been a little busy these days.

Eddie only has 8 more radiation treatments! His last treatment is October 16. He'll still have to go to Mayo but not everyday. He's put on a lot miles on the truck and cars.

Eddie wants everyone to know that he is doing good and is thankful everyday.

He is ready to get back to work. I'm ready for him to get back to work. He is taking it slowly. So, if you need your car worked on give him a call.

This weekend we are headed up to NAU for parents weekend. It'll be nice to get out of this weather and into the cool pines of Flagstaff.

8 days down 22 to go

I know it’s been a week or so for an update. Last weekend Eddie went down to Inde. He felt so good he took out the race car. He was very happy. I personally want to thank Pete for taking him down and keeping an eye on him.

Eddie physical therapist wasn’t to happy about him in the race car. He was really sore. Eddie realized just how much muscle he’s lost.

This weekend Eddie went up to Flagstaff to have dinner with Maria on Friday. Saturday he is giving golfing a try. So, he’s in Williams with our friend Toby in a golf tournament.

The nurses at Mayo tell him it’s all about positivity. So he’s trying to live as normal as possible.

The good thing for me I get sometime to myself!

3 days downs!

These photos he actually said to put them on the blog. Any other time he didn't want photos of him. It reminds me of the movie "Friday the 13th." He gets to keep it when he's done. Just what I need!

Eddie has completed 3 days of radiation.

He said the first day he had a little freak out moment. The mask wouldn't allow him to see and he made them stop. He told them he needed to see "I'm used to wearing a helmet for racing" they had to go get an engineer to look at it and they were able to cut holes for his eye.

Every day it gets a little easier he said. So far he's doing great. They mentioned that the last two weeks he'll notice some changes. His last day is October 16 for radiation. There are some days were he'll have 5 or 6 appointments in one day. And, other day he might have two appointment and not close in time. sometimes he drives to Mayo twice a day. I told him to keep track of the mileage for taxes!

Everytime he goes to physical therapy they make him work a little harder. I have to remind him to do his exercises at home.

If you want to talk to Eddie give him a call. He's speech is good. His appetite, no problems there!

First day of radiation

Here’s a throwback photo of Eddie from 10 years ago!

Tomorrow (09-05) is Eddie's first day of radiation. If you have a minute send him a quick text.

Eddie will have radiation 5 days a week for 6 weeks. He also have physical therapy and meets with a nutritionist.

Eddie is doing great. He’s spirits are great.

Last weekend Eddie went to Inde Motorsport. He delivered one car and picked up two others. Plus, he worked on the race car. He came home exhausted but he said it felt really good to be there.  I want to thank Pete for going down to Wilcox and helping Eddie with the race car.

The next step

Sorry I haven't been keeping up on the blog. We've had a lot of changes in my office and it's been a little stressful and I'm exhausted by the time I get home.

First off Eddie met with the physical therapist and she took one look at him and said he was not ready and she would see him in 10 days.

On Tuesday we met with oncologist. Two fantastic doctors. Eddie had one lymph node on each side of his neck test positive for cancer. That means radiation treatment. He'll go 5 days a week for 6 weeks. He'll also meet with a speech therapists, nutritionist and more physical therapy. He had to go see our dentist and have him sign-off for the treatment.

Good news is NO CHEMO!

Our dentist Dr. Oto and his staff have been great through all of this.

We were given three options for treatment. Two are different trails. Eddie choose this trial because it was less radical. The type of radiation he'll receive is call Proton Radiation. Here's a link that explains it better than I can. It reminds of something from Back to the Future movie.

"In proton therapy, energy is carried by protons — the positively charged particles in an atom. Protons are raised to a high energy level by a powerful machine called a particle accelerator."

Proton Beam Therapy

Monday Eddie has to be at Mayo by 6:40 a.m. they will make this mesh mask that hooks to the table along with some other tests. Not sure when the radiation treatment will start. I'm assuming soon. 

Eddie is hoping that radiation will be done so he can get back to what he loves "Vipers and race cars." The new race season at Inde Motorsports in Wilcox starts mid October.

Maria is headed back up to NAU on Tuesday, August 21. Life will definitely be quieter around the house.

I'll write more soon.

I forgot to mention

On Monday when Eddie got his feeding tube out he called me and told me all he wanted was a chocolate shake and mashed potatoes. I told him to stop at Boston Market. I guess those were the best mashed potatoes ever or so he says. He did get is chocolate milkshake. Thank you Slade!

Surgery Follow-up

Not much to say. Doctor said everything is looking good. Eddie has a little too much fluid built-up where they took out the lymph nodes. He has to go back on Thursday it see if it builds up again. If it has built-up the doctor is recommending putting the drain back in. Eddie told him he doesn't mind driving up to Mayo every couple of days to have it drained. He really doesn't want it put back in. I can't say I blame him at all.

He starts physical therapy on Monday for neck and shoulder mobility.

No word on radiation yet. Insurance has to approve just to get a consultation. If I was listening to the doctor correctly it's a 50/50. My fingers are crossed that he doesn't have to have it. The doctor did mention a clinical trial for radiation that only lasts for 2 weeks. So, we'll just have to wait and see.

Today was a good day. Eddie went for the swallow test and did so well that they took out the feeding tube. He said he wants mashed potatoes and chocolate shake.

Now we get to try the awesome gift that our friend Slade gave Eddie.

I'm doing the happy dance!

Results are in...

August 1

So today hasn’t been a very good day. We received the pathology report for Eddie’s right side lymph nodes. One lymph node on the right side test positive. This means radiation. We don’t have any other info about it until we meet with the radiologist. Other than that he’s doing good. 

I can’t say enough good things about Mayo Hospital and their staff.  We requested to have physical therapy take a look at him because of his neck limitations which he still had from the first surgery. The doctor was all for it and they’ve already called to set-up physical therapy.

Eddie has appointments on August 2, August 6, August 7 and August 13.

Oh, and my hair is still falling out. And, I think the weight Eddie has lost, I've gained!

July 25
The day of the surgery. We had to be at Mayo at 5:30 a.m.

Surgery started at a little before 7:30 a.m. A nurse called us about 4 hours in and told us it would be another 2 plus hours. Eddie was in surgery for about 6.5 hours.

Crystal, Maria, my parents, Megan and Grant we all waited together. Megan brought games and Maria had a game on her phone. I have to tell you we were a sight. Grant even brought Eddie a Mickey Mouse. I don't know what I would have done without my family. They are amazing people!

The doctor explained to the girls, my parents and myself everything that was done. The type of tumor Eddie had usually grows like a spur and outward. Leave it to Eddie to be a little different his grow down and flat. Meaning that the tumor crossed both the right and left of the center plain of the tongue. Dr. Hinni had to remove it a little deeper and across to remove the tumor. As far as the doctor is concerned he got it all and when Eddie wakes up he should be cancer free. They also removed a 100 lymph nodes on the right side of his neck. That scar runs from behind the right ear down past his Adams apple about 2 inches into the left side scar. We should find out the results from everything in the next couple of visits.

Eddie stayed in critical care for a night. Some things didn't go to great after the surgery. I ended up staying with him until 4:30 a.m. I headed home to get some sleep and was back up there by 10:00 a.m. Later that day Eddie was moved up to the 5th floor where they take care of ENT and other types of head surgeries or testing of the brain. The nurses where happy that Eddie could walk himself to the bathroom. 

When Dr. Hinni came in to check on Eddie I asked about physical therapy because of the limitations of his neck movement. Dr. Hinni said absolutely if you think its needed. Eddie was all for it.

All of the staff at Mayo were fantastic. One nurse Susan taught me how to use the feeding tube and prepare all the meds. Every day for three straight days they made me learn something.

I'm sure this is TMI but I have to tell it. Friday this little older lady who helps the nurses comes in because Eddie need to go to the restroom. I'm going to call her Paula but I don't think thats right. Paula helps Eddie to the bathroom and here's how it goes.

Paula: Eddie I think you need to take a bath
Eddie: No, I'm fine
Paula: Yes I think you do
Eddie: No I don't and walks into the bathroom

As Eddie is in the bathroom Paula rushes and strips he's bed before he comes out.
Paula to Eddie: You stand there and I'm going to get you towels, soap, and new bedding. Mary Ann you can help him, Right?

So, I helped Eddie and he did feel better and he even read the newspaper.

We were hoping to come home on Saturday but that didn't happen because of his drain.

July 29
Eddie is home! the first thing he want was to take a shower but that wasn't a good idea because of the neck so he took a bath. I had to wash his hair using a cup like it did when the girls were little.

So far, so good. It's going to be a long road but it'll be worth it.

Feel free to text him. He can't talk the great so it's easier just to text him.

I'll try to keep everyone updated more.

Finding out I have cancer

This is the start of our journey
Please forgive us for any grammar, typos, run-on sentences or anything else. And, please don't point them out, we have enough on our plates.

February
Driving home from Inde Motorsports one Sunday afternoon Eddie felt a lump on the left side of his neck. He called the doctor to get it checked out. Went in a few days later. Doctor tells him that he has a virus and gives him antibiotics to take for 10 days. It seemed like it was working because the lump had gotten smaller.

March and April
Nothing much happened

May
NVE 3 in Las Vegas here we come! What a blast.

The lump is still there and now his shoulder is killing him. Eddie goes back to the doctor and he has no idea. Gets a recommendation to go see an ENT. This doctor is great and he's not messing around. He orders a CT scan. The doctors office calls Eddie about 3 days later and tells him they see something on the scan and he needs to come in. The next day Eddie and I go in. The doctor put a scope down his nose to look at whatever is there. NOT FUN! Then he takes a needle biopsy of the swollen lymph node. Again, NOT FUN!

The results come back inconclusive. Eddie is recommended to a specialist ENT surgeon, Dr. Kelsch with Valley ENT in Scottsdale.

We have our annual Memorial Day and Fred's (MA's dad) birthday family trip down to Rocky Point, Mexico. (my home away from home) We plan on staying a week. Our trip was cut short because Eddie had an appointment with the Dr. Kelsch on June 1.

June
June 1
We meet Dr. Kelsch. This guy doesn't mess around. I'm sitting in a chair and I can see the CT scan that the doctor is looking at. I can see the a very large lymph node on the left side. Dr. Kelsch puts a scope down Eddie's nose and sees something on the back of his tongue. He recommends surgery to take out the lymph node and get biopsies from the tongue.

June 19
Day of the surgery. Be at the surgery center at 11:00 am, surgery is at 1:00 pm.

It starts out by getting a call from the surgery center asking if Eddie can come in earlier because the first surgery the doctor is doing is running about an hour ahead of schedule. So we make the phone calls telling the family the surgery has been moved up.

The nurse comes in a tells us that the doctors second surgery is having complications and now is running late. By this time everyone is starving and we're holding off because Eddie can't eat.

3:00 pm they finally take him in. The doctor told me that he would send someone out at 4:30 pm to give us a status report. The girls are off to get food! My brother Rick starts telling funny jokes and he even starts laughing before he can get the punch line out. Boy we needed to laugh.

Mom, Dad and Rick are on their phones!

4:30 a nurse comes out and only wants to speak to me. Kind of scary considering the Crystal, Maria, my parents Fred and Mary and my brother Rick are there. She tells me that they tested the lymph node (not good) and the doctor is going to take out more lymph nodes.

7:00 pm the doctor finally comes out and tells us that he's pretty sure the growth on is tongue is cancer. Not something anyone wants to hear. All in all they took out 45 lymph nodes from the left side of his neck. They wouldn't let me go to the recovery room.

8'ish My family is still with me. We finally get to see him. He's talking telling the nurse he wants steak and lobster for dinner! Eddie tells me to bring the yellow Viper so he can drive it home when they discharge him. Ha Ha Everyone leaves around 9'ish and Maria and I head out about 9:45 pm.

I think his buddies are glad he's home.

June 20
Maria and I head over to hospital to bring Eddie home. We show up and Eddie is upset because I left his phone at home. I didn't want him to see all the text messages that I sent out to his friends and there responses. I wanted the doctor to tell him everything. The surgery center lost his clothes. So we sent Maria back home to get them and by this point he was pretty mad about the phone. I called and had Maria bring it back with the clothes. By the time Maria gets back the hospital found his clothes. I gave Eddie his phone and I don't think he realized the gravity of the situation. We get home sometime after 1:00 pm. The only thing Eddie is supposed to do at this point is stay home and get well.

June 21 - 26
Nothing much Eddie is just taking it easy

June 27 - this is where we kind of screwed up

Appointment consultation for radiation treatment. I'm not going to go through this with you all. I'm just going to say they scared the shit out of us!

June 28
Follow up appointment from surgery. We totally should have gone to see Dr. Kelsch before radiation. Dr. Kelsch takes out the stitches. He has a scar from the back of his ear to his Adam's Apple. Eddie was diagnosed with Squamous Cell Carcinoma at the base of his tongue. Out of the 45 lymph nodes that were taken out only one came back positive. The doctor goes through everything and gives us two treatment options.

Option A Chemo and high intensity radiation

Option B Mayo Clinic operation to remove tumor and maybe half the strength of radiation. We have an appointment on July 9 with the doctor that invented this type of surgery to remove the tumor completely.

Both options have pros and cons.

July 9
We went to Mayo yesterday and met with Dr. Hinni. We really liked him. Dr. Hinni wants to remove the tumor completely and remove 100 lymph nodes on the right side of his neck. Doing it this way Eddie will not have to go through chemo or radiation. The goal is no radiation. It was explained to us that if Eddie has radiation on his throat he will have long term effects down the road.

Mayo will do their own pre-op tests on July 18. Surgery is set for July 25.

July 18
Eddie went and had all his testing done. He filled out all his paperwork and signed everything. So we are ready to go for July 25.

For me I'm losing my hair. I guess I'm under some stress. Ha Ha

July 23
Two nights before surgery.

Let me start this by explain what goes on in the house for dinner. Every night Eddie will say "What's your thoughts on dinner?" And we go round and round on this issue. Now we have a new rule who mentions dinner first has to make the decision on it. Maria is also in on this. 

So last night Eddie walks in and says "I know what we're having for dinner" Maria and I are okay what do you want? Eddie responds "Since I won't be able to eat good food for a while I want El Pollo Loco" Maria and I look at each other and say "you want something good and you pick El Pollo Loco!" So we had that.

July 24
Just found out we have to be at Mayo at 5:30 a.m. tomorrow July 25