Bob Hartzler

Our story began June 24, 2016 when Bob was swinging a golf club and felt a pulled muscle in his right side.  On Sunday, June 26 that diagnosis was confirmed at an urgent care facility and was told a pulled muscle takes a long time to heal.  A chest x-ray was done and was negative.  In July, he noticed some intermittent shortness of breath and breathing problems he associated with the high humidity and possible allergies.   On August 25, during his routine physical, he mentioned the wheezing  and was put on two inhalers and just to be cautious , his internist ordered a follow-up x-ray.  This time there was a shadow on the right side.  A CT scan was ordered and a referral was made to a pulmonologist to rule out an infection vs. a tumor.  We met with the pulmonologist Sept. 1 who set up a bronchoscopy the next day Sept 2.  The pathologist during the procedure confirmed positive lymph nodes and the diagnosis was Non-small cell lung cancer or NSCLC, advanced.   We had decided if the results were not good, we wanted to go to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics Cancer Center for treatment.  So Char contacted a friend who pulled all kinds of strings and facilitated an appointment with a highly respected pulmonory oncologist for Sept. 15.  In the mean time,  a PET scan and MRI of the brain was done Sept.7, for staging of the tumor and treatment recommendations.  These results confirmed metastasis to the bone and brain.  Bob has survived a melanoma in 1985 and prostate cancer in 2000, and this lung cancer appears to be unrelated to the previous cancers.