Dave Muetterties

Hello family and friends.  Welcome to Dave's caring bridge site.  We thought this was the best way to keep you posted on how he is doing as he continues his battle.  As you know, Dave was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Disease at 23 after he graduated from college.  After 20 radiation treatments from his neck to his abdomen, he received the good news the cancer was cured.  Dave moved to Atlanta and started his life.  While the radiation treatments removed the cancer, later in life this level of radiation unfortunately caused many other challenges.  In his early 50's, doctors noticed his heart valve had scarring and was damaged from the radiation, so he received a new valve.    A few years later, he was diagnosed with breast cancer.   He had a mastectomy and endured 6 chemo sessions.   Four years later in the middle of COVID, the breast cancer returned with a vengeance and spread to his head and body.   The diagnosis is metastatic breast cancer (stage 4).   Dave endured 10 radiation treatments to his head followed by six intravenous chemo treatments through his port.   Scans showed improvements, but there were still some areas of concern.  A MRI showed some cells around his brain.    A new treatment using a port in the head was suggested and Dave was able have the port inserted and started this new and exciting treatment.   The good news about this treatment is the lack of side effects.  The traditional chemo treatments were so hard on Dave.  He lost 50 pounds so this opportunity to escape side effects for a while brought us relief.   He was on treatment number 3 when an infection entered and changed the plans.    He is currently on intravenous antibiotics and hospice care is helping us at home.