Gary Pannell

Dad was going to have a shoulder replacement surgery in July.  A chest X-ray was done for pre-op testing.   It showed a large mass on his right lung.  A CT scan revealed that it was a tumor that measures 16cm x 5cm and it has wrapped around the superior vena cava vein and blood vessels that feed blood into the heart.  Dad was admitted to the  ICU and put on oxygen right away.  He had a biopsy done through his chest and one down his throat.  The biopsy results could not determine what kind is cancer he has.  They did another biopsy.  The doctor said that the cells were so necrotic and large that they could not get to the brain of the cancer cells.  She called  the cancer a "poorly undifferentiated neoplasm".  I asked her if this is common to not be able to determine a type of cancer someone has.  She said it is not common but it does happen.  The cancer has not spread to any other part of the body so she determined it to be Stage 3 Advanced.  She said that it is not curable, but we know that all things are possible through GOD.  Dad became very ill while in the ICU. The biopsy they did down the  throat caused staph infection and he developed pnuemonia  on top of emphysema and the tumor on his lung.   His breathing was getting worse and was requiring more and more oxygen. He was put on a bypap machine  to help him breathe.  He also developed SVC Syndrome. We began to pray and called out for others to come pray for him.   He had emergency radiation for 2 weeks to try and shrink the tumor off of his vein.  His breathing began to get better and he was finally moved out of the ICU after several weeks.  One day after he came back from radiation, his heart went into A-FIB.  He was put on heart medicine to keep that under control.   He was moved to the oncology floor to do one round of chemo while in the hospital.  He was well enough to go home after the treatment and will continue treatments for 3 days in a row every 3 weeks through mid November.   Thanks to everyone for the support and prayers!