Luke Souza

Welcome to our CaringBridge website where you can read about Luke's progress. Below is a recap of how everything began.  Thank you for your care and concern for our Lukey!

On December 1, Luke had an Xray of his chest/lungs which revealed a mass in his chest (mediastinum).  He had been experiencing sharp pains in his chest and sides, shortness of breath, tiredness, weight loss, some night sweats, and an annoying cough.  On December 5, a CT Scan revealed the mass was rather large and pressing on his lungs and heart and was most likely Lymphoma.  We saw  our oncologist, Dr. Shoba Kankipati on December 7, and she ordered more tests.  So on December 11, he had a PET Scan and a brain MRI which thankfully indicated that the tumor had not spread.  Praise the Lord! On December 12, a needle Biopsy was done through his chest and eventually was sent off to UCSF.  On December 19, we received word that the biopsy revealed he has Hodgkins Lymphoma (HL).  We have been informed that it is highly curable with chemotherapy and possible radiation.  Thank the Lord! And with Luke's strong mind, good attitude and Portuguese & German blood he's going to kill it!

On December 20,  he was admitted to John Muir Hospital in Concord and had a port placed in his chest for the administration of his future chemo treatments.  On the following day he received his first round of chemo treatments.  He is receiving 4 different chemo drugs (ABVD) which take about 2 hours.   His next treatment will be on Jan. 4.  This and future chemotherapy appointments will be  done as an outpatient at our doctor's office in Dublin.  yeah!!

We had a wonderful Christmas and he felt good for all the parties and visits with family and friends.  The medications seem to work well and he only had a
 little bit of nausea for a day or two, and his appetite has been great.

Thank you everyone for all your prayers!!  We appreciate your support and words of hope and encouragement. Thank you for visiting.

Love,
The Souza Family