Rick Hand

Rick was diagnosed with esophagus cancer mid June, 2016.   He got a piece of food stuck in his throat and it didn't get much better so he decided to go to the doctor to have it checked.  They sent him for a scope and that is when they discovered a 8 to 9 cm tumor in his esophagus.    He then went through many tests and  they told us it was stage 3A esophagus cancer.   It had spread to three lymph nodes so radiation and chemo were the first steps to recovery.    Once the radiation and chemo were complete, he would need to have surgery to remove this tumor.   Rick started 25 radiation treatments with five chemo treatments on July 6.   They were completed on August 9, 2016.   Rick stayed home during this time and did extremely well.  He lost about 30 pounds and was very tired; but for the most part, he did very well.   He didn't even lose his hair.   After all these treatments, he had another pet scan which indicated the tumor shrank and is currently inactive.  Now we move to the next step of surgery.   This is scheduled for Thursday, September 22, 2016.     We appreciate your support and words of hope and encouragement. Thank you for visiting.