I can’t believe it’s been 7 weeks since we were given the diagnosis. Gord’s been feeling run down & tired since the fall. At that time, I thought something was “off”. He had this incessant cough for months; he was on the couch more than usual; he would get winded carrying laundry up the stairs. He seemed thinner; and as you know, Gord being thin is not something he prefers to be; he likes muscle mass. We were thinking it was maybe Covid fatigue, work stress…
Gord was in the process of getting a new primary doctor & decided to go to Dr. Michael Scharf for a physical. Dr. Scharf was recommended by my brother, John. John & Mike have been lifelong friends & went to med school together. During the physical, Mike asked Gord why his legs were mottled. His father had mottled legs so Gord never thought much of it. But Mike wanted to run tests. Results revealed high C-Reactive protein in the blood, which is when there’s a condition in the body causing wide-spread inflammation. Mike started investigating. Gord gave John permission to talk to Mike about this; being a GI doc, John recommended Gord get a CT scan of his abdomen. It was Feb 15th when he got the scan. Within an hour after the scan, Gord received the call from Mike. I was out walking Jake when my brother called me; I asked him what should we expect from the scan, not knowing that he already knew the results. John said I needed to get home & talk to Gord. Jake & I ran home.
It was lymphoma. The moment we found out, we went across the street to our friends’ house, Vince & Julie Hopkins. Vince was diagnosed with the same cancer 16 years ago. A small (very small) sense of relief fell over us. There were still so many unknowns. By the time we got to their house, Vince had written out which doctors we needed to see & gave us advice on what to do. He made a call on our behalf to Dr. Phil Leming; he is the consulting physician at Cincinnati Cancer Advisors & was the Director of Cancer Research at Christ for years. If you know oncology in Cincinnati, you know Dr. Leming & his assistant, Jill Hunt; we were in the right place. Dr. Leming would become our consultant, helping us learn about lymphoma, what treatments were available & advise us on what oncologist would be the right one to handle Gord’s treatments moving forward. With his advice, we chose Dr. Stanisic to be Gord’s oncologist.
Now we needed to tell the girls. Telling them felt just as much a punch to the gut as first getting his diagnosis. We decided to wait until we knew what we were dealing with. We told Payton first; she welled up instantly, but then settled in once we explained the process. She’s a tough kid with a tough exterior, but she has a very sensitive heart. This poor girl has had to take the brunt of this, watching this all play out in the front of her eyes while having to take care of her little sister in the process. At this point we decided to wait to tell Jordan. With her being away at UD & everything opening back up for her, we wanted her to stay focused & have fun. We knew if we told her too early she would be worrying needlessly. Her birthday was March 17th, St. Patty’s Day; in no way did we want her birthday tied around this. If you know anything about UD, we wanted her to enjoy St. Patty’s Day on campus (safely, of course). We waited until the following week to tell her. We told her the truth, of course, but left out details that she didn’t need to know right now. The instant tears & hug she gave Gord tore me to shreds. She wears her heart on her sleeve; we knew this would crush her. So we told her what’s best for Dad is if she stays focused and has fun; it’s been working. Morgan was another story. We’ve been trying to talk to her in ways she can understand & not worry herself. (This little girl has a sixth sense; before we said anything to anyone, Morg knew something was up. She gave me a ton of hugs & said she loved me 100 x’s/day. I’d be in another room quietly crying & invariably she’d come find me for a hug & a kiss saying, “Ma, I love you”. Ugh, she tugs at my heart.) It’s one step at a time with her; we are still trying to figure out what to say when Gord loses his hair. One step at a time…
So after scans, biopsies, bone marrow aspirations, MRI’s etc, the official diagnosis would be Follicular Lymphoma; again, the same lymphoma as our neighbor’s; but we then find out that Gord has an additional component. He had the follicular small cells, but also these larger, diffuse cells. These cells are most common; they’re more aggressive & grow quickly, but they’re also more curable; a double-edged sword. We also discovered, through the PET scan, that Gord’s left hip was “super hot”, per Dr. Leming; it was horribly inflamed & lit up so bright on the scan. Dr. Leming was very concerned & wanted his primary oncologist to check it out. He was in significant pain in the left hip after his recent bone marrow aspiration. He thought the pain was related to his regular hip issues. He got a cortisone shot, which took care of the pain, but he still needed to get an MRI to find out what was going on.
And now with many results in, we were armed with information to get him started on treatment. He would begin with CHOP therapy & Rituxan. Each letter in CHOP stands for a different chemo drug. This combination of drugs attacks cancer cells by multiple mechanisms all at one time. The second day of treatment, he receives Neulasta (builds up his white blood cells).
CHOP began March 24th.
Prior to starting, Gord would get a port placed March 23rd. After the surgery, he took a long time to come out of anesthesia; when he did, he felt horribly “seasick”. With chemo starting the next day (9a-7p), he still wasn’t feeling the best & was not eating or drinking much, but the first treatment was on the horizon. Chemo day was long but he muddled through & actually started to get an appetite. He ate Jersey Mike’s. On Thursday, he was still feeling ok, but he had to get his MRI of this “super hot” area in his left hip; he had to lay perfectly still for almost 2 hours. By the time Friday came, he couldn’t keep anything down; he couldn’t even take a spoonful of water. The image of Jersey Mike’s kept popping in his head which was making him feel like throwing up. I took him to Mason Christ for IV fluids & antiemetics (anti-nausea medicine). He didn’t feel better but they sent us home. We tried to keep him hydrated & eating; nothing stayed down. My heart was breaking for him; I’ve ever seen him this broken.
The next morning (Sat) he, resistantly, let me take him to Christ ER @ Liberty, for more fluids/ antiemetics. Even though he still didn’t feel well after, the ER doc sent us home, again, with suppository antiemetics. These didn’t have any affect on his nausea/dehydration. By Sunday morning, he was still miserable. Dr. Stanisic advised us to go to Christ ER downtown. They admitted him overnight, to watch him & get the antiemetics under control & working. By that afternoon, he asked for crackers. I’ve never been more happy to see a grown man eat 2 Zestas. He came home the next day, on Payt’s 17th birthday feeling so much better. A nice gift for all of us.
Our next hurdle was getting the results of his MRI on April 2nd, Good Friday. (A good friend reminded me that Good Friday is “one of the most sacred days of the year-let’s have the holy spirit bring him good news”). We had so many people praying for positive results. When 2 of our oncologists said this “super hot” spot has us worried, your heart beats a little harder. Was cancer in his bones? In the bone marrow? Another type? We were worried. That afternoon, our appt was with Dr. Sorger at Beacon; he’s one of the leading orthopedic oncologists in his field. My brother went with us to get the results of the MRI. Dr. Sorger found NO cancer in his bones, NO cancer in his bone marrow! It is in the bone space where the marrow resides, which they feel will be treated with CHOP. The prayers are working!
His 2ND treatment is next Tuesday, 4/13. Please pray he doesn’t have the same reaction he did the 1st time around.
We’re trying to thank everyone who has helped us, but I can’t, in good conscience, name people to thank, for fear we will inadvertently miss someone. But we are truly humbled, blessed, blown away & brought to tears by all the love & support we’ve received; from all the heartfelt calls & inspirational texts, to the gift cards, the wonderful homemade meals, to our absolutely amazing neighbors & friends taking care of our yard, from good friends making Payt’s birthday extra special, for the comfy sweater from girlfriends because hospitals are cold, for friends making sure we didn’t worry about Easter (from hiding eggs, making a big breakfast & amazing dinner), to the anonymous gifts we’ve received, to Gord’s devoted siblings & extended families, to my brothers who are always there for Gord & me; to our loyal alma mater, UD, for seeing us as family, the football players, coaches & other Flyers offering their support. And of course for all the prayers that have held us up through all this. Love, Gord, Lianne, Jordan, Payton & Morgan
Just wanting to give you all the latest updates on Gord's cancer journey. I apologize for taking this long to post. We tried not to think too much about cancer over the winter; however, that is so difficult to do when cancer seems to be everywhere & with how Gord's docs were presenting his relapse to us, I think I cried daily for at least 2 months straight; just ask my poor friends. (This winter, we also had to move my mom out of our childhood home into an assisted living facility, clear the house & sell it. Her dementia took a turn & she was not safe to live alone anymore. Anyone who's done this with a parent knows the emotional, physical & stressful rollercoaster you ride, especially when your parent is begging you to return home. She is finally settled & now does not call me 21 times a day;) Thank God for my brothers who did a lot of the heavy lifting, metaphorically & otherwise.
Gord was admitted to Jewish hospital this past Monday. He started with surgery to place a Hickman port. On Tuesday, he started aggressive chemo; his last chemo ended Friday night. He's been getting a bit sick and groggy-headed from the medications he's on. But of course, he's trying to be as positive as possible; it's Gord, you know:). By the end of this week, he should start losing his hair and getting more nauseated. Please pray he can conquer this.
The BIGGEST NEWS however, is that BOTH of Gord's brothers were exact matches for bone marrow transplant!!! This is a HUGE deal; this will help lessen the possibilities of Graft vs Host disease that many, who do not have exact matches, deal with. Unfortunately, we've had close friends, who have passed, that had to deal with this.
Doc decided to go with Andrew's cells, as he's local & the younger brother (sorry Steve;). Andrew was put on meds to boost his cells; they wanted to collect at least 5 million, but Andrew decided to generously pump out 14+ million! So there's extra! They harvested on the 13th. They ended up needing to freeze his cells because Gord was sick the week of the 13th & had to delay admission by a week. Since their blood types don't match, they actually harvested Andrew's stem cells (vs bone marrow). So essentially it's a stem cell transplant.
Gord will be getting the transplant tomorrow morning. He will be receiving Andrew's immune system. So any immune problems, Gord had in the past, are gone. Gord might come out of this drinking beer as a kick-ass golfer!
Gord will be in the hospital for about a month. He's allowed visitors, but PLEASE, you cannot visit even if you have the littlest sniffle; it can't be "this is allergies" either. Remember he's rebuilding his (Andrew's) immunities. Please call or text Gord or me, to make sure he's available & not too sick. (Jewish Hospital, 4777 E Galbraith Rd, Cincinnati, OH 45236.) If you would like to send cards, we thought it'd be better to send them here to the house, as I will be going down to see him every day. (3327 Paddock Lane, Mason, OH 45040). Please include any funny story or memory. A friend of mine just did that for me, & it helped fill me up & made me happy:) We all know Gord loves a good laugh! ALSO, we'd like to fill his walls with pictures/photos/inspirations. You can either take them directly to the hospital or drop them off here/mail them.
We cannot stress enough our thank you's to all of you that have helped us. We can't name names as there are too many and we wouldn't want to inadvertently miss someone. We were so blessed with our friends who took over the holidays for us, to decorating the house, gifts for us, gift cards, the girls, food. To all of Gord's & my coworkers who've supported us through this & to our unbeatable neighborhood who always has our backs in too many ways to say & to our families, who are always checking in on Gord & me.
Please know that right now my communication has been erratic at best with texts, social media, phone calls etc. I'm truly sorry; all I do is squirrel all over the place; you'd think I'd catch the damn thing by now.
Peace & love to you all,
Gord, Lianne, Jordan, Payton & Morgan (& of course Kobi:)
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