Thank you for your patience while waiting for these newest results. To say it has been an overwhelming few weeks would put it lightly. 

Unfortunately, Jon-David’s most recent scan was less than optimistic. The spots that they were monitoring have seemed to grow, and unfortunately it has spread as well. There are three main spots that they are now focused on. They are all on the pleural lining, but adjacent to his liver, kidney, and a rib. 

At this time they are thinking the best course of action is surgery to remove whatever possible. If for whatever reason the surgery is not successful, he will probably have to undergo localized radiation. Because of how low these new spots are showing up, his regular surgeon is unable to perform the surgery as she works primarily in the mediastinum 

 region which is the area of the chest cavity surrounding your heart and lungs. We will be working with a team of urologists who are more comfortable with the lower region, near his organs. We meet with the surgeons later this week, when we will learn what the surgery will entail. As of now, we don’t have any further information. 

I think the hardest news that we have heard through this is that it looks like we are facing a much longer road than we hoped. Because he is Stage IV, his body has microscopic thymoma cells that can seed and grow ANYWHERE at anytime. The hope was that the chemo would have wiped this out, but that did not seem to happen. So until further notice, we will just be dealing with these spots as they arise. 

We will continue to hope and pray for No Evidence of Disease one of these days. We’ll be doing another order of #JDstrong apparel soon, so if you didn’t grab yours the first time (or if you did and loved it and want more) keep an eye out!

 *Disclaimer- if you know our kids, people don’t bring anything up to them or say anything that they may hear! We are working to find the best time and way to share this with them. They have been so happy since daddy hasn’t been sick, that we are trying to protect their emotions as best we can. Nobody should have to watch their loved ones battle cancer, but especially young children when they’re still at such an impressionable age that should be filled with innocence, fun, and adventure. 

This is just not the adventure we had hoped them to go on. 

Thank you for your support, always. 

Nikki