Journal entry by Nicole Donahue —
The appointment that Mike had today was with the first doctor that he saw at Mayo Clinic back in the spring of 2016. She was the one that found his aortic aneurysm and set a surgery date to fix the situation. Routine testing had to be preformed before he could have this surgery, and it was then that the cancer was found in Mike's body.
Being diagnosed with stage 4 cancer put the aneurysm on the back burner because the cancer was more severe. Recently, it has been brought up in some doctors appointments that his aneurysm has been growing significantly which led to the appointment that took place today.
The doctor said that given Mike's recent sub-massive pulmonary embolism, stay in the ICU, and overall health, she is unable to do anything to the aneurysm. She mentioned that a stent is very complex and at this moment she is not sure it would be worth it in the long run due to the several different diagnoses that Mike has. Basically, surgery is not an option at this time because he is not healthy enough and his body would not tolerate it.
Mike has not been able to have chemotherapy since he was inpatient in the hospital. When we met with his nurse practitioner at the end of June, she said that his body needs to have time to recover from the PE and chemo would not allow that. Since he was placed on blood thinners he is unable to take the two types of chemotherapy that he was on because they can create more bleeding as well as clots. Overall though, he has been healing from the PE and his blood work proves it - which is amazing news! The CNP said that never in all of her years in the medical field has she seen someone his age with his diagnoses go through such a large PE and make it out alive! Mike definitely has some angels watching over him that are keeping him with us, that's for sure!
On Tuesday of next week, we meet with Mike's oncologist to discuss his PET scan and how we move forward from here. Then on Wednesday, we will receive the results of Mike's ultrasound test that was done today.
Keep Mike in your thoughts and prayers! He has been so strong and overcome so many huge obstacles - every bit of support helps him stay positive and continue fighting!
Being diagnosed with stage 4 cancer put the aneurysm on the back burner because the cancer was more severe. Recently, it has been brought up in some doctors appointments that his aneurysm has been growing significantly which led to the appointment that took place today.
The doctor said that given Mike's recent sub-massive pulmonary embolism, stay in the ICU, and overall health, she is unable to do anything to the aneurysm. She mentioned that a stent is very complex and at this moment she is not sure it would be worth it in the long run due to the several different diagnoses that Mike has. Basically, surgery is not an option at this time because he is not healthy enough and his body would not tolerate it.
Mike has not been able to have chemotherapy since he was inpatient in the hospital. When we met with his nurse practitioner at the end of June, she said that his body needs to have time to recover from the PE and chemo would not allow that. Since he was placed on blood thinners he is unable to take the two types of chemotherapy that he was on because they can create more bleeding as well as clots. Overall though, he has been healing from the PE and his blood work proves it - which is amazing news! The CNP said that never in all of her years in the medical field has she seen someone his age with his diagnoses go through such a large PE and make it out alive! Mike definitely has some angels watching over him that are keeping him with us, that's for sure!
On Tuesday of next week, we meet with Mike's oncologist to discuss his PET scan and how we move forward from here. Then on Wednesday, we will receive the results of Mike's ultrasound test that was done today.
Keep Mike in your thoughts and prayers! He has been so strong and overcome so many huge obstacles - every bit of support helps him stay positive and continue fighting!
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