On March 2, 2020, Kurt called Bob and Jo to find out how their drive back from Florida was going. Bob disclosed that he was having trouble with his left peripheral vision which was making driving difficult. The next morning, Kurt and Kitty got in the car and went to Virginia to drive them home. We decided that Bob should not drive and Jo hasn't driven for a couple of years so Kurt and Kitty are their current means of transportation.
In the meantime, Bob contacted a friend who set him up with an eye appointment on March 4. At that appointment, the doctor thought it was possible that Bob had had a small stroke which could be causing this problem. He got us in to Bob's primary physician the next day.
At the March 5th appointment, Bob explained the issue with vision, having back pain and a cough. (The back pain had been thought to be due to carrying things up 2 flights of steep stairs at their rental home in Florida and the cough was probably due to something in bloom in Florida since Bob has allergies and had seen pollen on the car.) It was decided to send Bob to the ER for more testing that day.
That evening, Kitty drove Jo home since there wasn't much we could do but wait for the tests. Around 10 pm Bob called Kitty to report that he was being told he had cancer. She went to the ER to be with him and stayed late into the night until he was put in a hospital room. Around 3 am he was taken for an MRI that lasted 3.5 hours!
March 6, Bob's 84th birthday was pretty stressful from the lack of sleep, this new diagnosis and more testing. He has a mass on his right lung which is believed to be the source of the cancer. It has spread to some lymph nodes, his brain (1 large and 1 small tumor) and he has lesions on his spine. March 9th he had a biopsy that would determine more about the cancer. Bob stayed in the hospital until March 10th when he was released with a general plan of action for moving forward.
March 11th it was confirmed that Bob has non small cell lung cancer. This is the better kind to have. Upstate Cancer Center is a great place to be for this diagnosis. While plans have varied a little bit, overall he will be treated with a combination of radiation on the back and brain. That will be followed by chemotherapy and hopefully immunotherapy.
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