Welcome to our CaringBridge website. We are using it to keep family and friends updated in one place. We appreciate your support and words of hope and encouragement. Thank you for visiting. I (Beverly, Sylvia Anne’s husband) must begin this initial CaringBridge post by apologizing for not having started posting several months ago — with all the tests and changes to our schedule, getting the CaringBridge up and running took a back seat to everything else.
Sylvia Anne has an adenocarcinoma in her right lung, which was discovered late because it was hidden from x-rays by scar tissue which had been caused by the surgery which removed a cancer from that lung in 1992. A CT scan finally revealed the new growth. Because of the delay in detecting this cancer, it had metastasized into her brain, a rib, the other lung, her liver, and (especially) her pelvis, and was therefore rated as Stage 4.
The cancer is not medically curable, but the doctors were fairly confident that they could "give her some time", so she had a series of five radiation sessions over a period of seven days in mid-November. The hope was that the (very targeted) radiation would be effective due to the fact that the genetic derivation and the structural composition of her particular cancer are of the class most likely to be very responsive to treatment. Targeted in these sessions were all the detected sites, but in particular eight brain lesions, and her pelvis, the bone of which had in places suffered extensive degradation. Part of the preparation for the radiation involved Sylvia Anne's receiving doses of steroids, designed to shrink the brain metastases to render them more targetable. Follow-up scans revealed the remarkable success of the radiation in attacking the cancer, and the procedures themselves were not unpleasant except for the considerable headache brought on by the vise-like grip of the helmet designed to keep her head absolutely in one place so that the rays would converge only on the tumors and not on healthy brain tissue! The side effects of the steroids were tough for her and have taken several months to recuperate from.
The next step in the treatment regimen involved Sylvia Anne's taking (beginning in the second week of December 2020) a one-a-day pill (Tagrisso, [osimertinib] by AstraZeneca) designed to attack specifically the cancer she is afflicted with. The follow-up scans, taken in mid-March, showed further degradation of the cancer, which was of course much-welcomed news. Unfortunately, those same scans indicated that a small spot on her pancreas, previously noticed, had actually grown considerably during the time when all the other spots had been shrinking, leading to the strong suspicion that it was not related to the lung cancer. The results from a biopsy taken days after the scans revealed that this spot was pancreatic cancer and this was confirmed a week or ten days later by further analysis of its molecular structure.
Pancreatic cancer is of course no one's favorite, but this one has been caught early enough that it might possibly be surgically removable, provided that the operation is not so traumatic that it deprives Sylvia Anne's body of the strength needed to continue to combat the lung cancer and its metastases. Thankfully, her regular doctor has found that there is — in Indianapolis — one surgeon who now performs the required surgery (using a robot) laparoscopically, thus causing much less trauma than more standard methods.
As you can imagine, the diagnosis, including both the lung and pancreatic cancers has come as a considerable shock to us, but the really amazing thing about this whole experience is the way that Sylvia Anne has reacted to it. Although she understandably feels sorrow over the prospect of being (for example) unable to observe and participate in the raising of our grandchildren, she also has great and joyful anticipation of what God has in store for her after her body dies, and has been granted by Him the grace to live in the glory of that (well-founded, we believe) expectation. Her very obvious and authentic expression of that expectation has greatly blessed me and many others with whom she has come in contact since the diagnosis. It's our prayer that she continue to live with this firm grip on ultimate Truth, even while experiencing the coming pains and frustrations of her body's dying. We also pray that God heal her of this disease, and that we might have many more years to live on this earth for His glory, but we recognize that He doesn't normally turn back a cancer that has reached this stage, but rather uses such means to call us, through death, into a much closer experience of His loving presence than we are granted in this life.
I'm sorry to have let so much time pass before posting again. Beverly and I are taking things a day at a time. My doctor recently said that I am the healthiest person he has ever seen with this much cancer in their body. We attribute that to God's will and faithfulness and His perfect timing. The cancer is growing, but not as quickly as the doctors thought. I have lost quite a bit of my field of vision due the radiation to kill the tumors in my brain. My speech has also recently been affected. The doctors believe that is due to the swelling of the brain tumors as they die. I take frequent naps now, but still enjoy getting to concerts, going out to eat, and visiting with friends. You are very much welcome to visit. We would love to see you. Thank you for your prayers.
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