Two Months....

Dusty and Dad came out to Houston during the week of March 20.  On March 21 Dusty had his bloodwork done and another Pet Scan.  This was THE Pet scan, the scan of all scans!

Friday, March 22, Dusty and Dad went to meet with the doctor to have the results read.  Dad said that Dusty was very ill.  His nerves were shot and he couldn't stop throwing up.  He had taken anxiety medicine but nothing will calm you down right before an appointment that is going to tell you if you are going to life or die.  I was not there so I don't know the specifics but I do know that we did not get the results that we wanted.  The tumor had started to fight back.  It had grown by 35%.  Dusty's spirits took another beating.  He is a true fighter and has been knocked down and gotten back up so many times.  A true Rocky/Russian but this time, he didn't feel like getting back up.  The doctor told Dusty that he  two months left to live.  How can you look a 28 year old in the face and tell him that?  Dusty can't die.  I need him.

The doctor has another option but it is not one that many doctors agree with.  Dusty can a have catheter run up his femoral artery and into his liver through his hepatic artery.  They will pump Oxaliplatin (the only chemo that showed positive results so far) directly onto his liver tumor.  The side effects will be intense and he will be in a lot of pain in the beginning but it may kill the cancer cells.  We were not going to do this treatment because two of our three doctors have said they don't think it will work but they don't have any options.  Plus, Dusty's grandfather has arterial infusion on his bladder tumor and lived for 12 more years.  We talked long and hard about it and Dusty decided to give it a go.  He will start on Monday April 8.

Dusty flew home late that night.  When he walked through the door he looked like a sad puppy dog.  It was heart wrenching.  That night was one of the most difficult nights that we've had in a long time.  We both just held each other and cried.  And I mean CRIED!  We gave it all that night.