The CTCA

After getting the results of Dave's liver biopsy, his doctor was not optimistic and told him he would probably just be on and off of chemo forever until it eventually would stop working.  This is not what we wanted to hear and we are never giving up.  We wanted to go somewhere that would fight with us.  This is why we chose to go to the Cancer Treatment Centers of America.

Thanks to some very great friends, I was able to go along with Dave for two days to the CTCA.  We were very impressed!  Dave has a whole team of doctors there who's philosophy is treat him like he is their own son or brother.  Everyone was so friendly and truly seemed to care about us and our situation.  Their approach is holistic, which is how we thought this should be treated all along.   Regular Dr.'s only know how to treat cancer with chemo but at the CTCA Dave has a Naturopath, a Dietitian, a mind-body specialist, an oncologist, a surgeon, and a nurse who he can call 24 hours if he has questions.  He also can get acupuncture and massages there (and it doesn't cost extra.)

They answered so many questions that we had about supplements and diet, things that you hear about doing, but aren't sure if they work or would be harmful.  They had all the answers we were looking for and that has been a huge help and relief.  Dave's other doctor's had no idea when we asked them about any of that.

They did another CT scan on Dave and checked his liver functions.  The CT scan showed that the spots on his liver were primarily in his right lobe and they hadn't grown in a month since his last scan.  His liver functions are completely normal.  Dave told his oncologist that he doesn't want to be on chemo forever and wondered what other options he had.  They told him he would be a perfect candidate for a treatment called chemoembolization.  What that is, is they basically inject chemo right into his liver.  They said this would be his best chance of going into remission.  He also has an appointment scheduled for next Friday to meet with a surgeon to see if he could possibly be a candidate for surgery.  If he is, then he will go that route.  So basically we don't have a set schedule yet, but one of those two things will happen.  Like all other doctor's we've seen, they don't claim they can cure this, but they have seen people go into long remissions that are also stage 4 like Dave.  We are keeping our faith that this will happen.

Thanks again for your prayers, we need them now more than ever!!!  We are thankful for the words of support from everyone!

I also wanted to remind all of Dave's brothers and sisters to get screened.  The doctor's here, like everywhere else we have been, said this is so extremely important.  PLEASE just do it guys!  We love you and don't want anyone else to go through this.