Prayers of Praise!

My last blog said that dads radiologist appointment was on Monday but I was mistaken, it was Thursday...so I finally have something new to report. Dad starts his radiation next Monday and has to go everyday for four weeks. They are going to radiate the spot in his groin where he originally found the lump. The doctors are pretty sure that they removed all of the cancer during the surgery on his groin lymph nodes however they are doing radiation as a precaution for any microscopic particles that may be floating around. They explained to dad that the chances of getting all of the cancer by radiation is %96 and the chance by chemo is %98. So they are both very effective however the radiation will not make him as sick as the chemo. Apparently the side effects of the radiation are irritation in the area that is affected, fatigue, and one other (but its gross and I wont mention that!).
They have to tattoo dads leg to mark the area that they will 'zap' every day. I think tiny butterflies would be perfect :) !!!! Dad asked the doctor at his appointment to show him the xrays and stuff that they discussed at the 'meeting of the minds' and the doctor replied to Dad as....what do you want to see? there is nothing to show!!! OOOOOOOO such music to our ears! Praise God!
I will let you know how the radiation goes next week!
Till then...God Bless!

A happy day!

It has only been two weeks and I am so grateful to report that the main character of my blog is doing GREAT! My sister went to Dads appointment with him this morning to be the extra set of ears and moral support to dad to hear the results of the bone marrow tests. The doctor said there wasn't a trace of it in his bones. He caught this in the early stages and 'nipped it in the bud' before it could go any further!
He has an appointment with the radiation doctor on Monday to prepare and schedule for the radiation so they can zap the original area that they found the Hodgkins. I will keep you informed on how all of that turns out!

Dad may not be as healthy as a horse (we still have to keep an eye on his heart and get him through the radiation) but he is as stubborn as a donkey! He says he's not going anywhere - and for that we Praise the Lord!!!

Meeting of the minds...

The news couldnt be better. Dad was instructed to call his doctor yesterday around 2:30 to find out what was discussed and decided during the meeting with all of the doctors and experts working on his case. So around 3:30 I received the call from dad with the most exciting news (I thought he was gonna jump through the phone and hug me!!). They decided that dad will not need chemo. They want to just do radiation on the spot where he had the lump removed. They are going to give him medication for the problem in his heart and continue monitoring him. FYI...he called me from his car, on the way to the golf course - he sounded 20 years younger!!
He goes to see his doctor on Friday for the results of the bone marrow. Please pray that these results are as excellent as the rest. My family and I cannot express how grateful we are to everyone for their support, kind words and prayers. We know this would not have been possible without prayers and Gods hands. We praise God that we get to have dad, grandpa, husband and friend around - happy and healthy to make more memories!!!
Mom says the doctors still cant understand how this has happened...we can :)!!!
I will blog again on Friday after the results of the bone marrow...stay tuned till then.

Love and God Bless!

HOLY WOW!!!

OK, so Dad had his bone marrow removed yesterday and he said it hurt but it wasnt unbearable. However, before he was laid on the table, the doctor sat my mom and dad down to give them the results of the PET test...LISTEN CLOSELY!!! The results show that there is NO cancer anywhere in my fathers upper body either!!! My mom said the doctor looked just as perplexed as they did. (Jaws dropped to the floor, deer in the headlight eyes, etc.) The doctors fully expected to find the cancer in my dads lungs and has expressed how rare of a case this is. In fact it is so rare that the doctor has called a board meeting. This meeting will consist of all of dads doctors and the experts on these cases to discuss what to do next.
I dont know if any of you have read up on Hodgkins Disease, but all of the reports that I found said that "usually" by the time the cancer has moved to the groin area, it has already infected the lymph nodes in the lungs and throat...and trust me, I was looking for a report that didnt say this!
You bet we are all smiles and very relieved, but we are not out of the woods yet. We ask that you still please keep dad in your prayers. Dad was advised not to cancel any of his appointments until the doctors have decided the next steps. We also need to await the results of the bone marrow test, to rule out that the cancer is not in his bones. They may decide to go through with 4 treatments of chemo for precautionary purposes - we will know on Wednesday (one more day). During all of these tests they also found that one of the valves in Dads heart is only functioning at 33% so we have to find out what the doctors plan on doing about that too.
My family and I have no doubt that it is because of your prayers and Gods love that we can rejoice in this great news. We cant thank you enough. In fact, when dad called me after the results yesterday, his comment to me was "your prayers really did help"! What a great witness of God's power!

I will write again as soon as we hear the doctors plan. Thank you, thank you, thank you and GOD BLESS!

Just wanted to share this....

First of all, this has been on my mind all week and I really just want to share it with everyone. I told you in the last post that we found out about Dad's cancer on Sept2,2008 and it was quite a blow to our family. Well, I walked into church on Sunday morning looking for answers and you will never believe what my Pastor had to talk about... Sunday was the first message of a 6 part series titled "Lord heal me....Im sick". WOW!!! It just blows my mind how God talks to me.
Second of all, my father was unaware of the fact that I was going to start this blog however, my sister and my mother have since told him. I was not sitting beside him when he first saw it but my sister talked to him about it and she said he was most excited about the fact that people are out there praying for him (even people that dont know him). That makes me smile...
And that brings me to my final thought...
and that is just to say thank you! Thank you to all - for your emails and comments. They are so comforting and help more than you know.
Please keep Dad in your thoughts and prayers on Monday while he has his bone marrow appointment. Mom will be with him all day and I will let you know how that goes. Thank you again and God bless!!!

Welcome to my blog!

Hello everyone! My name is Wendy Modlin and this is about my father....

Well, I have started this blog for the sole purpose of keeping everyone up to date on what is happening with my dad. For those of you that do not know, my father found a lump in his groin area about 2 months ago and scheduled an appointment to have it removed. He had surgery August 22, 2008 to have both lymph nodes "cleaned out" and biopsied. After a LONG 2 weeks we got the results back....on September 2, 2008 we found out that my father has Hodgkins Disease.

Here is what little I know about Hodgkins Disease, I am sure I will be very educated on the subject in just a few short weeks though. Anyways, Hodgkins Disease is cancer in the lymph nodes. I know that it has a high cure rate (90% curable if found in the early stages). I thank God for that every day!

As of today we know that Dad's groin lymph nodes are infected, we do not know the extent of the cancer in the rest of his lymph nodes. He has had multiple tests to find out more and we are waiting for the results.

What we do know is that dad has to go through six months of chemo. The doctor has advised him to get a port put in his chest (basically a tube that will be put in his chest and left there for the life of his treatment, to take the chemo through).

Another thing about Dad is he served this country proudly in the U.S. Army during Vietnam. Many Vietnam vets have suffered from Agent Orange and Dad is now being tested for this. While doing his own research about it, he found a website about agent orange that stated that one of the main symptoms of this disease is Hodgkins... (the plot thickens).

Dads schedule that we know of so far:

Sept 9, 2008 - PET Test

Sept 15, 2008 - Bone Marrow Test

Sept 19, 2008 Port Surgery

I will blog every time I have any news about Dad. I ask and thank you for your continued prayers during this time. Dad doesn't look or feel (physically) any different. He is still on the golf course as much as possible and he has had such a positive attitude about it all. He has accepted this and is ready to beat it. We are behind him 110%.