Victor's Progress: Update

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Update - July 14th

Vic is still in Morristown Memorial Hospital. He seems to take one step forward and two steps back. We thought he might be released by this Thursday and the doctor was hoping to give him his first dose of chemo, but as of yesterday, he is still in a lot of pain and hasn't been able to get out of bed. The doctors have given him stronger doses of pain killers, which is making him very groggy, sleepy and "out of it" most of the time. It's getting harder and harder to keep my emotions in check while I'm with him. He wants to come home in the worst way and he wants to continue with our life like it was before. If he doesn't improve by Thursday, I have a meeting with the doctor on Friday at 8:00 am to discuss our next course of action. Please keep praying.

Barbara

4 comments:

AnonymousJuly 14, 2009 at 1:01 PM
Barbara we are keeping you and the whole family in our thoughts in prayers.
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Linda AdamsJuly 14, 2009 at 5:48 PM
Hugs Barbara. You are in our thoughts and prayers. Victor called mom the other day. It is nice to know she is on his mind. We all love Vic and you so much. Chin up girlfriend. Think this is the time we can not be selfish and must think what is best for Vic. What will make him the most comfortable. And it will not be easy. Know that we are all right here with you and appreciate your blogs to keep us updated. With our love,
Eva, Cathy, Linda
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Michele RosivackJuly 14, 2009 at 11:02 PM
Barbara, you are all in our thoughts & prayers. It was wonderful to see you at Owen's party and I know how much Vic wishes he could have been there too. Please tell him that we are thinking & praying for him. I know how unbelievably hard this has been for you and you are doing such a wonderful job staying strong through all of it. Please give our love to Vic & love and hugs to you as well! - Michele
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UnknownJuly 16, 2009 at 9:31 PM
Mark and I continue to prayer for Vic and you Aunt Barb! Thank you for keeping up with letting us know what is going on!

love you both,
Liz driegert and Mark
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Vic's Story

As you may or may not know, Victor Barrales was diagnosed with colon cancer in April 2007.

His first surgery was on May 10, 2007 and it was believed that all of the cancer was removed but to improve his chances on a full recovery, chemotherapy treatment was advised for 6 months after the surgery.The chemotherapy drugs proved very detrimental to Vic’s health. He became very ill from the first treatment and had to be treated at the Sparta Cancer Center daily with intravenous infusions. His white cell count dropped extremely low and was prone to severe infections.

After his 10th chemo treatment, he was rushed to Newton Memorial Hospital with a very high pulse rate and the physicians at the hospital believed he was having a heart attack. It was determined by Vic’s cardiologist that the one form of chemo was causing this problem. He then decided to stop the chemotherapy and his first cancer marker test numbers came back normal. However, another test was taken in early January 2008 and the numbers came back unbelievably high indicating that the cancer had spread.

At the same time, a “lump” was discovered in the back of Victor’s leg and again, he had to have surgery to remove it. This, Thank God, proved to be noncancerous. Victor’s cancer marker test numbers, however, were now going up almost on a weekly basis. He went to see a new oncologist at the Carol Simon Cancer Center in Morristown and went through several Cat Scans. It was discovered that his cancer had indeed spread and was now in his peritoneal lining. He was immediately started on new types of chemotherapy with the hopes that this new cancer was caught early enough. This chemo did even more havoc to Vic’s body. He had to be hospitalized each time he was infused, sometimes twice in a month. He also came down with serious infections from one of the chemo drugs, which meant more surgery in August and again in December.

Now, Victor has been told that there is a surgery to help stop the spread of his cancer, but it is only performed by 4 doctors. Two doctors are located in Baltimore, one in Washington, DC and the other in California. This is very serious surgery, taking as long as 14 hours to perform and up to 21 days in the hospital. Complete recovery will be about 6 months. If the surgery is successful, it would mean not having to get chemo treatments unless the cancer returns.

Victor has been scheduled for this surgery (Cytoreductive) on April 14, 2009 by Dr. Sardi with Mercy Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. His latest Scans have shown that the cancer is showing in the surface of his liver but is still contained to the right side of his abdomen. We expect to be in Baltimore for a minimum of 3 weeks.

Victor's Progress

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Update - July 14th

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