Rollercoaster Week

Last weekend we went to Chad McKinneys lake house for my birthday! Kit and James and Chad and Lauren joined us. The McKinneys were so nice to host us and the girls went hiking while the guys played golf. It was a great weekend with great friends!

So Monday March 8 was my birthday and was the most gorgeous day in Atlanta we have had in months!! 75 degrees and sunny! It was wonderful! Jarod and I went to dinner at one of our favorite little places Tin Lizzys they have the best cheese dip. Our Friends Drew and Erika joined us as well it was a great to sit outside on the porch.

The next day Tuesday the 9th Jarod had a follow up appointment with his doctor Dr. Major Reid from a visit in January in which he thought he had appendicitis. The test showed that his appendix was fine but that he did some some swollen lymph nodes which is what led to Tuesday's follow up appointment. They wanted to make sure they went down. Tuesday he had some blood drawn and his doctor said everything came back as it was supposed to except for 2 levels which he had some concern about.

He then got Jarod in Tuesday to see Dr. Filip an oncologist to discuss somethings, he decided it would be a good idea to do some more tests so he ordered a chest x-ray and an ultrasound for the following day and CT for Thursday.

Wednesday March 10 Jarod had a chest x-ray and ultrasound done in the late afternoon. Then next morning Thursday March 11 Jarod got a call from Dr. Filip and said it looks like you are scheduled for a CT this afternoon, he said when you get done with that I'd like you to come by my office.

Thursday March 11 in the afternoon Jarod had his CT done and we went together to meet with Dr. Filip around 5:00pm that afternoon. He explained to us that the results of the blood work had shown 2 levels known as HCG and Alpha Feta Protein which is are strong tumor indicators. They couldn't see a tumor on the original CT done in January and that's why they had ordered the Chest x-ray to see if it was in there and the Ultrasound to see if it was in his testis. The ultrasound did show a very small tumor that had spread to the lymph nodes which is what had caused the swollen lymph nodes to show up. He said this means that you have stage 2 of testicular cancer. Later we learned that the type of tumor Jarod has even though it is small is very aggressive and can spread rapidly to multiple organs if not properly treated.

Thursday night we went home and it talked it was the longest night and remained me of the service our Church has each year at Christmas for those that are lonely, sick, or morning. Its a night time service called the longest night and this gave it a whole new meaning to me. We didn't sleep much but we had each other to get through it.

About 4:00 am Friday Morning I called Cleo and told him what was going on and that we were scheduled to go to 2 appointments later in the day. He told March right away and they had some time to process before coming up to Atlanta around 1:00 pm.

Jarod's appointments yesterday afternoon were with the surgeon first Dr. Saljon he explained to all of us that this has to come out as soon as possible and he scheduled surgery for Monday March 15 at 2:30 pm he will be removing the right testicle only and leave the lymph nodes. At first this was curious to us as to why they would not take out everything infected but it is actually a good thing because it is less invasive and the chemo drugs have much more effective outcome at clearing them up and curing him. So we made the appointment went to pre-registration for the surgery which will be outpatient so most likely will be coming home Monday night.

After that appointment we went over the Oncologist Dr. Filip who works closing with both Dr. Reid our regular doctor and Dr. Saljon the surgeon. They had already spoken and he was on board with the surgery and we then discussed a brief outline of the steps after surgery.

Monday March 15 2:30 pm will be surgery then next Friday March 19 we will put in his port so that he doesn't have to be stuck with needles every time they put his Chemo IV in or take is blood. Monday March 22 is when we will be meeting with the oncologist to get the more accurate schedule of types of drugs and length of time. But the tentative plan now is to begin Chemo on Monday March 29 which will be four 3 week cycles. Week 1 will be five 8 hour days Monday - Friday, followed by Week two which will be Monday for 1 hour followed by week 3 which will be Monday for 1 hour this completes cycle one. There are not breaks between cycles so week 4 will be five 8 hour days again and that will be the first week in cycle two. This is all subject to change and we will know more on March 22.

Cleo and Marcy were able to hear all the same information as we did we feel that this prognosis is a good one and there is a 85% cure rate for this stage and type of cancer. We all love all of the doctors. They doctors are all board certified and they work through Piedmont hospital. We are a huge fan of Piedmont and it is VERY close to our home and it also has an ER which is good. Our oncologist has treated family members of our surgeon they trust each other with everything and we feel we are getting the same treatment they would administer to their own flesh and blood.

All the doctors has said if you are going to a cancer this is the one you want! We will beat this! For those of you who are far away I really think it is harder for you not being able to see and hear for yourself but I promise I am sharing the entire story with you and I promise Jarod and I have great spirits and a great attitude. I am very organized and have a notebook with all the dates of appointment, procedure names, times, and notes from the doctor. I will be here every step of the way. Also Cleo and Marcy are only 45 minutes away and will be a huge part of the process. My mom Janice is also going to be here for several of the appointments as well.

There are many blessings in this ugly disease, several of which are the fact 1) We live in Atlanta and have access to top of the line health care - a doctor who discovered a tumor so small they can barely see it on the ultrasound and even after they know its they still can feel it and that was on an a hunch!
2) Family and friends who are very close location wise and personally through all the support
3) Great jobs and great insurance - Jarod is able to take the time he needs to recover without having to worry about loosing his job or insurance.
4) Positive attitudes and each other - we will get through this because we will have each other to share the burden and the joys.
5) We are young and still have the rest of our lives ahead of us once we get past this!

I also a firm believer that you are never given more than you can handle and everything happens for a reason. We will meet people who will be in our lives forever our relationship together and with our loved ones will be stronger and the future children we have will be even that much more special to us whenever that may be.

I know this is not the most personal way to keep in touch with all of you who care so deeply for both Jarod and I but as you can imagine it can be hard to be on the phone repeating everything. We have tried to contact as many people as possible by phone up to this point, it you haven't heard yet and this is breaking the news to you for that I am sorry but know this is how we have chosen to communicate with friends and family through out the process.

Ways to reach us:
1)Facebook!! - Love me some facebook haha please send messages or post on walls or whatever you choose and I'll try to respond asap.
2)Email - lindseymcheney@gmail.com feel free to shoot me an email
3) text to 404-824-4403 or call (please be patient as it may take me some time to respond)
4) Jarod cell 919-539-6982 feel free to call him as well and check in we don't have a home phone so its just our cells.
5) Marcy and Cleo phones and emails facebook and Blogs

I will be posting the updated blogs on facebook and I will try to send out an email as well letting people know that I have updated the blog. I will be taking pics too and uploading them so you can see how well he is doing.

Thanks to everyone for all the love and support it is greatly needed along with prayers. It will be challenging spring and summer but home to be over this hill by July-ish.

I'll keep everyone posted!

Love,
Lindsey&Jarod

Thanks to everyone for all the support