The Good Fight

Mark has felt terrible, been bedridden and had severe headaches ever since he returned from the hospital in Boston. Today was his doctor's appointment with Dr. Aviles, the oncologist, and it was the first time that he hadn't had a headache in days. He needs to begin a new treatment regimen but Dr. Aviles wants to give him some time to recuperate from the past two weeks before he proceeds. Therefore, he is now scheduled for a CT scan on July 9 and will return to Dr. Aviles for the results and decide a treatment plan on July 16. One possibility that Dr. Aviles is considering is chemo in a pill form called XELODA which Mark could take at home instead of administering anything intravenously but that course of treatment is tentative and may depend on the outcome of the CT scan.
Dr. Aviles is eager to find a treatment that will kill off the cancer cells with lessor adverse side effects than some of the former treatments Mark has received. He forsees the battle to kill the cancer cells in the lung and airways to continue and he is attempting to find a treatment that will be effective but not destroy Mark's quality of life. Dr. Aviles is very attentive and wonderful at explaining the situation. He says that Mark's body is a battlefield and the cancer and the treatments are fighting for control over his body. It is very much trial and error and several types of treatments may be in the offing, possibly with some breaks in between to enjoy life and possibly return to Puerto Rico for a short visit.
I will report back on Monday, July 16 after we meet with Dr. Aviles, receive the Ct scan results and the next treatment regimen is determined.

The MRI didn't show anything wrong at all so Mark was released from the hospital around 12:30 today. He has a script for muscle relaxers for his neck which they think is the source of his headaches. The headaches started right after last week's surgery in which they manipulated his neck into awkward positions to perform the procedure to get the tumor out of his airway so the manipulation and variety of drugs they administer can cause headaches. The muscle relaxer is to help ease the tension around his neck and shoulders.
Mark is now scheduled to see the oncologist on Cape, Dr. Aviles, Friday and we are told that he will start new treatments of erbitux or chemo next week to attack the smaller tumors in his right lung. Then the doctors in Boston have him scheduled for another bronchoscopy for the end of July. They claim that the tumor removed last week will probably grow back and they are suggesting either radiation or a procedure specifically for tumors in the airways called photodynamic therapy. This would follow the chemo or whatever regimen is decided Friday. So, there are sure to be various treatments throughout the summer but it is unlikely that they will require any overnight hospitalizations. It sure is GREAT to be home! Those hospitalizations are incredibly disruptive and noisy and inevitably Mark gets the roommates with the most problems. They sure do not provide an arena for any rest, relaxation or sleep! Mark was awakened at 1:30 am for his MRI then awakened every hour til 6 am when his newest roommate started a round of phone calls so Mark had to give up on sleep. We are both exhausted! Gary had chemo today and he headed home exhausted as well. I'll update the blog this weekend after we visit Dr. Aviles.
It sure has been a challenging two weeks but we really were able to put it all aside and enjoy every minute of the wedding weekend despite hospitalizations before and after! Now we just need a breather to regroup before we move on to a new treatment schedule. It was great to see so many of you at the wedding. Thanks for making it so much fun and memorable for us.

Mark had a bronchoscopy this morning and it didn't show any progression of tumors so it is just the after effects of last week's surgery that is causing the congestion and spitting up the blood. So, the pulmonary team has completed their work with him. However, he is being kept for another night because they called in a neurologist late this afternoon to investigate the cause of the headaches. It is suspected that they are simply a reaction to the drugs, positioning, etc. of the procedure last week and that they will disappear soon, however, as a precautionary measure, they are keeping Mark in the hospital one more night and giving him an MRI. If that checks out well, then he will be released tomorrow. He visits the oncologist on the Cape Friday and it is expected that he will be put back on chemo. Then when that treatment is complete, they claim he will have to have either the photodynamic therapy or radiation.
Meanwhile, Gary got back good results today from his CT scan and physical. So, I'd say it is a
positive day for the "Sheehan Cancer Team".
I dropped Mike and Steph at the airport at 6 am today and am exhausted and spent much of the day in Mark's hospital bed!
I'll update again by Friday afternoon.

We had a memorable night reminiscing about Mike and Steph at the rehearsal dinner in Newport on Thursday and were joined by about 50 others later in the evening for the pre-wedding cocktail party. Friday was the wedding and it was absolutely incredible. We all had high expectations and they were surpassed. It was fabulous and a great opportunity to have fun while seeing relatives and old friends that mean the most to us and we REALLY enjoyed ourselves!! Saturday was the brunch at the International Tennis Hall of Fame and that too went off without a hitch. Thanks to the miracles of modern drugs, Mark was able to enthusiastically get through the entire weekend with the help of his pain killers and he really held up incredibly well. We even stopped at Gina and Chuck's wedding for a few hours on the way home from Newport!
However, he was very tired Sunday, short of breath, had another of the headaches he has had in the past week and still coughing up some blood. So, we arranged to meet his Cape Pulmonary doctor, Dr. Shuttari, at Falmouth Hospital around noon Monday. Dr. Shuttari contacted the doctors in Boston that had operated last week and it was decided that he would return to Boston by ambulance.
Kevin and Katie met me at the emergency room and I dropped them off at Logan for their return to Park City and then headed to Deaconess again. Mark had arrived by ambulance and it was decided that he will have another bronchoscopy tomorrow morning, Tuesday, June 26, and they will try to find out what is going on and make a determination of how to proceed. I expect that he will be in the hospital for a few days and I will be staying in Boston.
Meanwhile, Gary gets his results of his CT scan tomorrow late in the day and has another chemo treatment Wednesday. So, he will be out of commission for a few days. We will try to update the blog as best we can. Check out his blog at www.gmsheehan.blogspot.com
I am picking up Mike and Steph at 5 am to drop them at Logan where they will depart from for their honeymoon in the Dominican Republic for 12 days. I will remain in Boston for the duration of Mark's stay and Gary and I will do our best to keep everyone updated on Mark's situation.
Nancy

Mark was operated on late this morning and they got the tumor which was blocking two of his three airways into the right lung. They removed it with an instrument which they describe like a rooter and pulled it out. This was purely a surgical removal to open the clogged airway and does nothing to address the tumors that remain in Mark's lung. The procedure was considered a success although the instrument did cause a bit of bleeding when it scraped the wall of the lung. Mark had a horrible headache and was spitting up blood so the doctors and staff recommended that he stay overnight just to be extra cautious but they expect he will be fine after a night of monitoring.
He will return home tomorrow, Tuesday, and the doctors claim he will be recuperated and well enough to leave for the wedding Thursday afternoon. However, once all the wedding festivities are over, he will visit his oncologist, Dr. Aviles, and it is expected that he will begin a new regimen of chemo or back to erbitux and possibly radiation although Mark says he doesn't want to endure radiation again. The surgeons in Boston are already suggesting future procedures to follow chemo in case the tumor grows back in the airway again which they claim is very likely. So, it looks like there are options for all sorts of treatments in the future but for this week, we will focus on the happiness that Mike and Steph are bringing into our lives at this difficult time. We plan to forget the word "cancer" for the weekend and enjoy our time with family and friends celebrating the marriage in Newport!! We will all rally and plan to have fun!

Mark's surgery was pushed back until today (Monday) at 11 or 12p...Nancy will do an update tomorrow once we know more about how it went, how he's doing, when he'll get home, etc.
The procedure should run smoothly and we're all hopeful he will be home later tonight or tomorrow.
-Gary

Today, Mark had his bronchoscopy and it revealed that his right lung airway was almost completely blocked, 2/3 occlusion and it was stated that there was a danger not to take action immediately despite the wedding being a week away. So, Gary and Mike came to the hospital and it was decided that Mark would be sent to Boston in an ambulance to have a world reknown doctor, Dr. Ernst at Beth Israel - Deaconess, operate, perhaps over the weekend, to remove the tumor in the next few days. He should be home at the beginning of the week and able to attend the wedding. He called me when he arrived at the hospital and said that he had a state police escort from the split in Braintree going into Boston with the sirens going and all and when he arrived at the hospital, the staff already knew about the wedding!
Kevin and his girlfriend are due in for a week for the wedding on Sunday, Father's Day so it will be nice to have them closeby too.
I am heading to Boston now and will try to update the blog again by Monday.
Nancy

After three weeks of Erbitux treatments, Mark's course of treatment was halted because he was having such a severe reaction of pimples, itching and exhaustion. He had another CT scan and blood work and we returned to the oncologist yesterday for the verdict. It appears that the Erbitux may have shrunk the cancer that was advancing but there are still concerns about what is going on in his lung and the pipes leading into the lung. Mark continues to suffer the side effects of the Erbitux although it has been more than two weeks since his last treatment. He is very tired much of the time and still itchy and has a rash but he has been able to get in some golf and gardening.
It was decided that he would meet with Dr. Shuttari, the pulmonary specialist he saw last summer in Falmouth and be reevaluated and considered for a visit to more specialists at Beth Israel in Boston. Mark had so many bad experiences in Boston last summer that he considers that a last resort. He still panics at memories of the doctor suggesting he have his arm amputated and the screaming "cellmate" when he stayed overnight!!
He will meet with Dr. Shuttari on Tuesday, June 12 and we will report back with further
testing results when they are available. For now, we are planning to revisit Dr. Aviles, the oncologist, on June 29 and decide on the next course of treatment.
Gary has a fantastic attitude about his Hodgkins Lymphoma and is almost half way done with his chemo treatments and has been very faithful in keeping everyone up to date with his blog http://www.gmsheehan.blogspot.com. If you haven't visited it yet, please do so. He is an inspiration to all and we are so proud of how he has handled the business demands as well as the
cancer fight.
Meanwhile, the next few weeks are filled with birthdays, graduation celebrations and Mike & Steph's Grand Greek Wedding in Newport on Friday, June 22. We have much to look forward to and the excitement of it all is overshadowing the family's health concerns.