A day to remember - but not for the best of reasons

A little history here. John had prostate cancer diagnosed about 5 years ago. This was treated with radiation and went into remission. Last year, the prostate cancer recurred and he has been having treatment for this. About a month ago, he had a body scan and an MRI to check for “hot spots”. There was nothing in the pelvis around the prostate. But some suspicious places showed up in the chest area. John was referred to a pulmonologist. A bronchoscopy and biopsy were scheduled for this morning.

We had snow and ice when we left to go to the hospital this morning. (John said he heard they had closed the bridge because of ice shortly after we crossed it.) Glad we went on and chanced it, though, since we got there without incident. The procedure went as scheduled and John did well.

Unfortunately, the results were not good. He has lung cancer, possibly related to his long-time smoking (even though he quit 30 years ago). It's separate, not metastatic from the prostate cancer. And there’s another suspicious area on his larynx, which will be investigated by a head and neck surgeon.

Today, we're just dealing with that shock and trying to process the information. There will be lots more testing in the days ahead - to "stage" the tumor, breathing tests, PET scans, etc. Then the docs will be able to determine what sorts of treatment to recommend.

Stay with us. We’ll keep you posted on our journey.