New Surgeries at University of Chicago

MON 06/29/2009

hello to all. we have started new radio-static surgery to both lungs and the liver. radio-static surgery is similar to the gamma-knife surgery gina had before. gina had a mold made of her body and she lays in there while the doctors and physicists perform the radiation treatments to specific areas in her lungs and liver. i have provided a short list of ginas schedules and we already are on our second treatment of six as i type this. keep us in your prayers as gina said this is the hardest and MOST PAINFUL of all treatments so far. i am praying for GOD to guide the surgeons careful hands and give gina the strength and courage to fight (and also the humility to know she has to rest). love you all - keep up those prayers and all the support.

schedule for radio-static surgeries at UCMC

• THU 06/25 liver radiated


• MON 06/29 both lungs radiated


• TUE 06/30 liver


• THU 07/02 lungs


• MON 07/06 liver


• TUE 07/07 lungs

WE WILL BE DONE ON TUESDAY JULY 7TH, 2009 AND CAN SAY GOOD-BYE TO THOSE THREE TUMORS 4EVER! the next step? We are looking into a new type of herceptin trial that we heard about going on Indiana and are considering doing this next to get rid of any other tumors in other parts of the body. If you don't remember, the Herceptin drug has been the one CONSTANT treatment and I think it is doing it's job. if you want to see how it works again then click here How herceptin Works. After watching the video just click your back button to return to this page. We will keep you posted and thanks again for all you guys do!

News from the Masons

06/09/2009

So we have some news for everyone....

• Gina finished her last radiation to her leg yesterday and is also done with radiation to neck/back area. (Yeah!)
• After talking to Dr Schwartz and Dr Olopade, we have been told there is a doctor friend/associate of Dr Schwartz at the University of Chicago Medical Center that may be able to help with liver and both lungs.
• Gina and I met with Dr. Salama at UCMC on Friday, 06/05/09 for a consultation and were glad to hear that Gina can have surgery called radio-static surgery to lungs and liver that has @ 80% chance to get rid of these tumors.
  
• I placed a link for radio-static surgery. In a nutshell, it is basically a very concentrated dose of radiation to specific location of body. The dose is calculated and very precise to give maximum results. There are possible side effects such as ulcers, pneumonia in lung(s) and a possible lung collapse. After talking to Dr Salama, he stated Gina has an air pocket in one of her lungs that the tumor is pressing against. This means, it is possible that the lung could collapse once that tumor is radiated and was compared to ripping a band aid off wound causing it to bleed. The doctor did say that he has done many, many of these procedures and UCMC has been performing them successfully sine 2004! amazing.
  
• We went back to UCMC on Monday, 06/08/09 and Gina was marked and measured for surgery - she had tattoos marked for reference points instead of marker lines and said they really hurt. Gina will hopefully start the radiation (radio-static) in next couple of weeks. We have been told that Gina will probably have three doses to liver and five or six doses to lungs. More on this when we talk to doctor.
• Other than that, Gina is doing well but very tired. Of course, it has been almost two years since treatments have begun so who wouldn't be tired?!?

Relay For Life of Kankakee County is this Saturday, June 14th and starts at 2pm. Please come and support Gina and her teams (The Dream Believers, dream Believer 2, and Dream Believer Kidz) as well as The American Cancer Society. See you there.