February 2012

No further action needs to be taken for Denny at this time. We spoke with Jennifer, Dr. Haughey's nurse. She said when he did the biopsy, he cleaned out all the necrotic tissue. When the biopsy was reviewed by Dr. Haughey, he said he was glad that it came back negative and that he will not need to see Denny until February 2012.

We are getting ready to celebrate Denny's 58th birthday on August 21st. In spite of what he says, it is NOT just another day. It is a miracle!

Love to all,
Deb

God Heard Us

Thanks to all for your thoughts and prayers. God heard us. Jennifer, Dr. Haughey's nurse called about 11:30am with the biopsy results. She said it showed no signs of cancer. Dr. Haughey still has to review the report but he would be the first to say he is glad he was wrong. Jennifer said there were issues with unhealed and necrotic tissue in the areas biopsied that still needs to be addressed. The area should be healed by now because the surgery was May of 2010. We will speak to Dr. Haughey and see what the plan is to get this area healthy again.

In the meantime, these Woodruff's are celebrating! Dana and Dan both called their dad when I called them with the news. Everybody has been pretty choked up and emotional over this miracle Denny has been given. It is a good day here in the little log cabin by the woods in Tennessee!

Love to all,
Deb

Waiting....

It is so good to be home! Denny went to work today as usual. His eyes look a little puffy like they do when you have a sinus infection but that is all. He is not in pain or feeling bad.

Now we wait. I'm hoping we hear something by Thursday about the biopsy. Since the doctor was so confident that it is cancer (and he hasn't been wrong yet!), we are more interested to know if there are any treatment options. We know, from the last time, that there isn't much more that can be done other than trying chemo again. However, we always have hope that the doctors will have a new approach to beating this disease.

During the biospy, when Denny was in the pre-op area, he got very frustrated with the whole situation. I don't blame him. He said to me, "This is getting old". I said, "Yes, it is, but we don't quit. Woodruff's (and in my case, Guilliams) don't quit. We are going to fight this just like we have the last two times. WE DON'T QUIT." He nodded his head and they took him off to surgery.

We are building strength, always looking for the positive and waiting.....

Love to all,
Deb

Biopsy Day

Denny had his biopsy this morning. We will not know the results immediately. They said it will take 3 - 4 business days. The doctor did say, "If you ask me if the cancer is back, however, I would say Yes." I don't know anything more. We did not discuss treatment options. The doctor said let's wait for the biopsy results to confirm and go from there.

I will post as further information becomes available. Thanks for checking in.

Love to all,
Deb

Denny's July Check up

Hello, family and friends,
It's been awhile since I've posted. Life has been moving at a pretty fast pace. In my last post, I said I would be posting the results of Denny's July checkup.

I wish I could say "All is well." However, that is not the case. Denny's MRI showed a "hot" spot near the dura (the flap that was grafted between his brain and sinus cavity) in the right side of his sinus cavity this time. All the trama has previously been on the left. Dr. Haughey, the ENT doc, could not see any mass but the surface of the cavity appeared not to be healing. The rough, unhealed surfaces are suspicious.

A biopsy is scheduled for Monday, July 18th at 7:30am. I will be driving up to be with him. We truly expected everything to be fine so I was doing a campus visit with Dana in Kentucky when we got the news tonight.

Dan is going to head out Sunday for my mom & dad's. Dana will be traveling with me back to Missouri to help with the driving. The last biopsy Denny had, they kept him overnight due to excessive bleeding. That being the case, he will not be in any shape to drive back to Tennessee on Tuesday. Dana is going to drive one vehicle and I will drive the other; a truck (stick shift).

I will post as soon as I have news. If you don't see anything on here, well...that means I don't know anything! Stay tuned and thanks for checking in.

Love to all,
Deb

Early Notice

The biopsy results are in. The result is negative for cancer. It appears the prostate is just enlarged. The doctor made comment that it can occur when a man sits alot. Denny has had to do that with his recovery. He is scheduled for a follow up in July 2011.

Thanks for checking in.

Love to all,
Deb

What We Know...

Denny had the biopsy today. It will take a week to get the results. They think, however, that it is just enlarged. It is enlarged at 62%. (62% of what, I don't know.) We will post here when we have results. Thanks for checking in.

Love to all,
Deb

Holding our breath

It looks like another bump in the road may be looming on the horizon. Our primary care physician first noticed a little problem back in late summer. Denny's PSA count for prostate health was a little high. He saw a urologist here at Vanderbilt last fall. Dr. Chang didn't feel that was the time to start anything. He felt Denny needed to deal with the sinus issue first. (Dr. Chang is a very non-alarmist type of doctor. We feel confident that he will help Denny through to a positive outcome.)

The PSA count has been steadily climbing since. It went from 3.0 last March to 7.44 last week. Supposedly under 4 is normal for a man his age.

We aren't assuming it is cancer. There are other things that can cause an increase in this number. Things such as infection or benign growths. He is scheduled for a biopsy at Vanderbilt on March 21st.

He feels fine. There are no symptoms of any problems nor is he experiencing any pain. We are holding our breath that this will turn out to be something small. I will keep the blog up-to-date with any news we have.

Thanks for checking in.

Love to all,
Deb

Farewell for Now

Life is a party! Denny and I celebrated New Year's Eve at home with Dana and our friends, Kathy, Perry, and Andrew. We played games and set off fireworks at midnight.

As we stepped into the New Year, I was privately celebrating the victories of 2010. What a year! To say it was a "bad" year would be incorrect. We experienced one of the greatest miracles of our lives! I guess you have to experience the "lows" in order to appreciate the "highs"; not that I would wish that journey on anyone!

(Our prayers are with Denny's cousin, Glenda, now. You may remember her name from previous posts. She was a great help to us staying with Dana and Dan while we were in St. Louis. She was recently diagnosed with cancer and is recovering from surgery. As we have experienced a miracle, we believe God has one in store for her too!)

From here, we will continue to maintain vigilance on this disease. Denny will spend the rest of his life getting periodic checkups and scans. The year, 2011, has started out free and clear. We are grateful for TIME and plan to make the most of it.

Therefore, I'm saying "Farewell for Now". This blog will remain available to any friend or family member that wants to re-read our incredible journey. I'm hoping not to have to add any more posts to it. However, should the need arise, it will be revived. Thank you for your comforting support, encouraging messages and heartfelt prayers. Denny would not be here without them. Thank you!

We wish for you a safe, healthy, and Happy New Year!

Love to all,
Deb & Denny

Safe and Sound

We finally arrived home at 4pm this afternoon. The highways leaving St. Louis were still slushy and a bit slick. Once we got out of town, the highways cleared off and we had smooth sailing until we hit Nashville. It was snowing a little here and it was rush hour. Luckily, we made it home safe and sound.

Love to all,
Deb

Today's final entry

Denny just got out of the outpatient surgery. The port has been removed. He is a "normal" person again. Everything went smoothly. He does not need to come back to St. Louis until the middle of June.

Thanks for checking in. Drive safe if you have to go out.

Love to all,
Deb

Delayed

Denny went into to see his doctor early so that we could get out of town before the storm hit here. However, the chemo doctor decided he wanted to remove Denny's port today. He is scheduled for an outpatient surgery at 2pm and wouldn't be ready to travel until after 4pm. We feel that is too late to leave for Nashville given the bad weather that has hit down there. We will stay another night at the lodge and hopefully, get out of here tomorrow morning.

The kids are home, holding down the fort. Our neighbor is close by in case they need anything. My mom had been staying with them but she had to leave this morning to get back to Missouri before the other storm hit.

Everything happens for a reason. We are glad the port is coming out. Maybe the delay will help the roads clear for safer travel. We hope you travel safe today wherever you are!

Love to all,
Deb

Tricky business

Snow and ice are dominating the weather reports. We are heading out of one band of storms and into another. It's going to be tricky business getting home this time!

Denny's appointment was scheduled at 1pm with his chemo doctor today. With the weather factor, he is headed over to the hospital now to get his port flushed and to see if he can get into see the doc a little earlier. I'm at the Lodge packing up our stuff and cleaning the room. Hopefully, this will work in our favor to get us out of town quicker.

I will update the blog when I get home with the final report on Denny's scan's. Until then, we are sending out prayers to another beloved family member on her way to surgery Jan. 12th. Cancer is the culprit there too. Denny and I are confident she will win her battle. Sending love and hugs to you, G.! Team Woodruff is standing strong right beside you.

Love to all (especially G.),
Deb

Preliminary Test Results

Today, Denny met with the Ear-Nose-Throat doc and his neurosurgeon. Both said everything looked good. We got the preliminary results for the PET scan and the MRI. Both of those looked good but we are waiting for the official radiology report. We are not expecting any bad news. The Neurosurgeon looked at the preliminary MRI and he said he didn't see anything to worry about. Both of those doc's said, "See you in 6 months!"

The next appointment isn't until Monday afternoon. We should hear the final results for the scans at that time.

Thanks for checking in.

Love to all,
Deb

Treatment "success" results

Tomorrow we leave for St. Louis. Denny is scheduled for a PET scan, an MRI, and appointments with all of his doctors. They are going to be doing a thorough exam to see where he stands in his fight with cancer. Hopefully, we will return to Nashville free and clear until his next checkup. The testing and appointments will keep us in St. Louis until the 10th.

Denny is feeling very good and he is usually the best indicator of his health. He has always known when something is wrong. This time he doesn't feel like anything is questionable so that is good news to me!

I will post the results of his tests and appointments on the blog. Thanks for checking in! Happy New Year!

Love to all,
Deb