Hi everyone! First, I want to say how valuable this forum is to me and my husband. My husband was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer June 2009. Also this wasn't enough, we had neen planning a lg. wedding for over a yr. My daughter was married 4 weeks later with my hubby walking her down the isle. There wasn't a dry eye in the church. We first took my hubby, Norm, to a small cancer clinic near us. The Dr. there told us what we wanted to hear that he could help treat my husband. In our small farming community, word got around that my husband had stage 4 cancer. I had friends of mine calling me and telling me about a wonderful place called Hillman Cancer Center in Pittsburgh, Pa. We went down and had a appt. with a wonderful Dr.-Dr. Leonard Appleman. He told us that he would try to help my hubby, but couldn't promise anything. The whole place was so professional and the people there so caring . We could'nt believe that after just one treatment, my hubby showed some improvement. He never got sick, lost his hair, or got his stomach upset except 1 time ,and I gave him a pill and he felt better. Dr. Appleman told us that my hubby was his first patient that had stage 4 and has survived. He went from a walker to a cane in 4 weeeks and then the day of the wedding he felt strong enough to walk here down the aisle and to dance at her wedding. Last August the cancer unfortunately came back and my husband decided to have the neo-bladder surgery. He wanted to wait till winter,because he is a farmer and he had alot of things to do before winter. Our surgeon, Dr. Jodi Maranchi, told us that this cancer was very aggresive and we had to do it before it got any worse. The surgery and the rehab. is not a picnic, but he is a fighter and he made it thru with flying colors. He went to a nursing home for rehab. for a month ,then came home. He was the first person with a neo=bladder at the home and they did fine taking care of him. He is doing pretty well now and he is getting his energy back and able to do some of his things that he did before. Our love life, is not like is was before the surgery. Norm is 66 and I'm 62, and he was my first love. We are hoping in time, that we can resume our love life, but I told him after reading this forum that he can't give up and to be patient. We are going to talk to the surgeon next week to see what she has to say. Sorry for the long post, but I hope that maybe there is another couple that we can help with our cancer story. I'm always reading this forum and there is so much info. on here to help other cancer patients. Thanks for the great forum!
