Oh boy
I have been asked to provide music for Danny and Cory's wedding. Halp.
Re posted from Frenzyboard:
[12/1]
My friend Danny has cancer (hodgkin's lymphoma). He had this bump on his neck for months and the doctors kept giving him run around after run around. Finally, a week ago, they game him the news that it is cancer. On Thanksgiving morning the pain in his neck was so intense he had to be hospitalized. The doctor wants him on chemo and radiation right away. His insurance cannot pay for it. he is so poor that he can qualify for public health care. If he does not get it, he dies.
[12/5]
From Danny's fiance [Cory]:
Danny's oncology appointment was today, and it went well in the sense that the doctor was very nice and thorough and explained everything and was eager to get things started.They are going to do a bone marrow biopsy in the next couple of days to make sure it hasn't spread to his bone marrow, but they aren't waiting for the results to start treatment. He was (without knowing about the bone marrow) basically staged at IIBE - it has begun to spread but is still just in one area (hence stage II). He has severe symptoms - night sweats, fevers, back pain, weight loss, which is the B. It has begun to expand to his rib and the lymph node in his right armpit, which is the E. He also has bulky disease - the tumor on his neck is greater than 4 inches, and it looks like pressure is being placed on some veins or something (I didn't quite understand this part) so he has these bluish tiny broken vessels along his chest.
Because of these symptoms and the size of the tumor, they are going to treat the cancer as they would a more advanced stage (III or IV). Instead of 2 or 3 cycles, they are going to have him do 6 cycles of chemo (the ABVD kind), which will take about 6 months.
At the end of the chemo, they will check to see if there is any cancer left. If so, then they will do radiation. They said that the chemo will mostly make him ill the day of and the day after the treatment, but that his symptoms should start to improve within about a week of the first session (I really hope they are right). His first session is next Wednesday.
[12/6]
Note posted to Danny's and Cory's Facebook:
Thank you all for your love and support. As many of you may know, we had planned to get married in March of 2009. However, as sometimes happens, God’s plans are not always the same as our plans, and this appears to be the case with our wedding.
...
After praying about it and seeking the advice of our family and church leaders, we have decided to move up the wedding. We will be married in a very small ceremony on December 20th so that we can be together as we concentrate on his treatment and recovery.
Once Danny has had a chance to heal, we would like to invite all of our friends and family to celebrate with a larger, more formal ceremony to celebrate our love and to express our gratitude for the love and support you have shown us.
We are confident that God has great plans for us and our family as we work together to overcome this obstacle.
Thank you all again for your prayers and encouragement.
Love,
Danny and Cory
***********************************************************************************************
So, update: Danny has not gotten the public assistance or his first chemo treatment.
And at the last moment Ernesto calls me wanting to get my MP3 player ready to be the music at the wedding and possibly reception.
Input would be appreciated. Rants about the lack of socialized medicine are welcome too!
Re posted from Frenzyboard:
[12/1]
My friend Danny has cancer (hodgkin's lymphoma). He had this bump on his neck for months and the doctors kept giving him run around after run around. Finally, a week ago, they game him the news that it is cancer. On Thanksgiving morning the pain in his neck was so intense he had to be hospitalized. The doctor wants him on chemo and radiation right away. His insurance cannot pay for it. he is so poor that he can qualify for public health care. If he does not get it, he dies.
[12/5]
From Danny's fiance [Cory]:
Danny's oncology appointment was today, and it went well in the sense that the doctor was very nice and thorough and explained everything and was eager to get things started.They are going to do a bone marrow biopsy in the next couple of days to make sure it hasn't spread to his bone marrow, but they aren't waiting for the results to start treatment. He was (without knowing about the bone marrow) basically staged at IIBE - it has begun to spread but is still just in one area (hence stage II). He has severe symptoms - night sweats, fevers, back pain, weight loss, which is the B. It has begun to expand to his rib and the lymph node in his right armpit, which is the E. He also has bulky disease - the tumor on his neck is greater than 4 inches, and it looks like pressure is being placed on some veins or something (I didn't quite understand this part) so he has these bluish tiny broken vessels along his chest.
Because of these symptoms and the size of the tumor, they are going to treat the cancer as they would a more advanced stage (III or IV). Instead of 2 or 3 cycles, they are going to have him do 6 cycles of chemo (the ABVD kind), which will take about 6 months.
At the end of the chemo, they will check to see if there is any cancer left. If so, then they will do radiation. They said that the chemo will mostly make him ill the day of and the day after the treatment, but that his symptoms should start to improve within about a week of the first session (I really hope they are right). His first session is next Wednesday.
[12/6]
Note posted to Danny's and Cory's Facebook:
Thank you all for your love and support. As many of you may know, we had planned to get married in March of 2009. However, as sometimes happens, God’s plans are not always the same as our plans, and this appears to be the case with our wedding.
...
After praying about it and seeking the advice of our family and church leaders, we have decided to move up the wedding. We will be married in a very small ceremony on December 20th so that we can be together as we concentrate on his treatment and recovery.
Once Danny has had a chance to heal, we would like to invite all of our friends and family to celebrate with a larger, more formal ceremony to celebrate our love and to express our gratitude for the love and support you have shown us.
We are confident that God has great plans for us and our family as we work together to overcome this obstacle.
Thank you all again for your prayers and encouragement.
Love,
Danny and Cory
***********************************************************************************************
So, update: Danny has not gotten the public assistance or his first chemo treatment.
And at the last moment Ernesto calls me wanting to get my MP3 player ready to be the music at the wedding and possibly reception.
Input would be appreciated. Rants about the lack of socialized medicine are welcome too!