Gary update

Two weeks ago, we found out my father-in-law, Gary Burch had a mass in his lung. He went the the doctor because he'd had a persistent cough since October. They ordered some CAT scans and found this mass. A specialist met with him a week ago and preliminarily diagnosed it Stage 3 cancer. He had another round of tests and scans over the past week. We found out the information below copied from an e-mail yesterday. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers over the next week and during his recovery which will be long and painful.
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Gary and I met with Dr. Stephenson this morning to get the results from all the testing. What was supposed to be a four hour appointment turned out to be much shorter.

The PET scan and brain MRI showed no evidence of spreading. Of course, we were reminded that cancer cells are extremely small and these procedures are not microscopic. The lymph node that showed concern in the CT scan did not show up on the PET….praise GOD!!

The biopsy of the mass was termed “inconclusive” (could not be called malignant) but there were suspicious cells. Therefore, we go to the next step.

Surgery is scheduled for 8 am Thursday, March 12 and will proceed as follows:

• Lymph nodes from the surrounding area will be taken and frozen for immediate biopsy. If these nodes are clear of cancer cells, they move on with the surgery and remove one lobe of the lung or the entire lung depending on the location of the mass.

• If the lymph nodes are not clear then the surgery stops. Gary will then get chemotherapy for a period of time. Surgery will take place later if the chemo has done its job.
  
  
• Dr. Gluck (Medical Oncologist) says that even if they go ahead and remove the mass some chemotherapy afterwards may be necessary. That will be determined later.
  
  We will update after surgery.
  
  Grace and peace,
  
  Claire and Gary