SgtTuff13’s Blog

Just wanted to keep you all informed on the progress with my brother. As you know, over a month ago, my brother was diagnosed with Hodgkins. Hes has been goin through test after test and now we have some more information. He sent me a text last night that reads as follows: PET scan result….confined to neck and upper chest (greta early detection)….Bone marrow biopsy on Monday….Chemo (4-6 months) starts in November.

Talk about some real answers and relief. Although we have a long way to go, we know that he will kick its ass….Thanks again for the thoughts and prayers, my family as well as myself are exteremely grateful. Will keep you all posted as more becomes available….

Yestersday marked completion of my second week of therapy and I could not be any more pleased. When I started rehab I had very litte range and harldy any strength in my right arm. So after doin stretching and rubberband exercises I feel like I am getting closer to normal. Yesterday was test day, at least thats what my therapist called it. I really wasn’t expecting anything major, so I warmed up and went for it. First, My range of motion is awesome, almost completely normal.  Side lateral went from 105 degrees when I started to 160 degrees yesterday…HELL YEAH. Front lateral from 125 to 168. Second, my strength is almost equal to the strength of my left side…Let me tell ya this makes me one happy camper.

So like I said 4 more weeks of therapy and hopefully back to the real therapy, my gym. Will let you know more when I do…..Until then stay TUFF

As you know, I am well on my way to recovery after my shoulder surgery in August. Since then my life has had its fair share of ups and downs. Never being to hard or to critical I picked myself up and moved on. But just when things are looking up and things are going good life happens….

Sunday evening I recieved a phone call from my father to inform me that my baby brother (he’s 28), had an appointment to have an outpatirent surgery to remove a lympm node to help diagnose an ongoing issue. We were not alarmed at that point and were waitng to see what his diagnoses was. As I was sitting on my couch yesteday afternoon I got the call. My moms tone was the first clue that saomething was wrong. She told me that the surgery went well and that the doctor had done a biopsy of the removed node. This is were life stepped in. As a result of the test, it was detrermined that my brother has lymphoma, a cancer of the lymph nodes.

I was speechless and in tears and could not rationalize what was going on around me. This is my brother, the youngest of four, and a great friend and person to all. How could this be happening to him, what the hell did he do to desrve this. Its not fair. I am mad and at odds with the high powers, although I know its not "his" fault. I just want this to be a bad dream and wake up to everything being normal.

Of course this is not the case and we have to deal with this as best as possible. My brother God bless him is taking this all in stride. His attitude is nothing short of amazing. He is in good spirits and is relieved that they know what it is. Hell he is taking this better than the rest of us and he is the one with the cancer. I truly admire his strength and courage. He is a true inspiration to me. I do not think I could deal with it as calmly and rationaly as he.

So here we are, waiting for the rest of the news and treatment. He goes back Monday for the complete panel results and then to the oncologist Thursday, were they will run more test and formulate a battle plan. Until then we are trying to keep our heads as well as our spirits up…..