Things were going great. Dave was going in for chemo every other Monday. Then, summer came. Of course he had a million things to do so he decided to take 5 weeks off of chemo so he didn't have to deal with those side affects. The first thing was vacation with the family. A cruise to Alaska in the middle of June. It was incredible. We had perfect weather and we ate crazy amounts of food. We saw glaciers, went on a hike, went whale watching, saw a lumberjack show, rode a train up to Canada, walked across a huge suspension bridge, went shopping, and went to the Buchart Gardens. It was amazing to get away and have some family time. Dave felt alright most of the time. The back pain was bad a couple days, but he went on all the excursions.
The next week was fairly uneventful. He had some pain but was well enough to work. Then, on Saturday, July 2, Dave went up to Wood Badge camp. Tuesday night was a bad night. He woke up in incredible amounts of pain and waited until morning to get someone to help him. He was in more pain than the day they originally found the cancer. They took him home and then my mom took him up to the emergency room at the University Hospital. After many tests including CT scans and x-rays the found that the tumors in his spine had grown considerably. They also needed a way to dull the pain he was in. They admitted him to the Huntsman Cancer Institute hospital and he was there until Thursday afternoon. They found that his L2 vertebrae collapsed and tumors cover his spine. They decided that he would go in for Radiation Therapy Monday, July 11 through Friday, July 15. Also, they would perform a vertebralplasty surgery on his L2 vertebrae. They did this surgery Friday, July 15 along with a Radiation dose. Pretty much what they do in the surgery is insert a balloon in his spine and fill it with medical cement to fill the space where the vertebrae should be. This should release pressure and hopefully lessen his pain.
The week of radiation was a bad week. He was in a lot of pain so he stayed home the whole week and mostly slept and rested. The surgery has helped his pain quite a bit. He still gets exhausted very easily and sometimes the pain is very intense.
They can't do chemotherapy until one week after radiation so you know what that means.....Chemo on Monday! They are changing the "cocktail" of drugs for his chemotherapy regimen to hopefully shrink the tumors in his spine.
I am very sorry that it has been so long since this thing has been updated. I had to take matters into my own hand and update it myself.
Thank you for all your support, thoughts, and prayers. They are much appreciated and definitely felt. We are so grateful for all that everyone does for us. We are so lucky to have so many incredible people in our lives.
Thanks for the update. We sure do love you guys. I know nobody is tougher than Dave Kasteler. We admire you Dave, you are a rock. We pray for you all and would do anything to help you and your family. The world is a better place because of Dave Kasteler! Please let us know if you need anything at all. xoxo,
ReplyDeleteThe Rockwoods
Thanks for the update. Ryan is very jealous you got to go on an Alaskan cruise. He would LOVE to go on one- but I tell him we need to do a Caribbean one first! The Fam looks great- you are in our thoughts and prayers.
ReplyDeleteStay strong Dave!
ReplyDeleteJohn Sturr
Can't see another place to post, but we are heartbroken to hear that Dave is gone. He was a great friend in the infusion lab. We knew how he suffered, but he never complained and he was such an inspiration to us. Phil had his first infusion the day Dave had his 12th. That was the beginning of our friendship and we never had another trip to the infusion lab without asking Keen for an update. We will certainly miss Dave. Our love and prayers are with you.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Phil and Lou Mueller