Cancer is a disease of statistics....not that I personally subscribe to them but they are helpful to measure your actions and outcomes. In the world of cancer, if you survive five years you are considered cancer free. So here's some stats on pancreatic cancer:
In the United States, 4% of people diagnosed with pancreatic cancer survive.
Most don't survive past 4-6 months and 90% are dead within one year.
That being said, today was an important milestone in our world. When Jon was first diagnosed, Dr. Liao told us if chemo doesn't work he could be dead in two months. That was on November 2.
Today is January 2, 2007 and we are celebrating life!
Jon is strong, optimistic, and starting a promising treatment at Seattle Cancer and Wellness Center tomorrow. Their statistics are 88% success in the last two years....that means 8 patients out of 9 have lived throughout the course of the study. By far the most promising statistic we have.
I don't believe in statistics.
I do believe Jon is one of the 4%
I believe that he would be one of the 1%
I believe in his strength, dedication, and tenaciousness.
I believe that if anyone can beat this it is Jon Nichols
He will start the new program at 9:15 tomorrow morning. He can eat lots of sugar to get his cancer cells all excited so the chemo can blast them! Levi and Cindy are equipped with Cinnabon for their visit. Kristi, Kelsey, and I will send him out with chocolate bars.
Keep him full of positive thoughts, prayers, and energy!
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2 comments:
If "orneriness" is a sign, then Jon is going to be just fine. He gave the nurses a pretty bad time today. He asked Jessica at the end of the day if he was the worst patient she had and she paused before she answered him. Levi and I were thinking about seeing if they could surgically remove Jon's cell phone from his ear next week since they would have him there at the hospital anyway for a chemo treatment. That thing rings all the time!!!
In all seriousness, Jon is a trooper and never complained about a thing. I learned a lot today.
Sorry...two of those phone calls were from me! Couldn't help it, had to check on my pops. By the way, each time I called someone was microwaving a Cinnabon for him!
Lorri, good take on the statistics...
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