Troy had been dealing with pain issues for quite a few years.  He was going to a pain management doctor who was treating him for what they thought was 4 bulging disks in his lower back.  He thought that perhaps he was getting too old to be a Union Painter and that his body was so beat up from all of the years of pushing it to the max.  The pain was so unbearable that nothing would alleviate it; he had epidurals, injections, medications, patches, and nothing would work. 

He started having chest pains but figured it was probably from smoking too much.  One day he was at work on a new job site, and the chest pains were so severe that he called his wife, Tina, at work; they immediately went to the emergency room.  The hospital promptly did a chest x-ray which revealed several small spots in his lungs.  They proceeded to do an MRI which revealed a 15cmx17cm tumor on his right adrenal gland (located on top of the kidney).  After another series of tests, the doctors determined that Troy has Adrenal Cortical Carcinoma, a rare form of cancer that affects 1 or 2 people out of every 1 million.  No wonder he was in so much pain; the pressure inside his rib cage was tremendous! 

The tumor growing on his adrenal gland was attached to wall of his rib cage and part of his liver.  The oncologist brought the tumor before a “Tumor Board” at the hospital, and one of the surgeons volunteered to take Troy’s case.  Although very challenging, this doctor was confident that he could successfully remove the tumor.  The surgery lasted 11 hours and the surgeon had to remove his right adrenal gland, gall bladder, part of his liver and cut away the tumor from the chest wall. 

After recovery from the surgery, the oncologist sent the tumor to California to be analyzed by specialists to determine which chemo medications would be most effective in dissipating the spots in his lungs that metastasized from the original tumor on the adrenal gland in his lungs.  They found 7 different options, and Troy began chemotherapy treatments.  He was told that he had to go for 5 days in a row, once a month, for 6 months. 

He had just had 2 sessions of chemo when he began to have trouble reading, writing, comprehending and walking.  I informed the doctors, and they tried to tell me that it was probably post-chemo side effects.  I did not feel that was the case, so I kept trying to tell the doctors that something wasn’t right.  They continued to ignore my concerns.  Eventually, Troy fell and hit his head on the wall, which prompted another trip to the ER, which revealed a concussion along with another tumor, 3cmx7cm, on his brain.  They immediately performed brain surgery and said that he would never be the same afterward.  They even gave him “last rites”.  But we all know that Troy is a Spartan and a survivor, so he made it through the brain surgery with only a little loss of vision in his right eye, like a “blind spot”. 

After recovery from that surgery, he endured 12 rounds of radiation to eliminate any remaining cancer in the brain cells.  They said he could have permanent memory loss, cognitive problems, but so far he’s pretty good; just a little foggy sometimes.  He said the chemo was a cakewalk compared to the radiation; it was tortuous!

So, here we are today, with 3 more sessions of chemo left for the spots in the lungs.  Troy is a mighty warrior, fighting this battle for his life, day by day.  With all of your love, support and encouragement, we will do our best to be overcomers!