Update on Derek!

Last night we went to dinner at the Jones' house and Derek was in town to pick up his car and the rest of his stuff at the Beachwalk house. It was really good to see him, and really sad too. He showed us the huge gash in his neck where the Doctor took out one of his tumors to do a biopsy on.. eeew.

Well, he had a few tests this week but they aren't able to give a definite staging until after his testing on Monday. Hodgkin's comes in 4 stages and each stage is labeled with an A or a B. The doctor has told Derek that he is AT LEAST a stage III B. I am sure that Jordan could tell you a little more about all this, but from my understanding the stages go something like this:

• Stage 1 means there is Hodgkin's lymphoma in only 1 group of lymph nodes or lymphoma in one body organ only
• Stage 2 means Hodgkin's lymphoma in 2 or more groups of lymph nodes or an organ and 1 or more group of lymph nodes. In both cases, the two sites of lymphoma must be on the same side of the diaphragm
• Stage 3 means that lymph nodes on both sides of the diaphragm have Hodgkin's lymphoma
• Stage 4 means that many groups of lymph nodes contain Hodgkin's lymphoma and it has spread to body organs such as the liver, bones or lungs

The test on Monday will tell if the cancer has spread to his organs or bones. He does know that it was found on the Lymph's on his neck, his armpit, his chest, and his pelvis. So it seems as though its pretty advanced. Its weird to think that he had Cancer when we were all at Matt and Kay's wedding!

Derek is honestly really positive about the whole situation. I am sure its a little different behind closed doors. He is going to start Chemotherapy in two weeks. The only thing he has asked is for everyone to pray for him.

Love you guys