Lyon had another surgery on April 10, 2008. His stomach never properly healed from his last big surgery in July, 2007. He had a large lump, probably the size of an orange just to the left of his scar. The plastic surgeon in Cleveland said that his body would most likely absorb the tissue and it would flatten out on its own. It never did, and it bothered lyon tremendously so we had it taken out. When they were in there, they did find a nodule about the size of a grape. They sent that along with the residing tissue to pathology. All the tissue, including the nodule came back as a low grade dysplasia. Medically that would constitute for pre-cancerous cells, but from what I understand, any tissue in Lyons body will come up as low grade dysplasia. So, it is nothing to sweat over but nothing to ignore either!
He was back in the water surfing in exactly 4 weeks after the surgery! Now, his stomach is flatter than I ever remember it. Just in time for summer!

Tags: Treatment

In December and January we took Lyon to Germany to see Dr. Ursula Jacobs. He experienced treatments there that blew our minds!! He started the day we arrived. These treatments were a mix of homeopathic and western remedies. He had IV drips everyday of a variety of antioxidents, liver cleanses, and alpha lipoic acids. Dr. Jacobs also performed a blood panel on him to see exactly what his cancer cells would be receptive to. They found that the chemotherapies that he had previously been on were not compatible for his DNA. They found his cancer cells to be receptive to Thalidomide, which is an andeogenesis; it inhibits blood flow to the tumors. An anti-malaria medication and a pill called viyora. This is an incense used to treat cancer. So along with his IV's, he also was the lucky recipitent of an injection of the anti-malaria drug in his rear on a daily basis. The main reason we went to Germany was the hope of a Desmoid Tumor vaccination. They took about 20 vials of blood from him and sent it to Greece to be altered. From what I understand, they took the stem cells out of the blood and prepared them in a way to fight against his own body. We will not know if it is working right away or not. Time will tell if more tumors grow or not. This vaccination took a week to make and they injected it directly into his stomach the night before we came home.
We have found a new oncologist here in Santa Monica at the Angeles Clinic, who is working with Dr. Jacobs on Lyons new treatments. I feel that Lyons treatment plan is very cutting edge and his prognosis is very hopeful at this point.
Understanding that his disease will never go away, it's a mutation in every cell in his body, but coming to terms with the fact that the more pro-active and positive we stay, the healthier he will remain!!!

Tags: Treatment

Surgery of the abdominal wall to remove Desmoid Tumors and abdominal muscle wall. They will graph a prosthetic material called bard mesh as well as cadaver flesh for a new barrier.

Also he will be on an ongoing low dose of Sulindec to try to slow down the recurrence of the abdominal tumors after surgery.

Tags: surgery