Chemo: Two Down, Two to Go!!

I just had my 2nd chemo treatment last Friday, the 12th. Before my treatment, our doctor made a few suggestions for how to mitigate some more of the side effects. He suggested Claritin. That made sense to me since I was sneezing a lot after the first treatment. He said it would help with some of my symptoms. He also said it would be important to exercise every day, especially when I didn't feel well those first few days. Who wants to exercise when you feel like you have the flu, but I have anyway and I do feel a lot better (it hasn't been much, 30 minutes with my exercise ball video, but it's been something). Let's hear it for exercise!


We made Friday a good day and went in the evening to hear Josh sing at Forgotten Carols with his HHS choir. The evening was amazing, especially since we knew Josh was part of that wonderful music. The Forgotten Carols is a great story. Hearing it has made each song much more meaningful. I'm looking forward to going again next year.


On Sunday, our stake held our annual music Choirside. Each ward choir is invited to sing one of their Christmas songs and in between those everyone gets to sing a Christmas hymn. The Stake President then shares a message and we finish the evening with Handel's Alleluiah Chorus. It really makes for a nice evening. Usually I stress about how our choir will do and if there will be enough of us there. This year was much more relaxing. I was so grateful to be feeling well enough to be there and to lead the choir. It was a great evening - more beautiful music!


Another nice thing that happened on Sunday is my friend, Laurie, fixed me up with a couple of wigs. One of them, Dixie, is my favorite and very comfortable to wear. I had it on tonight and a friend who hadn't seen me for a while said, "Oh, you changed your hair." A nephew said, "What, that's a wig?"

So, lots of choices. It can be at hair day, a hat day, a scarf day or any combination of the three. Cory thinks I look like Mother Teresa with a scarf on. I told Rob I'm just prepping for our mission to Africa with all those beautiful women and their scarves. I found a great quote in a book from Aunt Leona: "No matter how beautiful the scarf, no matter how I try to tie it, when I get it on my head, it still looks like a babushka." (Not sure I'm ready to be a babushka today, maybe later).


All in all this has been a very good week and I've been feeling fairly well. We have been blessed with friends who have brought in wonderful dinners, friends who have taken the kids and had fun with the kids and picked up kids so I could just rest, friends who have done ironing and dishes, and friends who have sent lots of love and prayers our way. Thank you for carrying us through these treatments. I know we wouldn't be in this good of shape without you. We love you and wish you a wonderful, joyful Christmas!

Hats, Scarves, and Friends

Three of my greatest blessings this week are hats, scarves and friends. Thanks to all three, today has been a good day and I'm not too worried about tomorrow. Last week, my friends in our ward threw a Hat & Scarf party for me. It was great fun to visit with everyone and laugh together. Bob McCann wrote me a poem, read by Jeff Smith, to remind me that Bald is Beautiful (they feel they are more knowledgeable on the subject than the rest of us!). Pat Nelson and Cathie McCann shared a few lines to encourage me about how fun wearing hats will be. A special hat was created with things that remind my friends of me - garden seeds and sewing items were a common theme (I wonder why?). Many brought hats and scarves to keep me warm this winter. There were even beautiful scarves from as far away as Italy and Japan! Sam was my hat model and looked cute in all of them! Judy encouraged me to try some on and we decided hats wouldn't be so bad after all. There was even a little extra cash to go shopping and that has been fun as well. Thank you! Just to give you a sampling, Sam and Jeremy and I tried on a few hats so you could get the idea for upcoming fashions.

On Sunday, Kristen (my niece), Greg and family came over for dinner. We let Anna try on a few hats as well. Here is Anna in a nice tea party style hat and Sam in my wig. Then Anna came up with her own wonderful combo!

I still had hair on Monday morning and was feeling well, so I went to the gym. It felt good to work out, but I spent half the time worrying about how self-conscious I would be the next time with no hair and a hat. I kept remembering a woman I had seen at the gym this fall - no hair either, but she was there getting a workout. And then there's the oncologist who told me I have to get some exercise in. It's the best way to make it through these treatments. By Monday night, my head was itching and I really just wanted to run a brush through my hair. It felt so good! It also created a big pile of hair in the sink. Each stroke meant more in the sink and less on my head. Believing that the worst was inevitable, I asked Rob if he could shave it off for me. Somehow we made it through. It was nice to be watching "While You Were Sleeping" instead of the mirror like you do at the salon. A little 'leaning' always makes things better. When I finally was brave enough to look in the mirror, I wondered who it was staring back at me and where in the world I had gone off to. Thankfully, I have a few hats on hand. After I got my head dressed again, I could see myself looking back at me in the mirror. Thank you for my hats!

Tuesday turned out to be a perfect first day for being bald. I fit in a trip to Cabelas. Everyone there treated me just as normal as could be. Yeah! One down. Then I went to a "Look Good, Feel Better" class sponsored by the American Cancer Society. I got to sit and put on makeup with a small group of women who were also going through chemo treatments for cancer. It was a nice chance to visit and hear other stories of courage and hope.

Then Tuesday night we had a wonderful Relief Society Enrichment meeting at church. All my dear sisters were so kind and made me feel so at ease! They are truly my best fit for a support group. We all go through challenges in life - they just come to each of us in different ways. Some challenges come loudly, like cancer. Others come quietly and stay in our hearts and are only shared with those we are very close to. But, when we have time together as sisters, it lifts us and strengthens us for all those challenges. It makes each of our lives better and more beautiful. I love the smiles of my strong sisters - good women who strengthen me.

At the end of our evening a small group of us sang Silent Night. Each of those dear sisters put on a hat so I wouldn't be alone. What a great gift of love. I hope we each can find silent moments to find peace. I hope we can find holy moments and know what shape our love should take as we share it with others.

Many thanks to each one of you, my friends, for my hats, and my scarves and all your love!

Bald is Beautiful!

Well, the time finally came. Cynthia's hair started to come out in her brush at the end of last week. She purposely minimized the brushing to mitigate the damage. However, she had to get herself presentable for Church on Sunday - which required a bit of brushing. When I went into the bathroom afterward, my first impression was that someone had thrown a toupee away in our garbage. However, the morning fog quickly cleared and the reality sank in. She made it through Sunday and Monday, but by Monday night, there was no use delaying the inevitable. So, with a set of clippers, a little trepidation on my part and a funny movie for Cynthia to watch, I set about the task of finishing the job. While certainly memorable, it will not rank very high on my list of favorite memories. The movie (While You Were Sleeping) helped distract us both. For the most part, I was not concerned about the quality of my work - after all, bald is bald. My sole objective was to not draw blood. Objective achieved!

Cynthia has been a trooper through it all. She has faced this - as with every other facet of this process - with a great deal of courage, humor and faith. These are just a few of her many attributes that in my opinion make her the most beautiful woman in the world - with or without hair! So, for me, right now - Bald is Beautiful!

Thank you for all of your prayers and support!

Christmas is Coming!

We set up the family Christmas tree and other miscellaneous decorations last night. Each ornament brings back memories for at least one of us and therefore has to be included. (If no one is attached to it or claims it, I simply slip it in the 'see you later' pile - we've made lots of ornaments over the years - some are better than others.) Rob's sister Debbie helped me get the house ready yesterday for the tree, and Janet helped me get the garland up in the kitchen today. I appreciate their help so very much.

One of my favorite parts of Christmas is the music. I love to go to a concert and just enjoy the beautiful music. Sam and Cory have their band concerts this week. Josh gets to sing for "The Forgotten Carols" next week at Cottonwood High(sorry, sold out). Sam, Cory, and Jeremy have a piano recital sometime this month as well. And, if you have time, don't forget the concert for Dana Geddes - "A Season for Hope" on Thursday, December 11th. John Canaan is going to perform lots of Christmas music for a very good cause!

What Does Chemo Feel Like?

Did you know that having this kind of chemo is like getting a mild case of the flu? As you would imagine, that's not very exciting. But we're making it through with lots of rest, pain pills here and there, and lots of help from Rob and our family and friends. Today has been 11 days (I started this post on November 28, but I didn't post it until today - December 2nd) since my treatment, and it feels like a good day! Everything is getting better and I almost feel like I'll have a good week and a half of feeling normal before we go in again. It's nice to have a reprieve.

Now you would think that with all this time on my hands, I could get a lot done. But, no. It took all last week just to choose a wig or two. Just think, for the price of a good haircut or maybe even a really good cut and color, you can get the perfect style and color of your choosing. And unlike the trips to the salon where you pour over the hairstyle books and think, "Wow, I wish my hair could do that!", your hair (well the wig hair) will do exactly that - every time! Of course the models are drop dead gorgeous and smiling - very happy to have that wig on. I wonder how they would feel about wearing a wig every day :) So, here are a couple of choices. Derek suggested I get a pink, poofy wig. I'm thinking zebra stripes could work equally well! Thankfully, I have some good firends who are throwing a hat party for me. So on those days when I don't want the perfect hair, we can slip on a hat and be out the door - before Rob!

We enjoyed a nice Thanksgiving just hanging out at Kent and Arlene's home. Rob and Kent deep fried the Turkeys - they actually turn out very good. I wasn't much help on Thanksgiving. It was good to be able to just rest. Rob and Jeremy discovered the joy of "Raving Rabbids", where they got hit with plungers from some angry rabbits and other assorted fun things. The rest of the kids enjoyed other assorted games and fun with cousins - all in all a good day.

One Down, Three To Go

One down, three to go. That kind of sums up the first chemo treatment. So far, it is easy to say that it was largely a non-event - however, we are only six hours into it. We are in the lull before the storm.

The whole process took about three hours. The next treatments should take a little less time. One of the chemo drugs has a risk of an allergic reaction so they administered it a little more slowly to make certain the chance of a reaction was minimized. The Oncologist had me start a steroid perscription yesterday to counteract the risk of allergic reaction. Fortunately, there was no allergic reaction. I also received an anti-nausea drug via IV before the treatment and have a perscription that I will start this evening to counteract that nasty side effect. I am receiving two different chemo drugs - Cytoxin and Taxotere. All in all, the treatment itself wasn't bad, a recliner, warm blankets, caring people and a good book made it okay. The storm is undoubtedly coming, we just don't know what it will be - could be anything from a gentle rain to a category five hurricane. Obviously, we are hoping and have been advised it will most likely be closer to the former.

The treatment center had a basket of pins in the waiting room that read "Cancer Sucks". It certainly is true. However, we were reminded today of how blessed we have been. There were many receiving treatments today that were in much more difficult circumstances. Cancer definitely "Sucks" more for them than it has for us.

Perspective has made all the difference for us. We do not take any comfort in the fact that others have it worse than us. Rather, it is an eternal perspective that brings reason to otherwise unreasonable circumstances. We are constantly grateful for a deep and abiding knowledge of Heavenly Father's plan for us. He knows our circumstances and is in control. Our goal is to learn from this experience what we are supposed to learn in order to become more Christ like.

Thank you for all of your love and support.

The Latest News

Today was Cynthia's first formal visit with her medical oncologist. We had met with him previously as part of the Cancer Clinic we mentioned in an earlier post. There was a lot of good news that came out of the visit today. First, the pathology report from the mastectomy looks good. The margins around the original lumpectomy site were clear (no cancer in the tissue immediately around the area where the original lumpectomy was performed). They did find one other site in the tissue where there was a very small pre-cancerous growth (DCIS). Given time, it would have developed into invasive cancer. However, while in this state, they are confident that had not spread any further. The second bit of good news is that the side effects of the chemo treatments should be relatively minor. Yes, Cynthia will lose her hair. However, the nausea will likely be minor and she is unlikely to experience things like mouth sores, etc. The first treatment is scheduled for November 21. There will be a total of four treatments scheduled three weeks apart. While this timing does not bode well for the Thanksgiving holiday, it will be the least disruptive to the Christmas holidays. Cynthia has felt quite well this week and if she continues to progress at this pace, she is comfortable that she will be ready by the 21st.

We were hoping for some direction on the radiation therapy today. However, her case appears to fall into a gray area and so the decision on radiation will likely be deferred until the chemo treatments are concluded. The fact that the tumors were small and had only spread to one lymph node works in her favor (i.e. the cancer is not particularly aggressive). However, the fact that there were seven tumors and it had spread into her lymph system complicates her case and works against her. I know - I appear to be contradicting myself. We have come to appreciate that in spite of the tremendous amount of science that goes into her treatments - a significant part of it is still an art and subject to gut feelings and practical experience.

In spite of the lack of decision on the radiation therapy, we are very pleased with today's results.

Thank you for your ongoing support and prayers! Life is good!

A Season for Hope

Many people have been an inspiration and support to us during our introduction to breast cancer. What we have found is that breast cancer has touched many of us directly or through those we love. One of our friends, Dana Geddes, has personally fought the fight and is now a survivor. Dana and her family are a tremendous inspiration to us in our fight. Sadly, the fight has had a significant impact on their family's financial circumstances. We have copied an email from them regarding their efforts to pull themselves out of a difficult situation. Please check out their blog and, if you are so inclined, this is certainly a worthy cause and a great entertainment opportunity.

"Hey everyone, as you know, our family has had a long battle with breast cancer. Thankfully, we are doing well, but financially it's taken its toll. Thanks to my sisters in law, we received an offer we couldn't refuse. On December 11th at 7:00pm we're having a Christmas benefit concert with performer, John Canaan http://www.johncanaan.com/ at Bingham High School. He has been kind enough to donate his time and talent. He is AMAZING personally & professionally!! Proceeds will go to paying off our medical bills and 10% will go to The Susan G. Komen Foundation. We'd love to have you attend! You can buy tickets on-line at http://aseasonforhope.blogspot.com/ We appreciate your support more than you'll ever know. "

There is always a place for hope!

Who?

If you're looking for something fun and entertaining this weekend, we have just the solution for you. Josh is performing in Seussical, the Musical, this week at Hillcrest High. They had a successful showing for the middle schools on Tuesday and performed to an almost full house tonight. They'll perform again Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings at 7 pm. He'd be happy to sell you tickets, or you can buy them at the door. Oh yes, Josh is a Who.

Good Progress

It has now been six days since surgery and Cynthia is making good progress. She has been back for two visits with the Surgeon since last Friday and he is pleased with the progress she is making. He removed the surgical drains during today's visit. While the removal was a little unpleasant for Cynthia, she is relieved to no longer be carrying around her little friends. They made life a little challenging when cleaning up, sleeping, etc. All in all, Cynthia's recovery thus far has gone well (yeah - I know - it is easy for me to say - i'm not the one that had the surgery). She had one day that was a bit rough, but for the most part, each day has been a little better than the day before. She is able to get up and move around. However, she tires easily and needs to be careful to not do too much.

We don't have the results from the pathology yet and are uncertain as to when we will get them. Regardless of the pathology, we know that chemo is coming. It is only the radiation therapy that might be in question. We meet with the Medical Oncologist on the 13th. It is our expectation that Cynthia could start chemo as soon as the week following that (just before Thanksgiving! - yumm). Her Surgeon wants her to have three weeks to recover before chemo starts. We are prepared to start as soon as the Oncologist recommends.

We have been greatly blessed this last week. The outpouring of love and support has been very uplifting and heartwarming. Thank you to all that have blessed the lives of our family and extended your care and compassion to Cynthia.

We're Home!

Well, we made it home at about 2:00 pm today. Sure is great to be home. Cynthia received wonderful care at the hospital. We have been very pleased with everyone we have interacted with at IMC. However, hospitals are anything but a restful place to be. Lots of activity and beeps during the night.

I was grateful to spend the night with Cynthia. It was a mix of sleeping, movies, talking, etc. It was nice to have a place to lay down, but the sofa/futon left a little to be desired. Cynthia spent the afternoon sleeping. All things considered, she is feeling good.

A couple of good sisters from the Ward brought in dinner. What a blessing! Instant dinners are a luxury that one could easily become accustomed to. We will try to not rely on them too much.

The kids spent Halloween away with cousins and are starting to trickle home now. It is a great blessing to have Cynthia doing well enough to be up and around to greet them.

Thank you again for your faith and prayers - we know it has made a difference.

Everything went well!

First - Cynthia is doing great and all is well!

Well, here is the update on the day's events. We arrived at the hospital at 10:30 am. Apparently it was a very full day for the surgery rooms. Who would have figured that Halloween would be a popular time for surgery. Perhaps it is consistent with the whole scary theme of the day. Cynthia was scheduled for surgery at 12:15 - they came to take her into surgery at 1:15 pm and she finally made into surgery at 2:15 pm. The hour wait between when I left her and when she went to surgery was spent on a gurney outside the surgery room. Cynthia had to wait for 10 minutes in the hall before her last surgery. It was a very stressful time for her. However, today's wait was very different. Cynthia told me that she closed her eyes and thought of her many friends who have become as sisters to her. That gives you a great perspective about what a higher plain Cynthia is on relative to me - I would have been thinking about hunting, fishing, etc . I am glad she gives me something to aspire to!

Cynthia was in surgery for approx 2 hrs and 45 min. The general surgeon came out at about 3 pm and gave me the update on the mastectomy. He was very pleased and said that there was more tissue remaining around the original lumpectomy site than he had thought there would be. The potential upside is that it gives us a chance Cynthia might not need radiation therapy. It will depend on how the pathology turns out. We won't get our hopes up too high - but we will certainly pray for this outcome. It would be a HUGE blessing!

The plastic surgeon came to meet with me about 5:00 pm. His portion of the surgery also went well. At that time, Cynthia was in the recovery room. Cynthia will have a follow-up visit with him early next week.

Because everything was so busy, they didn't have a room ready for Cynthia until about 8:00 pm. Normally, they don't let family into the recovery room. However, because the delay was so long, they allowed me to come in and be with Cynthia at about 6:00 pm. She was groggy but looked lovely. It was a wonderful relief to see her awake and smiling at me (most likely just the effects of the pain meds - she told me I was handsome - but had three eyes - go figure :) .

Cynthia is doing well and watching a movie / sleeping as I write. The movie is definitely a chick flick - Everafter - a cinderella story. I have brought a couple of guy shows to watch on my laptop after she is out for the night.

We will likely bring Cynthia home at mid-day tomorrow. For now, she is doing very well and is comfortable. Thank you for all of your prayers and support. Every prayer and thought on Cynthia's behalf is meaningful.

Happy Halloween!

Tonight was our annual Halloween party at the church. The kids costumes were very creative. Each one designed their own costume. It was a fun evening with good food, friends, games and lots of candy for the kids.

Monday night was our traditional Pumpkin-carving FHE. The garden produced quite the assortment of shapes and sizes this year. As you can see, the kids took full advantage of them. You'll notice Cory's 2-faced jack-o-lantern and Josh's skull-faced pumpkin and his pumpkin totem pole. They were very creative and did most of the work on their own! (with a little help from Dad, of course)

The kids will get to spend Halloween with their cousins. Rob gets to spend Halloween at the hospital with me. He'll send out a new post on Friday after the surgery. Thanks so much for all your encouragement, love, and support!

Is it Hereditary?

Since I am young (yeah!) and Mother and 2 of her sisters have had breast cancer, it was recommended that I be tested for the BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene mutations. Although less than 10% of breast cancers are hereditary, the presence of mutations in these genes is a strong indicator for the occurrence of breast and ovarian cancer. Insurance was willing to pay for the testing, so I went in and had the blood drawn for this test the day after we received the pathology reports. It would take about 2 weeks for the results to come back. In the mean time, we met with a geneticist at the Cancer Clinic. Using information I had given, she had created a family tree showing the incidence of breast cancer and other diseases. As we discussed the probabilities, it looked like the BRCA mutations would be unlikely. I have 66 first cousins on my mother's side and to my knowledge, none have had breast cancer. It appeared that the three sisters having breast cancer was more likely to be environmentally related than genetically. Last week we got the good news that the BRCA test was negative - Yea! (I like this sorting hat!) The implications of that are that it won't be passed on to the children or grandchildren and that the cancer I have now is far less likely to occur in the other breast. Good news!

Family and Friends to the Rescue

We have been blessed with wonderful family, friends and neighbors. The outpouring of love and support has been extremely heart warming and a bit overwhelming. There are not enough meals in a month or chores around the house to consume all of of the offers of help that we have received. Each and every one has been deeply appreciated. We suppose that before this process is complete, we will need to take advantage of many of these offers.

Having had a bit more experience on the giving side of service, we understand the desire to do something to help those in need. Fortunately, we are a little bit less experienced on the receiving side of service. We are still trying to figure out where we can use these offers to help our circumstances without unduly taking advantage of others' compassion. Nevertheless, we realize the great blessings that come from giving and receiving service.

Thank you to all that have been so generous in your offers of support. Perhaps most importantly, we have felt the powerful comfort of knowing that so many are praying on our behalf. Heavenly Father is guiding us and others through this process. The help has come - even when we didn't know we were going to need it. This is one of the great blessings of all that has occurred thus far!

Peace

This has been a remarkable process. While we would never selected this course of events, we have had a strong feeling of peace through the entire time. The news that I was positive for cancer was not extremely disturbing, because it was also accompanied by a great sense of peace. Through this time, we have had a series of developments where the news got a little more difficult each time (in the lypmh nodes - chemo; no clear margins - mastectomy; radiation after chemo). However with each bit of news, the peace has always been there. It doesn't mean that we have not struggled with some of the news or that there haven't been some emotional hours. We have had those times - but they have been in the minority of the time. Throughout the process, we have known that our Heavenly Father is mindful of our situation and is blessing us. We realize that this is our opportunity to learn whatever it is that Heavenly Father wants us to learn. Like many events in our lives, we would not pick them for ourselves, however, it is these experiences that provide us the growth we need. We are deeply grateful for the knowledge we have of the Plan of Salvation and our purpose for this earthly existence.

And Here We Are

Sometimes you look around and think, "How did we get here?" It's not that it's a bad place to be, it's just different from what you were planning on or expecting. Throughout my life I've been blessed with good health. My only trips to the hospital were for the births of our 5 kids. I love to exercise, go skiing in the winter and work in the yard the rest of the year.

In early September I found a lump on my right breast, not too big, just different. (I also began to notice at times that the little lump caused a dimple on the skin - something to watch for.) At Rob's suggestion I moved up my mammogram and to get it checked as soon as possible. Did you know that if you find a lump you need to tell them when you schedule a mammogram? I didn't and so when I went in for my regular screening mammogram, she said, "I can't do your mammogram, you need a diagnostic and you'll need to have your doctor order it." The next day (Sept 17) I had a diagnostic mammogram and an ultrasound. Everyone was very calm, but they did tell me I would need to get a biopsy, an MRI and schedule a consultation with a surgeon. The radiologist wanted to do the biopsy the next day, but I take aspirin for my heart, so it had to wait a week while the aspirin cleared out of my system. Everyone was very calm (this is what they do all the time), but it was clear that they were very concerned and I began to feel that cancer was a likely outcome.

The next week, Rob came in with me for the MRI and biopsy (Sept 25). He did a little work, a lot of waiting, and even managed to fit in a trip to Sportsman's Warehouse :). After the biopsy the doctor told me it did look malignant and I would need surgery (we kind of figured that out by now). The size of the lump was approx 1.5 centimeters (but it has a very irregular shape). He gave me all his phone numbers in case I had any questions and called me personally the next evening. Yes, it was malignant and it would need to come out. Thankfully, we already had an appointment with a surgeon whom our OB had recommended. That was Friday (Sept 26), now we wait till the following Monday. (This whole process has involved bursts of information followed by a quiet time to digest and accept what we have learned. This time has been a blessing to us.)

We visited with the Surgeon on Monday (Sept 29). After an initial examination, he was very impressed that I had initially found the lump. The small size and proximity to the chest wall made it a bit difficult to identify. As a stroke of luck and good timing, we were able to get on his surgery schedule for the next day (Sept 30 - no waiting there!). The goal of the surgery was to remove the tumor -along with an estimated margin of clean tissue around it. Additionally, they would inject me with a dye and radioactive agent to trace the sentinel lymph node under my arm. Rather than going in and initially removing a bunch of lymph nodes, they have found that by identifying and testing sentinel lymph node, they can potentially reduce the number of nodes they remove. During the course of the surgery, they looked at the breast tissue sample and the sentinel node to attempt to determine if they got a clear margin on the tissue and whether the sentinel node is cancerous. Unfortunately, they found a 2 mm cancerous tumor in the sentinel node, and as a result, they removed all the lymph nodes in that region.

It was a week after the surgery before we received the pathology reports (Oct 6). We met with our Surgeon to review the results of the report and examine the results of the surgery. The great news was that the cancer had not spread to any other lymph nodes. Additionally, it is not an aggressive cancer. It is classified as Stage IIA (okay news), is estrogen receptive (good news) and is her2 negative (more good news). All this leads for a very positive prognosis and optimistic outcome. The unfortunate news was that rather than a single tumor, the tissue they removed from the breast actually contained 7 tumors - a couple of which were either very near or on the margin of the tissue removed. At this point, it was recommended that we seriously consider a mastectomy.

That was a huge burst of information for us and very hard to take. Thankfully, we had some help to get through that one, and more time. Once each week IHC sponsors a Cancer Clinic. You get your own conference/exam room and during the course of a morning, they parade a whole bunch of doctors and specialists through. On October 9, we attended the clinic and met with a surgeon, plastic surgeon, radiological oncologist, medical oncologist, genetic counselor, physical therapist, dietician, patient advocate and representative of the American Cancer Society (and maybe one or two more we don't remember). While it was akin to drinking from a fire hose, it was extremely helpful as they were all familiar with my case and we had free reign to ask any questions we desired and take as much of their time as we needed. By the end of the morning, we had a much clearer understanding of what lies ahead and what is needed to get rid of this cancer that is a very unwelcome guest in my body!

Based upon all that we learned through the Cancer Clinic and prior consultations, we agreed that the mastectomy is the best course of action. While we had hoped and prayed for a different result, it was clear that this was the best course of action to maximize a positive outcome for my treatment. Because the cancer has spread into my lymphatic system, it will be necessary for me to undergo chemotherapy - Ugh! Additionally, I will likely need to undergo radiation therapy after the conclusion of the chemo. The goal of the chemo is to kill any cancer cells that might have spread into my body through the lymph system. The goal of the radiation therapy is to kill any cancerous cells that remain after the mastectomy. Of course the ultimate goal is to emerge from this process cancer free and I am prepared for whatever course of action gets me there.

In the intervening week and a half, I have been recovering from the first surgery and we have gone through the process of identifying a plastic surgeon. We have found one that we are excited about. The surgeon and the plastic surgeon will both participate in the next surgery (mastectomy) which is now scheduled for October 31st - Happy Halloween! That is the soonest we could coordinate schedules with both surgeons.

I am actually grateful for the wait time between surgeries. It is giving me time to heal and feel well again. Rob and I enjoyed a quick trip to the mountains for some 4-wheeling last week. I'm looking forward to playing in the garden a couple more times before the next surgery and winter set in. I enjoyed going to Jeremy's class for a quick, simple science lesson on chromatography of marker colors earlier this week. And, I appreciate time to be well and be with my family and friends.

So, here were are, not too much worse for all that we're starting into, full of faith and peace, and grateful for the love and support and prayers of family and friends. We'll get through this!