Happy Birthday

Hey - It's Scott this time.  Yesterday was my birthday and also Janet's follow up with her surgeon and our first meeting with her oncologist.  As Janet said in the last entry the surgery went very well - so has her recovery.  She was out and about pretty quickly (she went to one of Andrei's basketball games on Sunday and was out running errands on Monday).  The incisions are healing nicely and Janet has great movement in her arms and shoulder with very little discomfort (she hasn't taken any pain medication - she must have some hockey player in there somewhere).

I can't say we weren't prepared to hear what we heard yesterday, it just kind of hit hard.  The tumor itself was a grade 3 and her cancer is stage 1.  Janet is HER2 positive which she'll (or me if I can catch up on my medical terminology quick) blog about in detail later (probably better than I could anyway).  The net is HER2 positive means to improve the chances of not seeing a recurrence of the cancer she should have chemotherapy.  We knew that was coming - what we didn't plan for was that the regimen they are proposing will take up to 14 months.

14 months!?!  Wasn't it just a month ago this thing popped up?  Didn't we have x-rays, ultrasounds, a biopsy and surgery like 10 minutes ago?  Shouldn't it be about over?

Well, it's not and seems it won't be for - well - 14 months or so.  The first question we had was to walk now or have chemo.  The decision to have chemo decreases substantially the chances of the cancer coming back (from like 30% down to 14%).  The other question is whether or not to join a study being done on an alternative chemo treatment (different meds and believe it or not a little longer period of time).

Janet has decided to continue treatment which means an additional test and another surgery to insert a port for the chemo.  She has not made a decision on the study.

I am sure we will post again this weekend with the details of treatment etc. but for the moment I wanted to make sure everyone was up to speed with what happened on Thursday.  Good news, bad news.  Good news, they got all the cancer and it appears not to have spread through the lymphatic system.  Bad news, we'll both celebrate birthdays before the treatments are over.  Better news - we have great support from all of you.  Your thoughts, prayers and messages have meant more than we can say - thank you.

Happy Pathology/Successful Surgery!

Today Dr. Beckman called with the pathology report. The tumor size is 2 cm (fairly impressive growth for 6 months but, in my opinion, still small :)), it is estrogen positive (that's good), progesterone negative (that's good), the lymph nodes were clear and so were the margins they took from around the tumor. However, the HER2/neu is amplified (probably not so good). 

HER2/neu is an oncogene which is a gene that causes or promotes unrestrained cell growth. This in turns makes normal cells abnormal - or converts them into a tumor cell. Patients with this may be more likely to have a recurrence.  There are some research studies that suggest this gene to be resistant to certain anticancer drugs - but - it is being research. 

Since I never played a doctor on TV, I only know what I have researched myself on the web. Whatever did we do before the web?

Thursday Scott and I are meeting with the Medical Oncologist and with Dr. Beckman. Then we will find out more about the cancer and the next step towards treatment.

As Dr. Beckman said, the surgery was a success!!!

Weekend Retreat :) after Surgery

It's me. Janet. Yesterday, my SPA Day, went well though I never did get to finish my movie - too many interruptions! Today I got out of bed around 8:30 and started my Weekend Retreat! Since I couldn't remember the Doctor's discharge instructions, I had to refer to the 3-ring binder they gave me at my pre-op appointment. It contains everything you ever need to know about breast cancer and its treatment. It's pretty cool.  I was most interested in whether or not I could take a shower. By now I  had a really  bad case of bed head and  I needed to do something about it! After some brief discussion, Scott decided I could take a shower and I was happy. 

Today has been a relatively quiet day. Because I opted for a nap when Scott and I  got home yesterday afternoon, it has messed with my sleeping patterns so today I had to take a nap! I spent the afternoon on the couch, visited with  my  neighbor friend, and just did nothing!  

Tonight is family movie night and Andrei's basketball coach dropped off a DVD with some snacks for us! Thank You!!! 

Scott went for take-out food for dinner. McDonalds. Yes I do like their hamburgers and it was really tasty.   Just what the Doctor ordered :)           

I am doing quite well. I have not had to take any pain medication.  I feel a little stiff at times but nothing that an ice pack doesn't take care of. My first official day of recovery has gone well.

Oh....I finally got to finish my Bruce Willis movie - he got the bad guy :)

 

The First Big Day

Well today was the first of what I will guess will be a number of big days.  Janet and I got to the hospital at 6:45 as instructed, checked in, went to radiology as instructed and were promptly told we were an hour early.  Thanks to check in person in radiology making a few phone calls, she tracked down that we were really supposed to be in outpatient surgery.  So back downstairs we headed.  We checked in, got situated in the outpatient surgery room and began the wait.  Janet was taken up to radiology (the glow farm) so she could have the dye put in for surgery.  She excused me (per the last post) so I bailed for a couple of hours.  I got back to find her watching "Live Free or Die Hard" on her iPhone.

At about 11:15 the doctor came in and said she was ready to go.  At 11:30 they took her off to surgery.  The pager went off around 2:00 which kind of startled me because I was still sitting in the same spot - the room.  A trip to the nurses station later they told me to go back to the room that Dr. Beckman would be in to see me in a bit which she did.

So the good part.  The surgery went very well.  She was able to remove the tumor, the margins and two nodes.  The pathology results for the two nodes came back negative and there was no need for drainage.  We hope to have the final pathology on the tumor, margins and lymph nodes by mid week.  Janet's follow up with Dr. Beckman and her oncologist is on Thursday.  I am sure we get get more information then (like staging etc.) because for now this is all we have.

We left the hospital around 4:00 and are now home where Janet is resting comfortably (she opted for the bed instead of her first choice of the coach as to not be bothered by the dogs).  We are very thankful for all the thoughts, prayers and kind messages we have gotten over the past few weeks.  We understand we are at the beginning of a journey - we are very thankful to have great friends and family like you to help us down the path.

There will be a HOTTIE at the end of my bed!

First of all, let me clarify that  Janet is writing this blog. Scott didn't want anyone to get the wrong impression of him with  the title :)

Yesterday, Wednesday the 21st, was the pre-op appointment. What they don't tell you, is to block off  4 hours of your day for this! I passed almost all of my tests. My potassium levels are low so I have to eat a bunch of bananas before tomorrow.  The chest x-rays showed that I do in fact have all my insides and a heart. The EKG verified that said heart does beat, but it definitely beats  to a different drummer. But I was given the ok  for surgery from the Head of Cardiology.

I start my day tomorrow in  Nuclear Medicine at 6:45 am. There they will start an IV and inject a radio-active substance near the tumor. Then I get to relax for 2 hours while it finds it way around to the lymph nodes. I am very excited at the probability of glowing in the dark!  Then right before surgery, they will inject another dye that meets up with the radio-active one and they cling to the lymph node system. This way the surgeon can see what she is going for! Always helpful to have directions! 

The actual surgery is scheduled for 11:30am - 1 pm. Since there will be nothing to do from 6:45 to 11:30, I have given Scott permission to dump and run. So everyone out there who thinks this is horrible, you are just going to have to lighten up. He'll be there when it is necessary. Besides, I will be nicely cared for by all the cute male Resident Doctors aka: HOTTIES! Since I met one of them at my pre-op appointment, I know I will not be disappointed! So while Scott is busy working, I will be having my needs taken care of. I plan to bring my iphone so I can watch a couple of movies or read my book that I downloaded. I strongly recommend getting an iphone if you don't already have one. They are the best!

After surgery, Scott will be there to talk to Dr. Beckman and here those words, "everything went just fine. " Then he gets to sit with me for a couple of hours (unless he decides to go get some lunch) while I come back to life, then I get to go home.  There is a half day of school on Friday so the kids will be happy to come home to an empty house and not have to do chores! It is a day off for everyone! I anticipate being home in time for dinner. I wonder who's cooking?

I can honestly say I am looking forward to the surgery tomorrow. I am very excited to have wonderful medicines being pumped into my veins, a fabulous nap, cute doctors to wake up to and just having a day that's all about me. I am affectionately calling this my SPA day.  This is the first day on the road to being healthy again and it is a very calming feeling.

My post surgery appointment with the Surgeon and Medical Oncologist is already scheduled for Thursday January 29th. I imagine we will find out the treatment course then.  I will, however, have a few weeks to heal before treatment starts.

I want to thank everyone that has sent me cards and well wishes and remembering me in their prayers.  And especially those of you who have been  helping me with Andrei and Aruna. It is nice to know I have so many special people in my life that I can depend on.

Once I am home, we'll update everyone on the surgery.  Sorry guys...no pictures (you know who you are :))

Date Set

The surgical nurse called and set up the surgery with Janet today. It is scheduled for Friday, January 23rd, time to be determined. Janet has requested only good looking male doctors - we'll see how that pans out since we know for sure her surgeon is a woman...

Happy Holidays

So, where to start... how about why we got to starting this blog.  Well, on December 18th of 2008 Janet and I found a lump in her left breast.  Janet called her doctor to schedule a visit.  On December 23rd Janet had an appointment at the UW Madison Breast Center.  There she had a mammogram and an ultrasound exam performed.  We guessed something was up when the technician asked a radiologist to come in and look at the ultrasound.  He ordered an ultrasound core biopsy be performed.

On Monday 12-29 the core biopsy was done.  The phone rang on 1-2-2009 while we were enjoying a beautiful winter day at the lake.  We can't say we didn't expect to hear what we heard, but it still wasn't easy - Infiltrating Ductal Cancer.  Happy New Year everybody!  I think because we half expected that diagnosis, it didn't really seem to affect us all that much.  Janet looks at it sort of like the flu - you puke a few times and you get over it.  We really just want to face this like anything else you recover from - so it is what it is and we will face each challenge as it presents itself.

On 1-7 we met with Janet's surgeon, Dr. Catherine Beckman.  She explained what would probably happen from here.  There would be an additional MRI to see if the cancer was anywhere else.  If the cancer did not show up anyplace else Dr. Beckman suggested removing the tumor and some lymph nodes.  That would be followed by radiation and most likely chemotherapy. Given Janet's fine family history (actually better than mine - see family health history from hell in any medical book for a background on me :-) ) Dr. Beckman thought Janet might benefit from knowing whether or not she may have the gene for breast or ovarian cancer so she suggested we meet with a genetic testing counselor.  There is testing that can be done to determine if you have genes for particular diseases - in this case breast or ovarian cancer.  If she has these gene mutations it could help us decide the best treatment plan.  After a very long 2 hours at the UW, Janet and I left deciding to try to find a more fun hospital - these people were really a drag.

Ok, so we decided to stay with the party at the UW and Janet went for her MRI on the 8th.  Today Janet got the call with the results of the MRI - she passed.  Ok, really, there were no additional tumors apparent on the MRI.  For the moment Janet has decided to pass on the genetic testing (she can always have it done in the future) and will opt to have a lumpectomy.  During this surgery they will remove the tumor, margins around the tumor and some of the lymph nodes to help determine the staging of the cancer.  From there Janet will have radiation and chemotherapy because of the size of the tumor (2-3 cm) and because of the speed of its growth (it did not show up on the mammogram Janet had done 6 months ago).

We will post as often as we have updates or as we feel like trying to find humor in an otherwise grim topic.  We really are just keeping a positive attitude and taking one step at a time.  Any thoughts and prayers are welcome as well as anything that can lighten the day.