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.