Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Saturday, November 18, 2006
Which Wig Will We Wear?
Alliterations Aside, I think we need some votes.... Tell us what you think! Leave a comment!
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Monday, November 06, 2006
All That is Interesting, But How is Susie Doing?
Happy to report that Susie is doing well overall. Her spirits are good, she is off the pain pills, sleeping well and generally bored with the being at home, which is always a good sign of a speedy recovery! ;-)
I know she has been enjoying the visits, so please keep calling and coming by... bonus points to anyone who can find us some of the breast cancer awareness bags of pink M&Ms. Haven't been able to find them since the end of October which is breast cancer awareness month.
Looking forward to seeing you all soon!
I know she has been enjoying the visits, so please keep calling and coming by... bonus points to anyone who can find us some of the breast cancer awareness bags of pink M&Ms. Haven't been able to find them since the end of October which is breast cancer awareness month.
Looking forward to seeing you all soon!
Good News, Bad News
Susie's surgeon just called with the pathology report. The good news is that of the 20-30 lymph nodes that were removed, only the sentinel node itself had cancer cells. One other had a few cells, but they still consider that negative.
The bad news is that the margins were not completely clean on the side where the tumor came in contact with her skin, so next week Susie will have to have a 20-minute procedure to remove some additional skin from the area, just to make sure all the tumor cells are removed.
This all means that Susie's cancer is Stage IIA.
The other good news to all this is that she can likely have a lighter regiment of chemo.
Will add more info as we get it...
The bad news is that the margins were not completely clean on the side where the tumor came in contact with her skin, so next week Susie will have to have a 20-minute procedure to remove some additional skin from the area, just to make sure all the tumor cells are removed.
This all means that Susie's cancer is Stage IIA.
The other good news to all this is that she can likely have a lighter regiment of chemo.
Will add more info as we get it...
Friday, November 03, 2006
Back at Home
We are back at Susie's now. We had some wonderful dinner, thanks to Julie and Mark, and are now just relaxing a bit before everyone heads off to sleep. It was a long, hard day for everyone, but of course especially for Susie. I know I can speak for her when I say thank you for all of your phone calls and wishes. It means a lot to her.
Over the next few days, go ahead and call Jamie, Janeen or Sarah and we can give you the up to the minute visitation schedule. I know Susie would love the visitors, but she isn't as able to run for the phone, so we will make sure that she knows you want to come.
Thank you again, and know you can post comments here for Susie to read. She will likely not be typing anytime soon, but we will still try to keep you all posted as to her progress.
Much love to all.
Over the next few days, go ahead and call Jamie, Janeen or Sarah and we can give you the up to the minute visitation schedule. I know Susie would love the visitors, but she isn't as able to run for the phone, so we will make sure that she knows you want to come.
Thank you again, and know you can post comments here for Susie to read. She will likely not be typing anytime soon, but we will still try to keep you all posted as to her progress.
Much love to all.
Post-Op
4:15 pm
The doctor just came out and spoke with us. They removed the tumor, it was up against the fascia layer, and into the skin a bit, so they took some of that. She did have node involvement, so they did remove all of the nodes. The pathology report should be available by next Tuesday or Wednesday to let us know if she is stage II or stage III.
She will have a drain in for about the next week, and when the fluid is less then one ounce a day, she will go back to her surgeon to have it removed.
Susie will need chemotherapy, then radiation, then hormone treatment. She will need to work very closely with her doctors to address her specific concerns regarding fertility and childbearing, but they are all aware of these concerns and will do their best to work out the best treatment plan for her.
As far as recovery, she will need to see how she is feeling before she decides when she can go back to work. However, as long as the drains are in, she will not be able to get the area wet, so Nurse Jamie will provide sponge baths and hairdressers Janeen and Sarah will be on hair washing and styling duty. She is advised to use her hand and arm, but she will likely have some numbness in her tricep area for possibly up to a year. Also, she won’t really be able to lift the right arm higher then her shoulder until the drains come out and the area heals.
4:35 pm
We just saw Susie, she looks good, but she says her arm hurts, which is to be expected. We hope that she will be feeling well enough in a couple hours to take her home.
Feel free to give any of our cell phones a call and we can give you status later as well.
Thank you again to all of the well wishes and prayers. It means so much to Susie and her family.
The doctor just came out and spoke with us. They removed the tumor, it was up against the fascia layer, and into the skin a bit, so they took some of that. She did have node involvement, so they did remove all of the nodes. The pathology report should be available by next Tuesday or Wednesday to let us know if she is stage II or stage III.
She will have a drain in for about the next week, and when the fluid is less then one ounce a day, she will go back to her surgeon to have it removed.
Susie will need chemotherapy, then radiation, then hormone treatment. She will need to work very closely with her doctors to address her specific concerns regarding fertility and childbearing, but they are all aware of these concerns and will do their best to work out the best treatment plan for her.
As far as recovery, she will need to see how she is feeling before she decides when she can go back to work. However, as long as the drains are in, she will not be able to get the area wet, so Nurse Jamie will provide sponge baths and hairdressers Janeen and Sarah will be on hair washing and styling duty. She is advised to use her hand and arm, but she will likely have some numbness in her tricep area for possibly up to a year. Also, she won’t really be able to lift the right arm higher then her shoulder until the drains come out and the area heals.
4:35 pm
We just saw Susie, she looks good, but she says her arm hurts, which is to be expected. We hope that she will be feeling well enough in a couple hours to take her home.
Feel free to give any of our cell phones a call and we can give you status later as well.
Thank you again to all of the well wishes and prayers. It means so much to Susie and her family.
Surgery Day
Susie checked into the hospital at 9:45 this morning. The nurse came in at about 10:15 and hooked up susie’s IV. At 10:30 David came in to take her down to Nuclear Medicine. David is basically a taxi cab for the wheelchair set. In Nuclear Medicine, the doctor injected the tumor with a radioactive isotope to see where the cells were flowing. In the x-ray type thingy, you can clearly see the tumor and the sentinel node (as well as a secondary and tertiary node) that the material has flowed into.
We came back up to the room at about 11:30 and we are now waiting until 1:30 for the surgery.
It is now noon and she is still complaining about her hand. Not the pain in her breast or her other arm, but her hand. Hysterical.
More to come later when I get internet again.
Thank you for your prayers and well-wishes.
We came back up to the room at about 11:30 and we are now waiting until 1:30 for the surgery.
It is now noon and she is still complaining about her hand. Not the pain in her breast or her other arm, but her hand. Hysterical.
More to come later when I get internet again.
Thank you for your prayers and well-wishes.
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Surgery Prep Q & A
Susie explained to me what she discussed with her surgeon today:
I am having a sentinel node biopsy. The first thing that will happen is that I will have the sentinel node dissection, since it is less invasive. If it tests clear (negative) for cancer cells, then none of nodes will be removed. If they are not clear (positive), then they will move on to an axillary lymph node dissection, which is where they take all the fatty tissue including the lymph nodes in the area, and send that to the pathologist. He then removes the lymph nodes from that tissue and evaluates it to determine how many have cancer and what the extent of the cancer is. This is considered the appropriate procedure for earlier stage cancers like mine. It covers level 1 and level 2, where level 1 is the lowest (includes the edge of the pectoralis minor muscles), and level 2 is mid level (includes the tissue under the pectoralis minor muscle). Level 3 is if it has metastasised to the muscle, and includes the tissue up to the neck.
If she has any sign of cancer cells in the lymph nodes, then level 1 and 2 is what she will have.
If she has this done, drains will be implanted and will stay in for 7-10 days. The drains will need to be emptied when they fill. When the lymph fluid collecting in the drains is less then 1 oz a day, the drains are ready to come out.
She has a small risk of lymphedema (5-10%) following surgery, but that risk increases with chemo and radiation to 25%.
These are the questions that Susie asked her doctor this afternoon in preparation for the surgery:
Q: How many sentinel node biopsies have you done?
A: A lot
Q: What percentage of the time have you found the sentinel node? (Average is 85-95% of the time)
A: 98% Because I use 2 techniques to find the sentinel node: 1) I inject a radioactive isotope, and use a radioactive probe during surgery to tell me where the material is, and 2) a blue dye is injected during the surgery and is visible as it travels to the sentinel node.
Q: What is your false negative rate? (Should be below 5%)
A: 5-7%
Q: When will I have the results?
A: Tuesday or Wednesday
The Oncologist will then do additional tests to figure out what stage she is in.
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