Results and a Plan

Hey everybody...

We are back in Bozeman and getting our heads around what to do next. This week we received the final pathology report and have a better idea of what the next few months will look like for us. It's nice to have the surgery in the rearview mirror and heading towards the next step.

I am still laid up but getting stronger all the time. It's frustrating to be so dependent on others for simple tasks such as combing my hair, driving, and opening medicine bottles. I am hoping that in a few weeks I will have all of my movement back. I am planning to be back at work on Monday. We will see how it goes.

This week we learned that those pesky lymph nodes caused more of a problem than we had thought. The surgeon removed 15 lymph nodes from the right side, with 4 testing positive for cancer. This was a surprise for all of us. Almost everyone on the team was assuming I would be at stage 1, since the tumor itself was so small (1 cm) and no positive nodes showed up on the MRI. Personally, I felt that stage 1 would be a nice reward for my diligence and early screening. It was a nice fantasy while it lasted.

No positive nodes would leave me at stage 1. If I had 1 to 3 positive nodes, I would be at stage 2. But that 4th node bumps me right over into stage 3. It's an arbitrary line that surgeons have drawn in the sand. And our surgeon was very reassuring that it is still very manageable. But still, I really do not care to be at stage 3 when there are only 4 total stages for this ludicrous disease.

This changes the game plan for us for the next few months. My oncologist had thought I might be able to get away with no chemo, or at most do a "gentle" regimen of CMF, which would make me tired, but wouldn't make my hair fall out or cause nausea. Instead, I am now scheduled for 4 months of dose dense treatment of TAC. TAC is the "big gun" with the side effects of complete hair loss, nausea, and fatigue. I will probably start about the third week of August and go every other week until the end of November. After that, it's daily radiation for 6 weeks. Hopefully. this ordeal will be over sometime in January of 2011.

Everyone has been so kind to us and have asked how they can help. Today we sat down and did some planning and decided that visits and meals would be 2 practical things that people could do.
We love having people over to our house. It really lifts our spirits to hear what's going on in the "non-cancer" world and to just connect with people. Please drop by and visit if you can. It doesn't take much to put on the teakettle and chat for a bit. Dinners are most welcome too. You could double our pleasure by bringing dinner and staying to enjoy it with us. We would be happy to have you.

Our diet has become a bit funky lately. We have become gluten-free vegans. (No meat, no dairy, no wheat.) This will serve to make us terribly unpopular as dinner guests, I fear. If you want to make a meal, but are stumped on what to make, feel free to call or email and we can give you some ideas.

Peace,
Susan