4/28 update

A full day home and it has gone rather well.  Jill is feeling very good.  Very little pain. 

The girls were very happy to see Jill yesterday after her overnight in the hospital.  They seemed fine until about bed time and when Jill and I went into the bathroom to do her drains, the girls seemed to sense something was up.  There were waiting outside the bathroom sitting on our bed.  Mind you, they had been in their own beds already.  All seemed okay, then Holly started to really get upset.  We figured out it was the act of us hiding something and her assumption that it was bad.  So we explained it and all was well.

Today Lauren and I spent the day with Jill.  Jill was able to shower, though we had to kick the girls out for that.  We explained that at this time mommy is not quite ready for them to see this.  In fact, I am not so sure she was ready for me to see as well.  As I was drying the incision, she made the comment that this must be the worse part of better or worse in our wedding vows.  I told her this is just some blip and that she will be whole again.  That this is all meaningless in the big picture.  The truth is, even as fast as this all has moved, it has allowed us to both deal with the changes.  The lump, the diagnosis, the nausea, the hair loss, the pain, and now this. 

I will be taking Holly to Michigan for a soccer tourney.  Just her and I (well, and her team).  She is super excited and although she will miss her mommy dearly, I think this will be a great get away for her.  Part of me wants to stay home and take care of Jill, but I realize that chances like this are few and later I would be upset if I did not take the chance to have a weekend Holly may remember for the rest of her life. 

We are home

Jill was discharged around 11am.  We are now home.  Jill is feeling really good, surprising the both of us.  The nurse said that is really somewhat expected, and that many just take extra strength Tylenol to get by.

We just did our first tube draining and it is less then awesome.  I will not get into details, but she has two drains coming out of her body (which is really cool in a sci-fi sort of way) that lead to two containers that fill with fluid (not at all cool, even in a sci-fi sort of way).  We drain them and measure.  This will happen two times a day until the amount of fluid gets low enough.  She was this crazy bra that holds her one boob in place and has two pouches for the drains.  I am quite sure this is not in any victoria secret catalog. 

Lauren will be home soon.  She misses her mommy so much.  In fact, we are a bit worried about her inability to really express herself during this process . . . it is manifesting as not ever wanting to be left alone.  On a side note – take that all of you who say she is a mini me.  Everyone knows I am a total loner. 

Right now we do not need anything.  We have care lined up to watch Jill every hour from now until Sunday night.  I will be out of town Friday-Sunday with Holly on her first out of state soccer tourney, but Pam is staying with Jill the entire time. 

Bandages off

The bandages are off,  and things look good.   Well, good as far as healing and pain.  :-)   it is odd to see, that is for sure.   But not too bad.  

All in all, things are going great.   Another step down!

Updates

She is in her room.   Doing great.   She did wonderful.

Out of surgery

She did great.   Everything looked great per the doc.   We will see her in an hour or two

In surgery

Will update later

Surgery tomorrow

Tomorrow we start part two of treatment – the first surgery.  Jill is scheduled to have her right breast removed along with affected lymphnodes.  She will stay one night at the hospital, then will have a 2-4 week recovery.

At this point, we do not need anything . . . we have this week scheduled out and Jill will receive wonderful care.  Just wish us the best of luck. 

Look for more updates in the coming days.

Race for the cure weekend

This past weekend was the race for the cure and clearly it meant a lot to us.  We had all kinds of friends and family donate, walk, and support us.  Many people came in from out of town.  Despite the poor weather, we had a wonderful time.  And a very moving time.  One cannot help feel a mix of emotions – sadness, grief, fear, hope, and joy.  There are so many people there in so many different situations that are all united by one cause. 

Thanks to those who donated.

Thanks to those who participated.

Thanks to those who came over.

Thanks to those who helped us with food, planning, logistics, etc.

And thanks to everyone who loves us and supports us in any and every way!  

Surgery in a week and general status update

Sorry for the silence . . . I just have been doing some other stuff.  So Jill tells me people want an update.  Kind an odd thing really . . . people, who she is talking to, want an update . . . and I need to do it.  So off we go.

First, Jill has surgery 1 week from today, April 26th.  It had been the following week, but they bumped it up.  We have seen both the breast surgeon and the oncologist and they are very happy with all the results of the tests. 

Jill will have to stay overnight and then will need to take it easy for 1 week.  Then there will be a period of 2-4 weeks for a more complete recovery. 

After the surgery, the tissue will be sent to a pathologist for closer evaluation.  The results of that will determine the need for radiation or not.  Clearly we would love to not have radiation, we have been planning on it and will be just fine should that be the recommended course of action.

We also met with the gynecologic oncologist and discussed our options.  Unlike all the other steps of this journey, this one is not clear cut black and white – specifically what girl parts to take out and what to leave in.  The breasts are gone, we know that (and that is the breast surgeon).  The ovaries are gone based on the BRCA1 gene.  The tubes are gone too, as they tend to be the starting point for cancer in that region.  The uterus and cervix are the questions.  We are going to do more research and talk to the doc again.  And this decision is a bit off, so we have time to make a choice.

Like always, we are just looking to the next step, which now is the surgery. 

Food Calendar update–on hold

All,

We are asking that the food calendar (linked at the top of this blog) be put on hold.  Well, to be more specific, the actual bringing of meals to be put on hold.  Right now we are very much in a normal life pattern and are in not in need of the help.  We are hoping to not need meals delivered again to be honest, as that would mean things remain good for us.  We wanted to give those around us a break as well. 

We cannot thank people enough for everything they have done for us so far.  And we know there will be many more thanks needed for the coming months for all kinds of things.  Right now I want to focus on the meals.  Getting meals two nights a week has been so nice for us.  During Jill’s worst times they have really saved us so much time and ensured that we were able to eat as a family.  During Jill’s better times, they still were welcome breaks during weeks that were still very busy with normal lives and Jill’s battery of appointments. 

As will be the case in so much of what we have been given, we will never be able to repay those that have helped us.  On one hand, I hope to never be able to directly repay any of you (meaning we hope none of you go through this).  On the other hand, there will be ways we can repay those around us over time.  We hope to do that.  We also hope to pay this forward.  I can assure you I will now think a lot differently when I hear of a friend or a friend of a friend in need. 

We met with the breast surgeon



This morning we met with Dr. Schmidt.  We had an early appointment, which was sort of bad as we had to get up early, but good in so much that it is done.  We LOVE Dr. Schmidt, but to give you an idea, we saw him at 8am.  The appt was at 7.  Our original appt was 4pm, so this early option was much better.

The results of the tests (mainly the MRI, as it is the most important) came back clean.  I forget the term he used, but it essentially meant everything was nearly all gone.  This appeared to be the best result that we could have seen.  He was very pleased and said that radiation might not even be needed.  We talked about the surgery.  It will be the first week of May.  The operation takes about 1-2 hours and according to him is really fairly easy and straight forward.  I might ask if I can just have a go at it, that being the case.  She should be a bit off for about a week, but not horrible he said.  She will be off work for 2-4 weeks.  She will have tubes for drainage.  Sounds fun, that.

The impacted areas will be sent to a lab for analysis.  Should they came back clean of cancer, Jill will not need radiation.  If there are cancer cells, then there will be radiation.  We have expected radiation all along, so I do not see us being totally upset should that be the case.  Of course, no radiation would be the better option.

As such, that is really all we know at this time.  All good news.  We know the next step.  Come early to mid May we will have more info on the next step.

This afternoon we meet with the Gynecological Oncologist to discuss Jill’s ovaries and their impending eviction from her body.  I will post more on that tonight or tomorrow.

 

Early April Update

Jill is now a week and a half past her last treatment.  As is the normal pattern, she was feeling fairly good this weekend.  Unlike all past treatments – she has no treatment this week (or again).  Yeah.  She had her ultrasound and MRI last week to make sure the cancer is all gone.  We have no official results as of yet (will get them when we talk to the breast surgeon), but the ultrasound tech said they could not find anything in the breast and they only found one lymph node and it was tiny, which is great.  We meet with the breast surgeon on Thursday and at that point we suspect  that the next phase of this will be fully revealed.  I mean, we tentatively know what is coming, but I think we will get some dates and a timeline.  Dr. Schmidt gave us a tentative plan from day one, but since then has been very keen on us only focusing on the part at hand.  This has been somewhat challenging based on the fact that Jill and I are planners . . . but I think he is right to do it.  First, you never know how any part of these treatments will go, so why setup a patient for a let down?  Second, it helped Jill and I just worry about this . . . not trying to plan our entire calendar for the year 2011.  It has let us let go a bit, which is a good thing.

So . . . on Thursday we meet with the Gynecological Oncologist.  This will be the doc who ends up taking Jill’s ovaries out (or a similar doc, should we for some reason not feel a connection with this doc).  We have been advised by several to go to a Gyn that specializes in oncology just to be on the doubly safe side should they encounter cancer in that area during surgery.  Or something like that.  That is said to be a 4 hour appt.  I am guessing there will be an ultrasound at a minimum in addition to consultation, but we shall see.  That surgery will be post mastectomy and post radiation, so it is a while off.

Then we meet with Dr. Schmidt late in the afternoon.  This has the making of a long afternoon, but that is not an issue.  We have learned a new kind of patience at these physicians’ offices.  Just part of the deal with the flipside that we have always been afforded the time we need while face to face with the docs. 

When that day is done and we get the info we are hoping to get, we will post the next phase plan here.  Best case, and one we are hopeful to get, is that she is currently cancer free (or as close to it as they want) and that surgery will be scheduled for late April or early May.  We are looking forward to this weekend as it will mark the first time in a while Jill has been more then 13 days post chemo treatment (meaning she should be feeling good) and we will know the next part of this journey.