Cross linking to greg’s blog

a little post from Greg that relates to Jill’s cancer.  http://www.golightly.us/?p=70

We met with radiation oncologist

Jill and I met with the doc this morning to talk about radiation.  He was very nice.  He first explained why he (and subsequently Dr. Birhiray and Dr. Schmidt) feel that Jill should do radiation.  We had already made that decision, but I like that he started with this – really showing that we are in charge of our treatment.  He even gave us a backstory of radiation and its treatment of breast cancer, which educated us on the why’s. 

Jill will get prepped later this week – they do an MRI or CT and then use those images to target the actual focus of the treatments.  Then starting some time next week, Jill will have radiation 5 times a week for 5-6 weeks.  The side effects are likely to be what we expected – fatigue and skin irritation.  But Jill should be able to live a nearly normal life.  She can work as energy allows.  She can exercise.  He hair will continue to grow back in.

We asked about the fact that as part of the surgery they took out 2 lymph nodes that were positive – how can we feel safe that the other nodes do not?  He said it really is not a big deal, because he is going to treat that area. 

So really, nothing new to report today, except that we are moving forward.

oh what a night . . .

Last night we went to “a Night of Magical Moments” presented by the Megan S Ott foundation.  http://www.megansottfoundation.org/

You can read all of the details at that site, but Megan lost her life to breast cancer in 2010.   This wonderful foundation raises money to help others fighting this battle.  Jill is one of the recipients of the foundations generosity.

Jill and I, along with several of her family members (and spouses) went last night.  In addition, we knew many of the folks at the event.  Megan was from Noblesville as are Jill and I , so we have a lot of connections.  Jill was selected by the foundation partially due to the similarities (young when diagnosed, from Noblesville, two daughters)

Prior to dinner, there was a brief presentation about Megan.  She was far too young and is survived by her husband and two kids.  Then it showed some pictures of current recipients.  After seeing Megan’s story, it was very difficult to see my wife and my kids on the same screen.  Pictures that I took and that I have seen many times made me cry.

The the event was wonderful.  Dinner, drinks, and dancing.  Well, as you might suspect, I did not dance.  But Jill did.  And for much of the evening, it was like any wedding or party – Jill out on the dance floor having a wonderful time and me having a drink and conversation with friends at a table.

I am stunned at what this foundation has done in such a short time.  There were around 400 people in attendance and the auction items were amazing.  I suspect they raised north of $50k.  It was and is an honor to be part of this foundation’s love.

I hope this event happens every year and I hope we are there for many many of them.  Look for us to round up you all to come next year.

May 12 Update

We met with the Breast Surgeon today.  First, Jill had her staples removed and her incision looks great.  Well, to be clear it looks great to the doc and medical staff.  To Jill and I, well, it kind of looks like a big gnarly scar where a bo0b used to be. 

Dr. Schmidt answered any questions we might had and said Jill will be ready for radiation on time (in 2 weeks).  We are now going to meet with the plastic surgeon in the coming week or two.  They will take a look at Jill and start to devise a plan.  So, after getting a timeline from the Radiation Oncologist and then an assessment from the plastics doc, we should have a TENTATIVE plan moving forward, post radiation.  As in the various surgeries (left removal, right reconstruction, left reconstruction, and removal of ovaries.  This will probably be 2-4 surgeries.

I got some good news at the doc – from a selfish standpoint.  Jill has been instructed to lose ~30 pounds before these surgeries.  Why is that good for me?  I have put on about 20lbs since she got diagnosed and try as I might, without getting the junk out of our house and Jill on board (to stop me from making bad choices) I have little chance of succeeding. 

So starting soon (Monday I say, I am am chief blogging officer) we will work together to loose weight.  Now – who wants the crap in our house?  Free to anyone. 

Next update will probably be after we meet with Radiation Oncologist next week.

Oh yeah, and Jill gets her port out on Monday.

Update after Oncologist meeting

We met with the Oncologist today and went over the results of the biopsy.  We had been given the results last week by the surgeon’s assistant and were looking forward to today to gain a deeper understanding.

The results of the post surgery biopsy were in a word – good.  They were what was expected.  Basically most of the cancer had been destroyed by chemo, which means Jill had a very good response to chemo.  They had always expected to find some cancer after chemo.  As Doc explained to us today – there are multiple bullets in our gun of treatment.  Chemo was the first.  It did very well.  Now there will be radiation that should get rid of all the disease in the affected areas (lymp nodes on right side, and her breast area – the skin that is still there).  Once that is done, the next bullet will be the Anti-estrogen therapy that will last ~5 years. 

So, we are on a course that is as good as could be hoped for.  The plan has not deviated one bit from the projected treatment plan we heard in December.  That is really wonderful news and we need to understand it as such.  I mean -  basically if we were told that everything would be great after phase 1 when we first met with the docs, we would have danced.  Well, lets dance. 

What happens now? 

1.  We will meet with our radiation oncologist soon.  Probably this or next week.  Jill will likely started radiation the week of May 23-27.  It is likely that it will go for 6 weeks, but we will know more after we meet with that doc.

2.  Jill will get her port out soon.  That has no real impact on anything, but it is one less thing for her to deal with (she has to get it flushed from time to time0.

Tubes removed, and an update

This morning Jill had her drain tubes removed.  It appeared to be a very painful thing.  They basically grab a hold of the tube and yank.  However, after it was done Jill was very happy to no longer have tubes and containers attached to her body.

We got the results of the biopsy from the surgery.  There were still some cancerous cells in breast and lymph tissue.  At a core emotional level, this really was hard to hear.  However, it was always expected.  From the start we were told that we have chemo for 4 months.  Then surgery.  Then radiation for around 6 weeks.  Then other breast removal.  Then at some point reconstruction.  The chemo kills most of the cancer – it shrinks it way down.  It did that.  It could not be found on scans.  Just in a biopsy in some cells.  Unless the cancer was 100% gone, we would need radiation.  We were only recently even told that we might not need radiation if the biopsy came back clean.  Of course, we secretly hoped for that . . . but in reality we are exactly where we thought we would be as part of a successful course of action.

Once will is recovered from the surgery, she will start radiation.  We have not met with that doc yet, so we have no details.  We will meet with the Breast Surgeon in a week or so.  Today we met with his nurse who gave us the results.  Our surgeon will help us pick an radiation doc.  Then we will meet with them and get started. 

There are still many unknowns.  Like if Jill will have left breast removed before reconstruction.  It is recommended that she wait 6-12 months from the end of surgery until she gets reconstructed . . . and we are not sure we want the left breast that long due to Jill’s predisposition to breast cancer.  But we will discuss that with the doc soon.  This all means that will not be fully rebuilt and done with this until probably summer or fall of 2012.  But as long as we are moving forward, that is just part of this deal.