It is now week two since the surgery and things are going well. We got the final pathology at the end of the week and everything was completely clear. What that means is that they tested all the tissue that was removed and did not find any trace of cancer. We have a follow up appointment with the surgeon on Friday and meet with the oncologist the following week. Holly is getting better every day, she feels fine and her strength is slowly coming back, she still gets tired easily. Had a good day because the Seahawks won!

John

So far, so good...

Just got off the phone with the surgeons office and I am happy to report that the final pathology on the two removed lymph nodes is done and there is no trace of any cancer in them! This is great news as it confirms that the cancer has not spread beyond the tumor. The initial pathology on the breast tissue is also negative for any signs of cancer which means the chemotherapy did an good job of eradicating the tumor. The nurse said the lab was going to continue to take additional slices of the removed breast tissue and that the final report would be ready on Tuesday.

Holly has been resting well and feeling a bit tired and sore but is actually managing to work from home a bit today. She needs some rest from time to time and is moving a bit slow but, in general, feeling better. Holly stopped taking her pain medications yesterday and it has not been a problem today.

John

Surgery complete

Surgery is complete and Holly is in the recovery room. I had a chat with the surgeon after the surgery was completed and she said that they removed two sentinel lymph nodes, some tissue about the size of a small egg and the port. The surgery went well and there were no apparent signs of any residual cancer. The removed tissue and lymph nodes have been sent to the lab and the final pathology will be available on Friday. This is the result we were looking for so I am very pleased with the outcome. Holly is resting in recovery and I am sitting in the waiting room so I will post again when I get home this evening.

John

Surgery is scheduled

It has been a while since my last post, not much to report as we have just been waiting for Holly to regain her strength so we can move on the the next phase of her treatment, surgery. We pulled our trailer down to Seaside Oregon for a nice little vacation with Holly's siblings and had a nice relaxing time. The only real excitement was a blow out on the trailer on the drive home, no damage done except to the tire. The day after returning from vacation we had an appointment with the surgeon to discuss and schedule Holly's surgery. The meeting went well and we now have the following schedule:
Monday, August 30, Injection of a radioactive tracer to identify lymph nodes associated with tumor area
Tuesday, August 31 at 7:00am
Report to Virgina Mason hospital and have wires placed to identify and guide the surgeon then report to surgery waiting area
Actual surgery to take place where:
1) The port which was used for chemotherapy will be removed,
2) A small incision will be made under the arm and the two or so lymph nodes associated with the tumor area will be removed.
3) The area where the tumor was will be examined and a portion of the area will be removed.
4) Pathology will take place in the operation room on both the removed lymph nodes and tissue removed from the tumor area. If all goes well that will be the end of it and nothing further will need to be done and Holly will be able to go home the same day. If anything is found during the pathology additional lymph nodes and or tissue may need to be removed which will mean an over night stay in the hospital and a longer recovery period.

The optimum outcome would be for nothing to be found, for Holly to be sent home on Tuesday which would mean about a week of recovery. More extensive surgery would result in an over night stay in the hospital, a two to three week recovery period and possibly more surgery down the road. There is currently no reason to expect anything other than the simple surgery so we will keep our fingers crossed for that option.

Chemo, we don't need no stinkin chemo...

We just had our doctors appointment and are sitting here in the infusion center, Holly says hi to everyone. Todays news is that Holly's feet are not getting any better and she is now experiencing a little neuropathy in two fingers on her right hand. As a result of this the doctor decided to proceed with todays treatment and then call it done. We are now at the stage where we set up a pre-surgical consult and schedule the surgery. Holly is a bit happy, but scared, to be done with chemotherapy, she likes the idea of not coming here anymore but is afraid of not actively and aggressively treating this thing.

The current plan is to get the surgery done in mid to late August, take three to four weeks to heal, then proceed with six weeks of Monday to Friday radiation treatments. Every day for six weeks will suck but at least we can schedule that for close to home, no more regular visits to capitol hill.

John

Three more to go...

Well, nine down and now we are thinking three more to go. We met with the Doctor on Friday, prior to treatment, and discussed how Holly handled the last treatment. We decided that Holly's neuropathy stayed about the same, no better, no worse. Since the neuropathy has not progressed, the doctor decided that the potential benefits of finishing all 12 treatments out weighs the neuropathy threat at this point. Dr. Dahbi is going to continue to monitor the feeling in Holly's hands and feet and as long as it does not get any worse, we will continue with a 70% dose for the next three weeks. Holly just told me her feet are feeling a little funny but not moving into her ankles yet, so we shall see.

Holly is feeling tired and a bit anxious but hanging in there. She is getting a bit apprehensive about finishing this treatment and moving on to the next step but she is getting used to the idea. I am looking forward to moving on to the next step and am working on getting Holly excited also.

Almost there

Friday, we met with the doctor prior to treatment and the doctor asked the usual questions about how Holly was feeling. Holly told the doctor about the funny feeling she has been having in her feet and how it had moved from the front of her foot to the entire foot. The feeling she is experiencing is called neuropathy and is a typical side effect. Once neuropathy sets in, you have to be careful that you don't lose all the feeling in your feet because it can affect the way you walk and drive. Another problem with neuropathy is that there is no way of telling if the condition is permanent or not. The doctor performed a thorough exam, and decided that we need to keep a close eye on her condition. If the neuropathy stays the same or gets worse, then it has been decided that Holly would get a half dose next Friday and another half dose the following week, and that would be the end of the Taxol. Dr. Dabhi explained that a typical round of chemotherapy consists of three infusions and most people get one infusion every three weeks. Due to Holly's age, condition and generally good health, the doctor decide to give Holly an infusion every week, apparently there is a slight statistical benefit to getting infused every week. If Holly gets two more half treatments, that would be a total of nine full infusions or three rounds of Taxol. Dr. Dabhi says that we have achieved the desired result of shrinking the tumor so there was no problem in finishing her treatment a bit early.

Once we figured that treatment was probably going to end in two weeks, we started talking about what was next. Holly admitted to the doctor that she was very nervous about the upcoming surgery and that Dan told her that she had done the hard part, and surgery would be a breeze. The doctor told her that Dan was right on the money, she has done the hard part and the surgery should not be that bad. The current plan is to most likely get two more half treatments of Taxol over the next two weeks, take three to four weeks to get stronger, then get surgery. Once surgery is complete, there will be a month or so to heal up, then six weeks of radiation therapy which will be administered 5 days a week.

On a funner note, the doctor showed up on a cool, bright read scooter, apparently he broke his foot in a biking accident. Dr. Dabhi was very excited about his cool scooter and told us he was planning on tricking it out.

John