Race for the Cure...

What an experience! This morning we went to Race for the Cure at the ICAR campus here in Greenville. There were so many people in support of breast cancer! There was a sea of pink shirts (all BC survivors) which was such an inspiration for me. I felt really good- I still have the drain in, but that didn't stop me! We did the 5K untimed race- which we walked. (I might add we really walked more than that because we had to walk about 1 mile to get to the race and another back to the car!) I appreciated all of my friends and family that came out in support of me and also another BC suvivor at my school, Karen Aiken. We had a wonderful time...check out our pics! PS- Thank God for no rain this morning! The weather was perfect! :)

Mallory Kate...an artist in the future?

At snack time today, I had to run to get the camera! Mallory Kate is now at the age that she wants to be independent and long gone are the days of me feeding her. While I was chatting on the phone, she decided the yogurt was a great medium to finger paint with. I watched her squeezing it between her fingers and making a masterpiece on her tray! She had a blast and then said, "Mommy, mess?" I just shook my head...

1st Oncologist Appointment...

Today Greg and I went to see Dr. Gococo, the chemo oncologist. I have great faith in him- he is so knowledgeable and puts things in "simple" terms to understand. (Although he asked me if I was a nurse because all of my great questions using "their" lingo...haha!) He had my path report from surgery and he didn't like delivering the news. My good friend Julie works at the Cancer Center and told Dr. Go to treat me well because I was a good friend of hers. Dr. Go told Julie that he was afraid he didn't have the best news to share with me. I'm not much of a mathematician, but the statistics were kinda overwhelming! Let me back up a minute...I knew from surgery that there was cancer in one if not more lymph nodes. So today, Dr. Go told me there was 5 cancerous nodes out of 9. That was disturbing to him, as well as us, with me being only 31 years old. So back to the stat sheet he had...basically, he plugged in all my info and the program spits out numbers for recurrence rates based on different treatment methods. I guess I was expecting lower numbers, but based on those stats, with chemo and hormone therapy (which I am a candidate for) I have a 40% recurrence rate. Wow- I thought that was awfully high still, but, as my friend Shella said, we have to look at the 60% that don't have recurrence. And in reality, those are only numbers and God has the final count dealing with recurrence! So, once again, I need to turn it all over to Him to place in His massive hands. We also discussed the fact that my cancer is hormone receptive. They have a drug out called Tamoxifen, which aides as a hormone blocker. But the problem is, I am premenopausal and my ovaries are producing estrogen, which is fueling the cancer cells to grow and split. Dr. Gococo talked about "putting me in menopause" with an injection. Now, boy...I hope Greg is ready for this one because I remember my mother going through menopause...watch out! I'm not exactly sure when that would take place, but it was discussed. As far as a timeline goes- which all of you that know me know how much I like to have a plan of action- I am having a PET scan next Thursday along with an eckocardiogram. The PET scan is from skull to mid-thigh and is another radioactive test that looks for other "hot-spots" of cancer. Dr. Gococo hopes to see none. The eckocardiogram is being done to make sure my heart is in good condition because 1-2% of cancer patients have a heart reaction due to the chemo. I then have an appointment to see Dr. Go again on October 9th and start chemo either the 10th or the next week. He plans to be very aggressive and do 6 cycles every 21 days. Meantime, I also will meet with Dr. Wilcox- the radiation oncologist- on October 7th. We also are going for genetic testing to see if I carry the BRCA1 and/or BRCA2 gene. (I really don't know too much about that yet.) Is your head spinning yet, because mine is! I have a lot of decisions to make in the near future and need guidance from God with them. Please continue the prayers- and people have asked if they can put me on their prayer requests at church and the answer is ABSOLUTELY! The more people praying, the better! :)

Feeling better...

Well...the surgery is over and done with- hip, hip, hooray! And I feel so much better this morning. Yesterday after we came home, I was feeling quite nauseated and had an enormous headache from the anesthesia. I slept pretty good last night, which was great! So about yesterday...Greg and I went to the hospital at 6 am and moved pretty quickly through all the paperwork, preregistration, etc. (You would think they could mail you this stuff prior so you could fill it out and bring it in with you, but they didn't ask me for my opinion!) Anyways, I was taken back for surgery a little before 8 am. I remember scooting over to the OR table, and that's it. Then I remember waking up in recovery- which is a terrible feeling. The first question out of my mouth, which I thought I was asking clearly, was if the doctor found any cancer in my lymph nodes. The nurse had to ask me 2 or 3 times what I was saying- I guess I was slurring my words or either she was hard of hearing! Haha! But the nurse couldn't answer me because she didn't have a report. So, she brought Greg back and Dr. Rippon had already talked to him. Yes, she did find cancer in my nodes- which is a bummer. I was praying for a clean report there, but we'll get through this. She also told Greg that after she took out the cancerous mass, they tested part of the marginal area that was around it. She did have to go back in to get some more tissue because there was still traces of cancer. Hopefully she got it all- I trust she did. Dr. Rippon is a fabulous surgeon and I wish I had half as much energy as she had! Since she found that some of my nodes were cancerous, that means I will go the chemo/ radiation treatment route. Another bummer...but we will get through this with help and support from all of you and the Man upstairs! Dr. Rippon had to put a drain in from where she had to go farther up for the lymph nodes. I will be getting that out on Tuesday at my post-op appointment. The next step, as far as appointments go, is to see Dr. Wilcox (the radiation doctor) on October 7th and then I'll see Dr. Gococo (the chemo doctor) on October 10th. Phew....I'm ready to get going and get all of this behind me. It's a little inconvenience, but in the big picture we'll look back and say, "Do you remember having to go through this?" It will pass!

Race for the Cure...
This Saturday, a bunch of teachers at my school and friends and family will be running/ walking in Race for the Cure. I hope to attend as well- I think I'll be ready for it. We have a team name- "Mustangs R.O.C." (Mustangs being our school mascot and R.O.C.- Racing over cancer) I am looking forward to this event- I'm sure it will be a moving experience! And then the next weekend, my family is going to the beach with Greg's parents. This is a family tradition to go to the beach every October for a long weekend. I think I need this vacation more than ever- just to get away from the hustle and bustle here. I again can't thank you enough for the support you all have given me and my family! You all are the best and we love you!

Nuclear Mapping Test...

Today's appointment was the radioactive nuclear lymph node mapping. This test doesn't yield "results" of any type- it's basically a "road map" for tomorrow's surgery. They injected dye (which burned like crazy) and took pictures every 2-3 minutes- for over an hour. What happens here, is that the dye is absorbed by the lymph nodes and the surgeon will pull the sentinel node and a few more around it during surgery. From what I understand, and I may be totally wrong in explaining this, the sentinel node is the first lymph node which would have cancerous cells, if they have any at all. The cancer spreads upward- going from the sentinel node and then up the chain. The surgeon will use a "mini geiger counter" during the surgery to find that first node, take it and a few more around it out, and then test it right then to see if the cancer has spread to the nodes. If it has, she will take more out until she gets a clean margin of nodes. Whew...I hope this makes sense- because it really doesn't even make too much sense to me! Haha! Tomorrow morning is surgery- yeah- I'm ready to get this nasty cancer out! Greg and I have to be at the hospital at 6am for an 8am surgery time. The kids are taken care of and are in great hands- as well as myself- because I am sitting in God's hands now. The surgery itself takes around 2 &1/2 hours and then I'll be in recovery. And if all goes well, I go home! Keep the prayers going- God is in control here! :)

MRI...Great news!

I just got back from Anderson Radiology (the only place in the Upstate that has MRI's for the breast) and after the MRI , Dr. Sears came in with great news..she saw no other areas that looked suspicious for cancer! Yeah!!! What a blessing! So, tomorrow is a long appointment at the hospital. I am having the radioactive lymph node mapping done- where they will inject the breast with radioactive dye and take lots of pictures- for 1 1/2 hours! That will be my longest photo shoot yet! Haha! Keep the prayers going...God answers them! :)

This month has been crazy...

Well, I haven't posted in a while, mainly because I feel as if I have been trying to keep my head above the water the past 3-4 weeks. Let me begin by saying that God is good- and I truly believe that! On August 28th, I found a lump in my breast, by total "accident" (but this was really God's doing). I really didn't think too much of it- I have had lots of friends and even my mother that had to get lumps checked out. Well, I called my gynecologist to check it out. I saw Dr. Keller- which I have really grown to love. She sent me for a mammogram and ultrasound on September 4th. Greg offered to go with me, but I told him it was no big deal and everything would be fine. I had the mammogram and ultrasound done and the radiologist came in to discuss the films. I could tell right away that something wasn't right. He told me that the films didn't look good and that this was possibly cancer. This totally caught me off guard- did I hear him correctly? I don't even remember hearing much more of his conversation- other than the dreaded "C" word. I immediately went to Greg's office and broke down. (Thank goodness I had the day off to think about things.) I had a biopsy done the following Monday, September 8th and got the news on Wednesday, September 10th that I had been diagnosed with breast cancer. Things have moved very quickly- I saw the surgeon Dr. Mary Rippon on that Friday, September 12th. I was in her office for 3 hours. She is absolutely WONDERFUL and her nurse Jo is just as precious as can be! I feel very confident in them both! That day, I left with a zillion appointments- an MRI (which is tomorrow), I have radioactive lymph node mapping on Tuesday, and the surgery on Wednesday. As of right now, they are planning to do just a lumpectomy, but we'll see what the MRI shows tomorrow. After surgery (and some results) we'll know the exact path to take for treatment- either chemo then radiation, or go straight to radiation. I am in good spirits- and Greg has been helpful with that. Quick story...we were at Crossway buying Graham a new Bible yesterday and they have the family stick figures to put on your car windshield. I have been wanting those, so Greg was checking them out while I was paying for Graham's bible. I asked Greg if he saw one that could be "me", and his reply was, "They don't have a bald mom here!" I laughed, as I can do now! :) If I didn't have his humor, I could get down very easily I'm sure! I have the best support group I could ever wish to have! I have the BEST friends and family that are praying and cheering us on! We will beat this terrible disease- it is going down!!!! As Greg has said, "We have our boxing gloves on and we're ready to fight!" I will try to post our progress as often as I can. Thanks so much for all of the encouragement, prayers, cards, e-mails, phone calls, etc. You all mean so much to us and I thank you for that!

Grilling, fishing, and naked buns...

Our family celebrated Labor Day with the Howard and Nix family at Silvia and John's house. We grilled out, fished in their backyard pond, and had fun with a slip-n-slide and baby pool! Needless to say, the kids are exhausted and we all had a fabulous time! (Mallory Kate insisted on swimming in the "buff"!) Take a look...I just can't get enough of her cute little buns!!!!!