Novemeber 14, 1951 - September 2, 2009

Barbara Ann Blake
November 14, 1951 - September 2, 2009

It is with great sadness that I share with everyone that Mom passed away this morning around 5:30AM. She passed comfortably in her sleep. After a courageous battle with cancer, she is no longer suffering.

She lived life to the fullest, with no regrets whatsoever. She treasured the time she spent with her friends and family. They were the sunshine of her life.

Thank you to everyone who stopped by, called, prayed for us and kept us in their thoughts. I can not tell you how deeply touched we all were by your love and support.

A bump in the road...

Well, a few things have happened since I last updated everyone. For starters, Mom spent a little over a week enjoying herself in Texas with family. It was great for her to get a little break from treatment.

Ever since the last round of radiation, Mom has been quite tired. We were told that it was a side effect of the radiation, but that she should continue to get strength back as more time passed. She still was able to accomplish a lot in a day, but just didn't feel right.

About a week ago, she started to experience a few headaches and had issues with some nausea and a bit of uneasiness on her feet. She knew that something wasn't right. So many of her friends who have gone through this (especially brain cancer) have told her that when something isn't right, you need to trust your instinct; you know your body better than anyone. She insisted on another MRI, and after looking at the results, the doctors realized that two of the tumors had grown fairly significantly in the past several weeks since treatment had finished. The doctors were quite alarmed by this, and realized that they need to take action immediately. They put her on oral steroids to reduce the swelling of the brain, and scheduled a meeting of the tumor board to discuss her options as a group. We were scheduled to meet with the tumor board and discuss their plan of treatment on Monday, with possible Gamma knife surgery (that was the anticipated course of treatment according to the radiation doctor) likely for Tuesday.

Early Monday morning we had a change of plans. I was staying with Mom, as she was not supposed to be alone (and we anticipated a meeting with the tumor board Monday morning), when she woke me up about 1:30 AM Monday morning. She came upstairs and told me that she was in a great deal of pain. She told me that she was at an 8 out of 10 on the pain scale (this coming from a woman who only took one pain pill after her bi-lateral mastectomy, one after her reconstruction, and delivered two children with no anesthesia.) I knew this must be some pretty serious pain. She had shortness of breath, sharp pain in her left side, and could hardly move because of the pain. She suggested that maybe we call the hospital and see what they thought we should do. Being unsure of who in the world to talk to at the hospital about this, and knowing full-well what they would tell us if I told them that she was having pain in her chest, we were proactive and took her to the emergency room. While in the ER they thought the pain may be caused by a blood clot in the lung, a heart attack, a kidney stone, or possibly even bone cancer. After looking at the chest x-rays carefully, and realizing that she was on an oral steroids for the brain swelling, the doctor noticed that there was a pocket of air under her diaphragm. He quickly suspected, and further x-rays confirmed, that she likely had a perforated ulcer that had caused a hole in her stomach wall allowing stomach acid and air to leak in her abdominal cavity. This is a known side effect from prolonged usage of oral steroids, but in her case the benefits outweighed the risks. Left untreated for any longer than a couple of hours the condition would have been fatal. She was rushed into emergency surgery. While in surgery, they determined that the hole was in her stomach (which is much better that in being further down in the intestines, which would likely resulted in a colostomy, and would have been a lot worse for infection) and removed part of her stomach and stitched it back up. The abdominal cavity was a little infected, but the surgeon believes that we caught it early enough that we can beat the infection. She is recovering at St. Francis now and is expected to go home later this week if everything goes well.

The tumor board met yesterday and discussed the plan for the brain. They need to allow her time to recover from the infection in her abdomen before they do anything else, though. Dr. Klopfenstein said that ideally, she would go home and rest for a couple of days to build her strength up for the brain surgery, which will likely take place next week.

The tumor board decided that one of the tumors is too large to do focused radiation (Gamma knife) on. They instead plan to do invasive surgery early next week, hopefully, to remove that tumor. They will then, in the days to follow, do focused radiation on the other tumors/lesions. This is a fairly serious surgery, but the potential benefit or quality or life afterward outweighs the risk.

I apologize if I haven't had a chance to contact everyone in the past couple of days. I have tried to contact everyone that I could think of, but complete exhaustion, both physically and emotionally have overwhelmed me since the early hours of Monday morning. Thank you all for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers. I will update everyone when I know more.

Putting Cancer in the Rearview Mirror for a Little While

Mom got the results from her MRI along with Jill and I today. The radiologist said that everything was going as he would expect. The lesions have shrunk, the swelling of her brain has gone down, and most importantly there are no new lesions. The cancer is still there, however it is much more manageable at this point. She is not struggling with the confusion or the headaches, and short of still being pretty tired from the radiation, continues to carry on a pretty normal life.

The radiologist does not want to see her again until August. He has an MRI scheduled for in late August and will share the results with us shortly thereafter. Depending on what the MRI tells him he has several options. He may have her undergo treatment with the Gamma knife, or the more precise Cyber knife. He may also order more radiation. It is also possible that he will leave it alone for awhile and watch it. There is no point in worrying about the future though, she is very happy to have this summer to do what she wants.

Thank you again for all of your thoughts and prayers.

Quick Update

Mom finished her radiation on Friday, just in time for Easter weekend. She is still a little bit tired from the affects of the radiation, but seems to be getting some of her energy back. She was having trouble sleeping at night due in part to the steroids that she was taking to keep the swelling down, but had a good night of sleep last night.

Her hair is gone now, shaved off last week, as it was starting to fall out on it's own. For the most part the confusion is gone now. She will have an MRI in a few weeks to determine how successful the radiation was. From there they will decided what the next step is. If they are satisfied with the results they may do nothing else. If they feel that they can make some more progress with radiation, they may start her on that again. Lastly, if they feel that there are still a few trouble spots that they want to address, that would not warrant total radiating the whole brain again, the may opt to use the Gamma Knife. The Gamma Knife procedure is a non-invasive technique that focuses radiation on specific parts of the brain. This is a very common procedure for brain cancer, and is painless.

I will update everyone when we get the results from the MRI and know more. As always, thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers.

A little bit of good news for a change...

Mom's PET scan test results came back clear today. That means that we only have to focus on the cancer in her brain. The confusion is getting better, although she still has difficulty coming up with the right word to use occasionally, and continues to have a little difficulty with her handwriting and typing e-mails. Overall, there has been a good deal of improvement versus one week ago today. She if halfway through with her radiation, and has seven treatments remaining. We hope to continue to see improvements from the radiation. When the treatments are over they will do another MRI and evaluate the progress. After they evaluate the progress they will determine the next course of action.

Mom continues to be in good spirits, and appreciates all of the e-mails, comments on the blog, and calls. The radiation is leaving her quite tired though, and she has been resting quite a bit lately.

We appreciate all of your thoughts and prayers. Thank you again for your support.

Update

So much has happened since I have updated everyone last. Mom finished radiation, had reconstructive surgery, and finished her last procedure yesterday in her fight against breast cancer. Jill got married, bought a house with her husband, and accepted a full time position with Caterpillar. Grace and I moved back to Bloomington, I had my one year anniversary with GROWMARK, and I continue pursue my interest in photography. I had hoped to never use this site again, except maybe as a scrapbook to help other breast cancer patients realize that there is hope.

Unfortunately, we have had a bit of a setback on Mom's path to recovery. Yesterday, within an hour of finishing her treatments for breast cancer, we learned that the cancer had metastasized to her brain. We were immediately referred to an oncologist, where she was given a steroid to help bring the swelling down. There are about 6-7 lesions on her brain that are causing swelling. This swelling is leading to headaches, confusion, and memory loss. We went down the hall from the oncologist's office to meet with with the radiologist to determine a plan of attack. They took a mold of her face to develop a mask to both protect the areas of her skull that they do not want to radiate, as well as make sure that she is in the exact same position every time during the radiation.

We started radiation this morning, and will continue with radiation for approximately the next three weeks. She has a PET scan scheduled for Thursday to make sure the cancer has not spread anywhere else.

We are all kind of in shock right now as we enter the next chapter of Barb's Fight. We are cautiously optimistic as we enter this new fight. This is by far that hardest thing that Mom, Jill and I have faced in life, and we appreciate all of your prayers, e-mails and phone calls.

The best way to reach Mom continues to be e-mail. Her address is wanarunow@yahoo.com. You may also reach Jill and I at skibunny162000@yahoo.com and grant@macro-hard.com. Thank you again for all of your support.

Radiation

Mom was cleared by her oncologist to start radiation last week--no more chemo! She will have radiation treatment every weekday for the next six to seven weeks. She is feeling good and her hair is coming back thicker than ever. The dogs have been on quite a few walks here recently, with the exception being this cold and wet weekend we are experiencing.

She has been told that she will not experience any real effects from the radiation until at least half-way through. At that point she can expect to encounter some fatigue. Some have likened it to the feeling you might get after running about four miles. As a runner this is something that she is surely comfortable in dealing with. She is eager to get through this and start running again.

Speaking of looking forward to things, the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure will be May 10. While Mom will probably not be quite well enough to run this year, she is planning on taking part in the survivor's walk. We will no doubt be out in force to see our friend Mary Sue, a ten year survivor herself, take home yet another trophy. We hope to see a lot of friends and other survivors out there helping support a cure.

For those of you following Aunt Kathy's fight down in Texas, you will be happy to know that she only has one more round of chemotherapy left. Also, rounds two and three did not hit her nearly as hard as the first one. Her and Uncle Al were going to spend some time working in the yard today, as they expected it to be pretty nice out. Her last round is schedule for Thursday April 24th. Please keep her in you thoughts and prayers as she finishes this up and prepares to put all of this behind her.

As always, thank you all again for your support.

Benefit for Uncle Bill--Update

Uncle Bill's Benefit went off without a hitch. Thank you to everyone that helped to make it such a huge success. It was so nice to see Uncle Bill have such a good time and catch up with so many people. The event gave him many good memories to hold on to when times get tougher. Below are some pictures from the event.

Benefit for Uncle Bill

Some friends and co-workers of Uncle Bill and Aunt Cindy have organized a fund raiser to be held on Saturday, April 5, 2008. For those who don't know my Uncle Bill, he suffers from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, more commonly known as Lou Gehrig's Disease. ALS, is an incurable neurodegenerative disease that attacks speech, motor function, swallowing, and breathing eventually overcoming the patient. It will be held at St. Mary's School in Metamora. Their address is 400 W. Chatham Street, Metamora, IL, 61548. For a map of the area click here. Please click here or on the picture for further detail (you can also click on the picture once the window is open to enlarge it.)

The Best Days Are The Days That Babies Are Born

Pictured above is Blake and Lisa Shamrock's newest addition to their family, Cadyn Alan Shamrock. Cadyn was born today and 1:36PM and he weighed 10 lbs. 2 oz! He joins big brother Tyler at home. He is the second grandchild for Aunt Kathy and Uncle Al. Congratulations, Blake and Lisa!

Speaking of Aunt Kathy, she is marching through chemotherapy like a pro. This cancer business is full of surprises, but she is taking this in stride. She had a rough week after the first treatment, but the second, a little over a week ago has barely phased her. She and Uncle Al spend the Easter Holiday in San Marcos with daughter, Beth Ann. Here's to half down, two more to go!

Mom continues to get along quite well. She started driving again last week, and has been walking around the neighborhood since about a week after her surgery. She even brings a dog along on her walks, although she still needs to wrap the leash around her waist to prevent any potential pulling. Radiation is scheduled to start in a couple of weeks, pending the approval of her oncologist. There is a slight chance that the oncologist will recommend a little more chemo, but based on her pathology results and speaking to the surgeon, we are optimistic that this will not be the case.

She is very excited that the weather is cooperating as she starts to get better. She is also thrilled to have her hair coming back in, just ask her. I like to tease her and tell her that it is coming in white, but truthfully it looks pretty dark. Below is a picture of her new hair. I know it doesn't look like much, but according to her it feels longer than it looks.

As always, thank you all for your support.

Homecoming

Mom made it home from the hospital on Wednesday. I apologize that I did not get a chance to update everyone sooner, but it has been a hectic end of the week. She has been resting comfortably here at home. She is in virtually no pain. This is not due to heavy dosages of pain medications either. She is not taking any pain medication, only an antibiotic. She says she feels fine, and is up and about the house at any given moment. Mom is still taking it easy with lifting, dressing, and cleaning, but is able to check her e-mail, feed herself, and talk on the phone. She could probably do a lot more if she wanted, but there is no need to thanks to many helpful neighbors, Jill and I, and a home health care nurse that will be dropping by the house a couple times a week. Even though she feels good, she still needs to limit her activity to allow proper healing and make sure the drains come out on time.

She is well on her way to her way to getting better. The sunshine that we have had the past couple of days sure doesn't hurt things either. Mom is eager to get out and walk the dogs again.

I will continue to keep everyone up-to-date on her progress. As always, that you all for your support.

Recovery Update

Mom is resting comfortably in her hospital room. She is in almost no pain, and has been out of bed and sitting in a chair for most of the day. She was also able to have cream of wheat and some toast for breakfast this morning. She is excited to order off the “real” lunch menu this afternoon. This will be quite a treat as she only had jello and juice all day yesterday.

Doctor Jalovec met with her this morning when she did her rounds. She explained to her, as she did to me yesterday, that the surgery went as well as it possibly could. In other words, occasionally they encounter things that they do not expect during the procedure. They sometimes find cancer in places they didn’t expect, are unable to get good margins, or may not be able to get all of the lymph nodes that they want. This was not the case with her procedure. Things went exactly as planned. We are awaiting pathology reports on the tissue that was removed.

She is scheduled to be released tomorrow, and is eager to get home and get active again as warm weather approaches. I will keep everyone updated with regards to her release and the recovery process. Thank you again for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers, and as always, thank you all for your support.

Surgery Update Three

March 3rd, 2:45PM

The surgery is complete, and according to the doctor, went as well as it possibly could. She was very pleased with Mom's procedure. She is on her way to her room right now from recovery. She is awake, alert, and aware at this point. Thank you for all of your prayers.

The pictures are from the squares on her quilt. The top one is from her good friend Chris Ashburn, who passed away after a courageous battle with cancer about a week ago. She was quite an inspiration to Mom. She came and sat with her during chemo, and coached her through her fight, all the while fighting her own battle. Seeing this square on her quilt was very hard for Mom.

The bottom square is from Nancy Brinker. Nancy was Susan G. Komen's sister, and is founder of the Komen Race for the Cure. She is now Chief of Protocol for the Bush White House. The Bakers jumped through some serious hoops to get that one signed. It literally went from the White House, to Budapest, back to the White House, and then here.

I can not explain the feelings that I could see in my Mom's face when she received the quilt. She was clearly overwhelmed. Thank you all again for all of your support.

Surgery Update Two

March 3rd, 1:30PM

Above is a picture from last night when Mom's friends gave her the signature quilt that Laurie Baker made for her. She absolutely loved it. It was so nice for her to have one more reminder right before her surgery of how many people are pulling for her.

I have had two updates since I last updated. The first update was at about 11:30AM when they let me know that the right side was finished. The right side was the easier side, as there was no cancer there. They have moved on to the left side, and will remove the lymph nodes on the left side as well. This will take a little longer.

The second update came during lunch when I was away. The nurse called down to let me know that everything was going great. She did not give me a time frame for finishing up, but I would guess that they will be done in the next 1 1/2 to 2 hours. I will keep everyone posted.

Surgery Update One

March 3rd, 10:15AM

Pictured above is Mom's idea of getting ready for he big surgery. Cathy F. came over and we took a bike ride into the country. We could not have asked for a nicer day before her surgery. It was much better than the rain that they were calling for!

They just paged me and let me know that Mom's procedure had started. They expect it to last four to five hours. She will then stay in recovery for an hour or two, finally arriving in her room tonight. We're guessing maybe around five or six tonight. Mom was in great spirits this morning, and is ready to get better as this warm weather starts to come.

I will keep everyone posted as we know more today. I plan to post at least two more updates as the day goes on. As always thank you for all for your support.

Surgery Schedule Update

All of the final tests have been completed, and Mom's surgery is scheduled for March 3rd. We will be arriving at the hospital at 7:30 AM. She will be the first surgery of the day for Dr. Jalovec. They plan to keep Mom overnight on Monday and Tuesday, and release her Wednesday. As I mentioned in previous posts, the procedure will be a bi-lateral mastectomy with removal of a section of lymph nodes under her left arm. We are anxiously awaiting the surgery as this will be another step of the journey that will be behind us.

For those of you following my Aunt Kathy's fight down in Dallas, her journey took a bit of an unexpected direction this week. She has visited two oncologists since the day of her surgery, and on their recommendation is starting chemotherapy on Monday. She was a borderline candidate for chemotherapy, but after much discussion with peers, her oncologist decided the the positives outweighed the negatives for the chemotherapy. This will increase her odds of not having to deal with this again. Her treatments will be every three weeks for a total of four treatments. She is a very strong woman, and will no doubt handle this speed bump with grace.

I will attempt to keep everyone informed as we go into the surgery. I plan on bringing my laptop to the hospital to post updates, but am unsure at this point if I will have internet access. If at all possible I will make several post during the day. As always, thank you all for your support.

Chemotherapy: Round 8

Mom completed her eighth, and final, round of chemotherapy on Monday. Upon completion she received the "Purple Heart Award" for successfully completing chemotherapy, pictured above. Aside from some back pain, the last round of chemotherapy came and went without any real problems. Sixteen weeks went by fairly fast. Fairly fast, that is, considering how hard it must have been to endure these treatments every two weeks. I can't imagine having a treatment and realizing that you have to turn around and do it again in two weeks.

According to the oncologist, the treatments were so effective that after the final physical exam she noted that she no longer could feel the tumor. It is so hard to fathom that a 3 1/2" X 2" tumor had shrunk that much. For those with limited breast cancer experience that is a HUGE tumor. Most cases are detected when the tumor is between one and two centimeters, and often even smaller. Even with routine mammograms a tumor the size of Mom's is not always detectable. This puts added importance on knowing your family history for cancer and being in touch with your own body in order realize subtle changes. I am not trying to scare anyone with this information, but rather make people aware that mammograms are not always the gold standard that they were once thought to be. In fact there is no silver bullet.

An increasingly common method for detecting breast cancer has been the MRI, but MRI's have their flaws too. Often they are too sensitive and show a lot of false positives. MRI's are not accessible to all either, as many insurance companies do not cover them for preventative breast cancer screenings. As I mentioned before, being in touch with your own body is just as important tool as either of these two tests. If Mom had not realized that something were wrong on her own it could have easily been another year before she was diagnosed. As everyone already knows early detection is the key to surviving.

I apologize if I have come off as though I am preaching; I just would like to wish that no one else would have to go through this. It is by far the hardest thing that we have ever been through as a family. Without the support of our friends and family this would have, no doubt, been much more difficult.

Moving forward, Mom is currently scheduled to have a bi-lateral mastectomy on Monday, March 3rd. We have an appointment with the surgeon, Dr. Jalovec, to confirm the appointment as well as a pre-surgery consultation on Tuesday. I will update everyone when we have confirmed the appointment and as we approach the day of the surgery.

As always, thank you all for your support. Without all of you I know this would be far more difficult. Thank you for keeping our family in your thoughts and prayers.

Chemotherapy: Round 7

Mom just completed her seventh round of chemotherapy on Monday. This means that she only has one more remaining before her surgery. The final chemotherapy treatment is scheduled for Monday, February 4th. She is very excited to be so close to wrapping up her chemo treatments. If everything continues to go as planned her surgery will take place on Monday, March 3rd.

She is feeling pretty good after this latest treatment, even remarking today, "I can't believe I am feeling this good after chemo on Monday." Her energy levels remain pretty good. She rises fairly early, usually tries to take a nap in the afternoon, and is in bed shortly after the WGN News at nine. The chemo seems to affect her ability to fall and stay asleep sometimes, but she is getting a good night sleep more times than not. It is important for her to gather her strength before her surgery making a good night's sleep more important than ever.

For everyone following Aunt Kathy's fight down in Texas, she is getting stronger and feeling better every day. She still has her good days and her bad days, but is having more good than bad at this point. She is healing quite nicely for the tremendous amount of stress that the surgery surely inflicted on her body. I will continue to update everyone on her progress.

As always, thank you all for your support. It really means the world to my Mom and Aunt Kathy to know that they have so many people pulling for them.

Chemotherapy: Round 6

Well, we are three-quarters of the way through the chemotherapy treatments, and everything is still going as planned. We met with the oncologist on Monday, and she felt that the chemo treatments could not be going better. Mom only has two treatments remaining before her surgery. Her next treatment is scheduled for Monday the 21st of January.

This last treatment has made her a little more tired than the past one, but she is still feeling better than she did after the first four. I think this one may have hit her a little harder than the last, as they were not spread out quite as far as the others due to the Christmas holiday. She started to experience a good deal of the joint and muscle pain after the last update (I believe it was on the Sunday after Christmas), but has not had any problems with this treatment yet. We will keep our fingers crossed.

All of this warm weather has gotten her out of the house more. As a result dogs have enjoyed several long walks during this warm weather streak. Even though the weather is no longer warm, it is very nice to see the sun out today. The sun reminds Mom of how eager she is to get this behind her and get out with her running friends again.

Speaking of getting things behind them, Aunt Kathy is healing quite nicely in Dallas. Since her release from the hospital on Sunday she has become more active each day. She met with one of her surgeons today, and they confirmed that she is healing well. She has another doctor's appointment tomorrow, and we expect the same report. As I mentioned, she is getting stronger and feeling better as each day goes by.

As always, thank you you again for all of your support.

Aunt Kathy's Fight

For those of you following my Aunt Kathy's Fight down in Dallas, we have some good news to report. Her surgery and reconstruction took place on Wednesday, and I am happy to report that she is resting comfortably in her hospital room. She had a rough first night after surgery while they tried to get the dosages right on the pain medications, but got great news today from pathology that based on the surrounding tissue that they removed, she was CANCER FREE! She was so happy she was in tears this morning as she spoke to my Mom. Now as she feels that she has a reason to start to feel better and start the healing process. This was great encouragement to my Mom, as she will soon be going through the same procedure. I cannot even to begin to fathom the amount of pain she must have been in. The surgery took nearly seven hours, during which she was under the entire time. She is an extremely strong woman, and to quote Lou Gehrig, "I may have been given a tough break, but I've got an awful lot to live for." She truly does have a lot to live for.

I know her husband, my Uncle Al, is ready to have her home and feeling better. Nothing can ever prepare you to have something like cancer affect a family member, let alone your spouse. My cousin, Beth Ann, who graduates from Texas State in May, is very eager to spend more time with her mom now that they have this episode behind them. Blake, my other cousin, his wife Lisa, and their little boy Tyler, also look forward to Aunt Kathy's recovery as they prepare for the birth of her new grandchild at the end of March. It would be a mistake not to mention her three "Little Boys" waiting for her at home to recover. Dallas (the Doberman, and original "Little Boy"), Pele (her first Greyhound), and Combo (the newest Greyhound addition) cannot wait for her to get home to pet them and throw the tennis ball in the back yard.

Aunt Kathy, everyone is so happy that you are feeling better and have put this chapter of your life behind you. To paraphrase something a friend once told me about losing his father, "I have realized that this is probably the worst thing that is ever going to happen to me in life. That said, and moving forward, everything else has to be better." Life is all about putting things into perspective. Without the bad times in life, the good times would never seem so sweet. Aunt Kathy, you have a lot of good times to look forward to now.

Double Update--Trip to the Surgeon's Office & Chemotheraphy Round 5

First, I hope everyone had as nice of a Christmas as we did. It was extra nice due to the fact that the treatment center was not open long enough on Christmas Eve to complete everything for Mom, moving her treatment to the day after Christmas. This also put off the potential for post-chemo nausea that had accompanied the previous treatments, and allowed her to enjoy a couple of good meals. This, along with everything we have gone through this year, made Christmas even more special.

Mom and Jill met with Dr. Jalovec on December 18th. This was just a progress check for her treatments. Dr. Jalovec noted that her progress could not be better. She also confirmed the massive shrinkage of the tumor as well as the fact that she could no longer detect swelling in her lymph node. Mom let the doctor know about Aunt Kathy's diagnosis, and asked her if she felt that this other diagnosis in a relative should effect the decisions that she should make regarding her procedure. Doctor Jalovec confirmed that due to this other case of cancer in such a close relative, as well as the fact that it had spread to both of Aunt Kathy's breasts, that a double mastectomy for mom would be the best solution for preventing the cancer from returning. This had been weighing on Mom heavily lately, and it was reassuring to have the doctor confirm that she also felt that this was the best decision for her. Mom was very excited to set a tentative surgery date for March 3, 2008. It is nice to have something to work towards. This date will become a reality if she continues to have no problems with chemotherapy.

Mom had her fifth chemotherapy session yesterday. This last set of four treatments uses a different combination of drugs than the previous four. The new drug cocktail includes Taxol (click on the linked word for the interesting story on how this medicine was discovered--this page also has an interesting story on it's discovery and evolution) as it's main ingredient. Unlike the others, this drug is much less likely to cause nausea. The most common side effect is joint pain and muscle ache. Fortunately she has experienced neither of these problems. The only thing that she noticed was that she became very tired directly following the treatment. This was likely due to the large amount of Benadryl that is included in the pre-meds to decrease the chances of an allergic reactions. Other than that, she says she has felt better today than she ever has after a chemotherapy session. If this is any indication, we can hope that treatments go as smoothly and she can build up her strength for her upcoming surgery and the radiation treatments that are to follow.

For those following my Aunt Kathy's path to becoming a survivor there is some news on that front as well. She is scheduled for a double mastectomy on January 2nd. She is also very eager to have this chapter of her life behind her. She is also happy to now have a tentative date to be up here with my Mom. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers these coming weeks as continues on her path to becoming a survivor. For those of you who would like to send well wishes, her email address is: kshamrock1@hotmail.com .

In closing I wanted to share a picture of Mom with and without her "hair." This is a very difficult thing for many cancer patients to deal with, and especially tough for female patients as some much of their own perceived beauty is tied to their hair. Mom, however, has taken it in stride. She only occasionally put her new "hair" on when she goes places. Although they have come a long way with wig technology, making them virtually undetectable, "It still feels like I have a cat sitting on my head." It just saves a little extra unwanted attention, or the thought that someone who doesn't know how strong she is from feeling sorry for her.

Thank you again for all of your support. We truly couldn't get through this without the immense support circle surrounding our family. I will update you all when we have some more news to share.

Chemotherapy: Round 4

I just wanted to update everyone on Mom's progress this week. She had her fourth round of chemotherapy on Monday. This was the last of the "bad" treatments. Granted, the last four treatments are no walk in the park, but the side effects are much less severe for the remaining treatments. The most common side effect for the next round of treatments is muscle and joint ache, a reasonable trade-off for the nausea caused by the other treatments.

Monday and Tuesday were a little rougher than the past treatments, but this evening she is feeling much better. She felt well enough to have a little macaroni and cheese for dinner, and finished up the evening with some Ben & Jerry's ice cream that a friend brought by. It is always a good sign that she is beginning to feel better when she starts to get her appetite back. I know she feels fortunate that something actually sounds good to eat after having no appetite for several days. She is lucky in this regard, as it takes some chemo patients much longer to regain their appetite after treatments.

Her next treatment was originally scheduled for Christmas Eve, but was postponed until the day after Christmas, as this treatment will take at least 4 1/2 hours, and the clinic is only open from eight until noon. This will mean that she should be feeling good for Christmas.

We also got some good news from the nurse practitioner during the physical exam. She felt that the tumor had shrunk by at least 80%. We were very happy to hear that the chemotherapy is continuing to work and her immune system is staying strong.

For those of you following my Aunt Kathy's fight down in Texas, we have some news on that front as well. After looking at the tissue that they removed from one breast they determined that they did not achieve clear margins. In other words, although they removed both tumors in addition to extra tissue surrounding them, they did not feel, based on laboratory analysis of the tissue, that they had removed enough. After further consultation with her surgeon, and the knowledge that if she had another lumpectomy the surgeon estimated that there could be a 50% chance that it may return, therefore she has decided to have a double mastectomy and reconstructive surgery on January 2nd. This will eliminate the need for chemotherapy and radiation treatments. She is eager to get this last surgery behind her and get up here to see Uncle Bill and take care of my Mother during her surgery next spring. Please keep Aunt Kathy in your prayers as she continues on her path to becoming a survivor.

I have added a few links on the right side of the blog for those of you seeking more information on breast cancer. There is a wealth of information on the web, and I would suggest you try to digest it in small pieces as it can be very overwhelming to look at it all at once. As always, thank you all for your support. Merry Christmas!

Chemotherapy: Round 3 -- Quick Update

I just wanted to give everyone a quick update on Mom's third round of chemotherapy. She had her third round of chemo on Monday, and is three-quarters of the way through the "bad" treatments. The good news is that the "bad" treatments are having fewer and fewer side-effects on her. She was a little tired on Tuesday and Wednesday after the treatment, however, by my estimation, took them a lot better than the first treatment. She has been up and around the house a lot more after this treatment. Her next treatment is scheduled for Monday, December 10th. This is the last of the bad ones.

We got another good piece of news when the doctor did Mom's physical exam this week. Two weeks before she had felt that the tumor was softening, but this time she said that it was definitely shrinking. She guessed that it had perhaps even shrunk by half.

The last piece of good news we got this week came from Dallas. Mom's sister, my Aunt Kathy, had surgery to treat her breast cancer on Wednesday. She was diagnosed three weeks to the hour after Mom's diagnosis came. She had a double lumpectomy and is resting comfortably at home. The doctor was very happy with how the procedure went and gave her a very good prognosis. In three weeks she will begin a series of radiation treatments. Our thoughts and prayers are with her too as she recovers. She is very happy to have this behind her and is eager to get up here to see Mom.

Chemotherapy: Round 2

Well, round two of chemotherapy has come and gone. The effects on Mom came earlier this time, but were much milder than the last round. We hope that the first round, although it was the same treatment, just shocked her body. Moving forward, we are hoping that the following treatments have as mild of consequences.

The great thing about this second treatment is the fact that we are half way through the worst part. The first four arms of the chemo are, by all accounts, the hardest. One of the drugs that they use is nicknamed "the red devil." If that's not something to be nervous about, I'm not quite sure what is.

The next two to four arms (the number for the last stage depends on her progress) are said to be much easier. At 4 1/2 hours they take a lot longer, but are said to have fewer after effects.

It was very nice that Mom was feeling better on her birthday. We were a little nervous, based on last time, that Wednesday would be her worst day. That couldn't have been further from the truth. The sun even came out for a while. Her day was truly brightened by all of the calls, cards, flowers and gift baskets which arrived throughout the day. To all her friends and family: you really know how to make someone's day! It was nice to see her smiling all day. I will post more when we have more news. Remember, no news is good news. Thank you for all of your support.

Chemotherapy: Round 1

Mom finished her first round of chemotherapy Monday October 29th. It made everything seem pretty real. Not that we expected a phone call letting us know that they had made a mistake, but to this point everything seemed pretty normal. We would walk the dogs a couple of time a day and even take a long bike ride. The treatment went pretty quickly. We were overloaded with information by the nurse, the American Cancer Society representative, and all of the chemotherapy procedures. The support network that is in place for cancer patients in unbelievable.

I bet some of you are wondering about the picture of the dogs. About an hour after the first treatment we took the dogs to Springdale Cemetary to run. We walked around for at least an hour, and the dogs had a blast. It may sound crazy, but the dogs are actually part of our support system as well. They are always excited to see you, and can always make a bad day seem a little bit better.

On Tuesday, Mom went with a friend to go see some of the museums in Chicago. An awfully long day for anyone, but she seemed just fine. It seemed like nothing out of the ordinary.

Wednesday was a bit of a different story. I spent part of the day grocery shopping for things that I thought my taste good to her (my homemade chili was not one of them.) I then set my sights on nearly all of the pump-top anti-bacterial soap and sanitizer that our local CVS had. Mom was just beat. She was completely worn out, and had to spend much of the day in bed because of fatigue and nausea. We are told that this is a fairly typical response to chemo, but obviously it can affect every person differently. This was pretty tough to watch, especially because I've always looked at her as somewhat invincible. She can outrun me, ride a bike further, and work out in the yard all day without showing any signs of fatigue. It was tough to see something knock her down like this, but we had to keep focused on the fact that it was all part or the path to getting better.

Thursday was a better day. Mom had a lot more energy and was up for longer periods of time. She still needed a lot of rest, but seemed more like herself for the better part of the day.

Today was a really good day. Mom has been up almost all day taking care of some bills and replying to some e-mail that she had not had the chance to get to in the past several days. She is starting to get her appetite back and is staying hydrated. Aside from the total assault on germs to prevent potential illness, everything is getting back to normal. She meets with the nurse practitioner on Monday the 5th, and then begins another round of chemo the following Monday the 12th of November.

Thank you again for all of your support via this website, cards, and phone calls. It is truly overwhelming to know there are that many people out there thinking about us.

Good News!

After a week of testing we finally met with the oncologist today. Mom's oncologist will be Dr. Le-Lindqwister. She seemed like a great doctor. We got some great news early on in the visit. According to the PET scan the cancer had not spread anywhere else in her body. The breast and a single lymph node were the only areas that tested positive. This came as a great relief to everyone after we had heard earlier in the week that the one lymph node had been malignant.

The next step in the treatment will be chemotherapy. Treatment will start Monday with her first round. She will be on a schedule to receive chemo every two weeks. It will be a total of six treatments. The first four stages will last about 90 minutes, and last two will be about 4 1/2 hours each. They have a very comfortable facility and patients are encouraged to watch a movie, read a book, or even take a nap during the treatments.

Words can not express what a relief we felt today. There is still a long road ahead, but it's a lot easier to handle when you know exactly what you're up against, and the plan to beat it. This was very good news to start what will certainly be a very good weekend.

Thank you to everyone for your prayers and continued support.

Late Appointment = Late Update

Mom had a pretty long day of appointments today, but answers helped ease some wandering minds.

The day started off with the aspiration of a lymph node under Mom's arm. This occurred because it became an area of concern on the MRI. The doctor let her know that while it was possible that the node lit up because it is cancerous, the possibility also exists that it lit up because it was inflamed due to all of the invasive procedures the week before. Results should come in the next couple of days. The procedure was noted as "much less painful."

At 4:00PM she had an appointment with Dr. Lynne Jalovec. Dr. Jalovec was tied up with a surgery that went much longer than expected. Her staff told us to come back around 5:15 and that the doctor would meet with us shortly thereafter. 5:15 turned into a little before 7:00PM, but we all understand that things happen, and it was awfully nice of her to meet with us that late in the evening. We met with her from a little before 7:00PM until a little past 9:00PM. We never once felt rushed, and she took plenty of time to answer all of our questions.

She described the cancer as "locally advanced breast cancer." She explained that it was "invasive ductile carcinoma." As a breast specialist she says that she only sees a cancer like this 2-3 times a month. This is no way related to the severity or survivability, merely a statement as to it's relative rarity. She rated it as a stage 2B or stage 3A cancer. Her guess was that it probably had been growing, unable to be detected, for about 5 years. The stage of classification is dependent upon whether the lymph node has been affected. At this stage Dr. Jalovec is assuming that it has been affected.

The part that most surprised all of us, mostly based on everything we had heard from other survivors and other doctors about the standard course of action, was that the doctor did not want to proceed with surgery first. Instead she would like to proceed as though the cancer has potentially spread to other areas of the body. As she said, "It's not the cancer in the breast that will kill you at this point, it's the potential that if we don't attack it proactively with chemotherapy it will end up in other parts of your body." The chemo will serve two purposes. The first purpose will be to treat the cancer, proactively, as though it may have potentially spread to other places in the body. The second purpose is it to shrink the tumor. A smaller tumor makes the surgery easier, and decreases the amount of affected breast tissue that needs to be removed.

Next week quite a few standard tests will occur including an EKG, PET Scan, and blood work. It will be a very busy week for Mom. If all goes as planned with scheduling, chemotherapy will begin as early as the end of next week. After about sixteen weeks of chemotherapy (2 drugs, every two weeks for 4 weeks, then 1 drug every two weeks for 4 weeks), Dr. Jalovec will proceed with surgery (modified radical mastectomy), followed by radiation. The potential also exists for some hormone therapy, a sort of anti-estrogen, at some point in the process, to reduce the potential of the cancer spreading to the other breast. At this point the potential is a slim 7%, but if she is a candidate for the hormone therapy the chances drop to 3%.

Lots of info to digest today, but knowing more has really helped us wrap our minds around this, and we feel like we have a plan of attack. Once again thank you to everyone for all of your support.

Update: Wednesday, October 17th, 4:00 PM

Mom has a couple of procedures scheduled for tomorrow that I thought I would let everyone know about. At 10:00 AM they will be taking a small sample of a lymph node that they suspect might be malignant. This an outpatient procedure and we all hope (especially Mom!) that it will not be nearly as painful as the initial biopsies last Wednesday.

She will then meet with Dr. Jalovec in the afternoon for a pre-surgery consultation. We are hoping that she has an opening soon to schedule the surgery. This consultation should shed a lot more light on the extent of the procedure that she would like to perform.

Again, hopefully we will have more answers tomorrow afternoon. Thank you again for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers.

Day 1: Diagnosis

My mother was diagnosed with breast cancer on Thursday, October 11th, 2007. My sister Jill and I were in the consultation room when the doctor came in and gave us the news. While we were prepared for the worst, it did not lessen our shock when the doctor used the "C" word. It was like someone had knocked the wind out of our chests.

Jill was probably the most upset. My mother (whom I am probably the most alike) and I just kind of sat there in silence. We do not usually wear our hearts on our sleeves, preferring instead to calmly approach things and let them sink in. I will never forget the car ride home that day. You can never prepare for something like this. We tried to think of everyone that we needed to call, and Mom thought of everything that needed to be done around the house before the surgery. Luckily, since my "retirement" from the wine & spirits industry, we have been getting a lot of projects done around the house.

They say you never really know how many friends you have until something bad happens to you. In my Mother's case this is not necessarily true. She has always been very blessed with many caring neighbors, friends from work, her running crew, and her family. However, one could never anticipate the outpouring of support, encouragement, and and well-wishes that we have received in the past week. It is truly overwhelming. Perhaps the best spoken advice came from two of my Mother's friends who are both survivors. They have both been through this and have been a tremendous resource for compassion and support. It is very reassuring to speak to someone who has fought this and beat it! Thank you all for you continued support.

In the coming days and weeks we will update this blog as much as possible to keep everyone informed about my Mother's fight. We have very few details at this point as some tests are still ongoing. She had an MRI on Monday to get a better idea where the cancer was, and most importantly where it was not. The good news it that they believe that it has not spread to her other breast. They have identified the area of concern, and will forward on the results of the MRI to the surgeon. At this point she is just waiting to meet with the surgeon for a pre-surgery consultation. After the consultation it could be just a matter of days to a week or so until the surgery. There was a lymph node that was an area of concern that will be tested tomorrow. Again, it is our goal to update everyone as more details become available.

Please feel free to reach out to her or myself via e-mail with any questions or well-wishes. Our addresses are : wanarunow@yahoo.com & grant@macro-hard.com .
Jill's address is: skibunny162000@yahoo.com . Again thank you for all of the support, it has truly been overwhelming.

If you are interested you can also comment on any of these posts. Simply click on the comments section below the post and leave your thoughts.