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.