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.
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.
