Giving Thanks

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Mom had her THIRD round of chemo yesterday. This means she’s halfway through the chemotherapy, and let me tell you, the cancer cells are scurrrrrrred. As Dr. Juvvadi examined Mom’s breast yesterday, she said, “I can’t even feel the tumor”. Needless to say, we’re pretty excited about this. This is a really good indication that the tumors have shrunk significantly. Since the liver and the breast/lymph node tumors are made of the exact same cells with the exact same receptors (triple positive), we know that whatever is happening up top is happening in the liver.

Scans!

Many of you may remember that after the third round of chemo it’s time for more scans! Mom hasn’t had any scans since the original staging studies. She is having a chest and abdomen CT and a breast ultrasound in two weeks, and we are praying for tiny or nonexistent tumors. I think she has a pretty good shot at these results! They’re also going to be able to take a look at that nasty blood clot that caused all of that drama at the beginning of this mess. I’ll be sure to post an update when we get the scan results.

Sadie’s Wedding

Mom has been handling the kryptonite (chemo) pretty dang well. Many of you know that after round two, Mom hopped on a flight to Cancun less than a week after chemo for my sister’s wedding. She did so great in Cancun, and we had no major issues. She got to relax and enjoy the ocean views from her hotel room or the pool when she needed to nap. She was amazing, and everything turned out so perfect for the wedding. Check out how beautiful she looked!

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I let her have ONE glass of champagne. Which she begged me for and hated anyway…

Side Effects

Mom’s side effects have consisted of the following:

  • fatigue
  • crazy taste buds (everything tastes terrible, even water)
  • nausea/occasional vomiting
  • upset stomach
  • sores (looks like fire ants bit her all over)
  • occasional nosebleeds
  • hair loss
  • body aches
  • neuropathy (numbness of her hands and feet)

She’s been able to manage most of her side effects with medications. She’s a total pill popper now. Of course you already knew about the hair loss. We did just learn that one of the chemo drugs she’s on may make it to where her hair never grows back. But I mean, what good is hair anyway when you rock a wig like this?

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Another really terrible side effect has been her crossed eyes. We may have to have her kicked by a mule. 😉

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“She falls down a well, her eyes go cross. She gets kicked by a mule, they go back. I don’t know.”

Name that movie.

Gratitude

As you can probably tell, we have a good time at chemo. I go get donuts so mom can eat something yummy before everything tastes awful. Mom’s had a couple of friends come visit like her sweet friend Kristen during round two and her longtime friend Blane yesterday. My grandparents also always come to be with her. They came to Texas when she was diagnosed and haven’t left since. She’s definitely loved! My sister and brother-in-law also come on some weekends and are coming for Thanksgiving! We’re going to love spending time together, eating turkey while my mom eats a banana and graham crackers, and being thankful for all of the good things in our lives. Because y’all, there is so much to be thankful for! My mom is alive, she’s being treated, and we’re getting more time together than we ever have.

We’re so grateful for friends, family, and amazing coworkers (that’s y’all!) who continue to love, support, pray, and offer sweet words of encouragement to my mom, to me, to my sister, to my husband, to all of us. This experience has reaffirmed what we already knew: That we are surrounded by the very best people. We can’t thank you enough for your continued support.

I’m personally grateful for the example of astonishing endurance, unwavering faith, and incredible strength that I am able to witness daily through being with my mom. She is so. dang. tough. I’ve watched her throughout this process in awe of the amazing woman she is. As crazy as it sounds, I’m forever grateful for this experience. I’ve gained so much. I love Thanksgiving because it reminds us to be grateful for all that God has blessed us with.

 

When upon life’s billows you are tempest-tossed,

When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,

Count your many blessings; name them one by one,

And it will surprise you what the Lord has done.

Count your blessings; Name them one by one.

Count your blessings; See what God hath done.

Are you ever burdened with a load of care?

Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear?

Count your many blessings; ev’ry doubt will fly,

And you will be singing as the days go by.

When you look at others with their lands and gold,

Think that Christ has promised you his wealth untold.

Count your many blessings; money cannot buy

Your reward in heaven nor your home on high.

So amid the conflict, whether great or small,

Do not be discouraged; God is over all.

Count your many blessings; angels will attend,

Help and comfort give you to your journey’s end

“Count Your Blessings”, LDS Hymnal

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Love y’all,

Sydnie

Mediport, Wigs, Chemo, and GOOD NEWS!!

Mediport Surgery

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Mom before surgery looking fabulous!

Mom’s mediport surgery on Wednesday went “perfectly” as the surgeon put it. Mom’s nurse navigator, Kathy, came to visit her before surgery to give her a pillow that a church group made for the patients. The tag said they had prayed over it for her. It is so useful to keep the seat belt from irritating mom’s mediport incision.

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Mom and Kathy before surgery

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Mom also received a hand crocheted shawl from another group that makes them and prays over them for cancer patients. As Kathy said when she gave the pillow to mom, “Women take care of women.” We’re so grateful for everyone’s kindness!

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Ready for surgery!

New Hair

The day after mediport surgery, mom and I went wig shopping! She ended up buying a wig online that will be here in a couple of weeks. Hopefully her hair can hang on until then! If not, she bought one of these wig hats to tide her over until the wig gets here.

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The one she bought is shorter. She also tried on a few more before deciding that she had to look for a different one online. They didn’t have a style + color combo she liked. And some of them were pretty funny.

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This one kills me, hahaha

Round 1 of Kryptonite

After wig shopping on Thursday, it was time for kryptonite on Friday. I woke up so happy Friday morning thinking, “today is the day we’re going to do something about this!” First we met with Dr. Juvvadi, and she again assured mom she would be able to go to Mexico for Sadie’s wedding in November. We are so relieved to hear this, because since the surgeon told us she would be able to go at our very first appointment, we’ve been told by a couple people she wouldn’t be able to because of risk of infection. Dr. Juvvadi said it wasn’t a problem at all. Here’s hoping mom will feel well since it will be a week after her next treatment.

Mom sat in that chair and had those meds going into her for over SIX hours. It was a long day for her. Forrest and I hung out with her, but she mostly just slept the entire time. They gave her Benadryl, and it made her super drowsy. She mostly felt fine, but she did throw up for a few minutes towards the beginning. Once they gave her more meds, she felt totally fine and was able to relax. Their chemo chairs are heated, recline, and have massagers, so she was nice and comfortable. Her other treatments will likely be shorter, probably more around four or five hours.

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Getting ready to fight!

Because the drugs totally wipe out your immune system, you typically have to go back to the doctor the next day after chemo to get a shot to boost your white blood cell count. Mom doesn’t have to do this, because they stick an injector on her arm, it sticks her, and then 27 hours later it administers the medication. We were fascinated by this. Modern medicine is amazing!

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She was so nervous waiting for it to stick her

Today was the first day post-chemo, and mom’s feeling pretty good so far. She’s on medication for nausea, so she hasn’t had many symptoms. She actually got up this morning and made us pancakes. I thought I was supposed to do that for her! She’s definitely a little tired and everything tastes super weird for her. She now hates the taste of her coffee and the pancakes she made us.

Forrest flew in on Thursday night, and Sadie and Jason came today for the weekend. Mom felt good enough to go out to lunch today with all of us and her parents. She didn’t eat much of her food, but we all had a good time together. We’re hoping she continues to feel pretty good. We’re a little nervous for tomorrow and Monday. We hear day 2-3 is when the symptoms begin. Regardless of whatever happens, she can handle it!

We’ll have a follow up appointment with the oncologist on Friday, but other than that, no appointments this week! We’re pretty excited about that over here. 🙂 Her next kryptonite treatment will be in three weeks on the 28th.

Bone Scan

While mom was having the kryptonite, Dr. Juvvadi came to tell us that the bone scan was CLEAN! No cancer in her bones, and we are SO happy about it! Now we know exactly where this cancer is, and it’s not hiding from the kryptonite. We’re so grateful!

I’ll keep regularly updating the blog to let y’all know how she’s doing through treatment. I am also getting a post ready with all of the funny things mom has said while on drugs during the liver biopsy and before/after mediport surgery. I’ve been taking good notes (and video)! That has by far been the best thing about this whole experience. She’s hilarious!

Thank you so much for all of your love and support!

Love y’all,

Sydnie

 

 

Hormone Receptor Results and Next Steps

Hormone Receptor Results

We finally got a call back from the surgeon, and here are the results:

Estrogen Receptor – Positive

Progesterone Receptor – Positive

Her2 Receptor – Positive

While we wanted Her2 to be negative, this is actually not bad according to the surgeon. Because Her2 is positive, she will need to have chemotherapy first instead of surgery. She will still have a double mastectomy and lymph node removal surgery, but that will happen several months from now most likely.

Chemo Details

She will be on two drugs, Herceptin and Perjeta. They are trying to get her scheduled to have her port for chemo put in tomorrow. This is a minor surgery, and it will be pretty painless from what I hear.

*A port is a small disc made of plastic or metal about the size of a quarter that sits just under the skin. A soft thin tube called a catheter connects the port to a large vein. The chemotherapy medications are given through a special needle that fits right into the port. You also can have blood drawn through the port.*

The doctor explained to her that she will be monitored closely throughout chemotherapy to see how she’s taking the medication. This medication is apparently very strong and will be really hard on her. I’ve googled the symptoms, and they pretty much cover every crappy thing you can experience, but hopefully her body will take it well. She’ll lose her hair in the next 2-3 weeks for sure. We’re going to wig shop this weekend, so I’ll likely have some funny pictures to post after that. 😉

She will do chemo for at least the next 4 months. We’re not really sure since we still don’t know exactly what we’re dealing with because she still has to do the staging studies scans (see last post).

Sadie’s Wedding

My sister is getting married on November 5th in Cancun, Mexico. I know a lot of you have been concerned about if mom will be able to make it. Dr. Clifford assures us that she will make it to the wedding and he’ll help her feel well to be there! She will be rocking a wig, but she’ll be there and will look fabulous as always (for real – her dress is gorg). We’re so grateful that she’ll be able to make it. She told the Dr. she was going to be there “come hell or high water”. I made sure with him that it would not in any way interfere with her care for her to go. 🙂

Still Waiting

We’re still waiting for the Dr.’s office to schedule the three scans she needs to have to determine what stage the cancer is. Hopefully she’ll get in for those soon (I called the office to be annoying nudge them along). Once she has the CT, MRI,  and bone scan, the results will only take about a day to get to us. I’ll keep you all posted!

Thanks for the prayers and sweet messages. My mom really appreciates it!

Also – to cut back on how much my mom has to inform everyone, subscribe to this blog and you’ll receive an email notification any time I post an update. You can sign up for these notifications by entering your email in the right-hand side of this page in the side bar. 

Here’s mom at the surgeon’s office yesterday in her cute paper shirt waiting for him to come in. We had a little fun with Snapchat. 😉 In these situations, you do what you can for a laugh!

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Love y’all,

Sydnie