update

- chambers.sydnie@gmail.com 15 Comments

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!

img_0024

 

Love y’all,

Sydnie

- chambers.sydnie@gmail.com 1 Comment

First Surgeon Appointment

We met with the surgeon today and were hoping to get a lot of questions answered. Unfortunately, we didn’t really get many answers. We still only know that she has cancer. We don’t know what stage it is or what is going to happen. The clinic that did the initial scans and biopsies gave my mom an envelope with her test results in it. They failed to put tumor marker information in that envelope, so the surgeon does not know the hormone receptor status yet.

Here’s what Dr. Clifford (the surgeon) did tell us:

Staging Studies

She has to do the “staging studies” which means doing the following additional scans this week to help determine what stage the cancer is.

  • CT scan of her chest, abdomen, and pelvis
  • Bone scan
  • Breast MRI
    • Chances of finding cancer in her left breast (currently it is only confirmed in her right) is 2.5%

These scans will help determine how extensive the spread of the cancer is. We’re hoping it’s only spread to one of her lymph nodes.

Hormone Receptors

There are three hormones we’re dealing with: Estrogen, Progesterone, and Her2.

What we would like to see from her tumor markers:

Estrogen – positive

Progesterone – positive

Her2 – negative

Here’s what we’ll know after that:

If E+, P+, Her2-, then they will determine whether she will have chemotherapy or surgery first. Starting next week. This will depend on the scan results as well.

If E+, P+, Her2+, then they will definitely start with chemo first.

What we don’t want:

Triple Negatives – That is harder to treat, but there’s still treatment.

Chemo and Radiation

She will definitely do chemo, and will possibly do radiation as well. It all depends on those dang receptors and what they find in the scans.

Surgery

There are a few options (lumpectomy, single mastectomy, double mastectomy). Mom wants to do a double mastectomy to be the most aggressive. The surgeon said that if she were to do a lumpectomy or single mastectomy, the chance of finding cancer in the breast that was left would be 15-20%. That’s a higher number than we’d like to deal with, so mom says “just lob them off”. She’s convinced she’s walking away from this with a new rack no matter what, haha.

Also – They’ll definitely remove at least one, if not more lymph nodes.

Hopefully she’ll get all three scans done this week so we can get those results and know what we’re dealing with. I’ll keep you posted! We should receive the hormone receptor info tomorrow, so I’ll do another post when we have that info.

In the meantime, I’m stocking her fridge with actual food (a foreign concept in this house). Healthy eating starts tomorrow. Tonight we’re eating pizza and watching the debate, completely “unplugging” from cancer stuff as my mom says. 🙂

Thank you always for your support!

Love y’all,

Sydnie

 

 

- chambers.sydnie@gmail.com 3 Comments

What We Know

Mama Update:

How great is my mom? I mean it, she is great. She is strong, and she is beautiful. She is kind, and she is hilarious. She is awesome. I mean, really, cancer doesn’t stand a chance.

She was diagnosed with breast cancer a few days ago. What we do know:

  • They biopsied a tumor in her right breast (estimated size of 2 – 2.7 cm according to the ultrasound) as well as one axillary (armpit) lymph node. Both are cancerous.

That’s literally all we know. That information is all I got from reading the pathology reports three times trying to decipher it. I don’t know what’s more frustrating, the fact that she has cancer or that we don’t really know anything about it. It’s freaking stupid. We’ll hopefully know more later today when we meet with Dr. Clifford, a breast cancer surgeon. We don’t think we’ll know the stage of the cancer until she has surgery and they can biopsy or take out more lymph nodes, which will hopefully be this week (she wants surgery to happen ASAP).

Yesterday we spent our day lounging around watching the Bronco game and a lot of HGTV and ordering a bunch of surgery recovery stuff from Amazon. If you’ve been through breast cancer surgery or anything similar, please leave suggestions of what to get her in the comments! (You can comment by clicking “leave a comment” by the date above.) I want to make her as comfortable as possible while making this as easy as it can be. We know it will be so hard. And we know it will suck so much, but all we can do is stay positive and buy random crap on Amazon!

My Thoughts (if you’re interested):

Disclaimer: I posted this on Facebook as well. #sorrynotsorry

And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.

– Alma 7:12 (from the Book of Mormon)

I was having a really hard time the other night when we got the news, and I found so much comfort in reading Alma, Chapter 7 in the Book of Mormon with my husband. Then Forrest asked me what “to succor” meant, and I said “to help”. He then told me that “to succor” means “to run to”. He explained that when we are in need, Christ runs to us. He runs to us to help us and to lift us in our deepest, darkest, most difficult times. He has experienced the lowest of lows and can take us to the highest of highs. I am so grateful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I am so grateful for the beautiful gospel a loving Father has created for His beloved children. The hard times are still so hard, but I’m grateful to immediately know what to do in those trying moments. I know where I can turn for peace. I’m grateful that I have been taught to turn to Christ and that I have a testimony of the power of the Atonement. I’m grateful that I can call upon the Spirit for comfort, and I am grateful for the powerul love I feel in my heart that can only be from my Savior running to me in my time of need.

Listen to this talk if you’re looking for inspiration: https://www.lds.org/ensign/2009/09/lessons-from-liberty-jail?lang=eng

Love y’all,

Sydnie