Treatment

I was having a really down couple of days when I wrote my last post.  Thanks so much for letting me be transparent. I had lost sight of knowing and resting in God's perfect plan for my life.  I was struggling with treatment options and all of the fear and uncertainty.  I have had so much to think about but the meetings this week have helped me refocus a bit. 

We had a couple of good meetings this week.  Monday was our first consultation with my local oncologist, Dr. Kakani.  We really liked her.  She went through my history and pathology report to understand everything.  She said she was also going to call my surgeon to discuss things to be sure she has all the information.  She also ordered blood to be drawn and tested and a pet scan for next week.  That made total logical sense to us.  That is what I thought an oncologist would do - get a baseline on me after surgery and before we do any treatment to see where I am at.  Because I wondered - what if it was somewhere else??  She also wanted to wait 4 weeks from surgery to allow my incisions to heal from surgery before starting the  chemo.  I asked her about alternative forms of treatments.  She said that chemo is they only thing they have now to work with.  She said we want to get as high of a cure rate as possible.  I asked her about diet and nutrition.  She said all of that would be fine.  I just wish oncology doctor's offices would educate people more on that for during and after treatment. 

She had wondered about taking all of the rest of they lymph nodes from under my arm.  She was going to discuss this with Dr. Kennedy.  They set up my pet scan for next week and then a follow-up appointment with her the next day.  And I have to say that the lady that drew my blood there was absolutely fantastic!!!  She took 4 vials and I hardly felt anything and it went really fast. 

Yesterday's meeting was my post-op appointment with my surgeon.  There is still some swelling but everything is healing well.  When I asked my surgeon about alternatives to chemo, she said that the have good data on chemo and we don't want to focus on a 5 year survival rate but a 50 year survival rate. We talked about not doing the surgery of taking out all the lymph nodes under my arm.  She said that she doesn't want to do things because they have always done them a certain way.  She wants to do what is best for me and my case.  She will talk with Dr. Kakani and the new radiologist that will be coming in August to determine what is best for me and extreme long term survival. 

I stopped in the shop at the hospital to briefly look at wigs and head wraps.  I still feel in denial that I am going to lose my hair.  I just cannot believe it.  They gave me a packet of information to look through and the side effects just make my stomach turn.  But I know that I can trust God's plan in this and He will hold me tight through all of this along with my family and friends.  I also know that my sweet Adam is good with picking out clothes and glasses that look good on me.  So I plan to have him assist me in the head gear process. :)

I am currently doing natural alternatives to fight the cancer in my body.  I have also made a lot of diet changes.  I truly wish that I could only do these alternatives and decline on the chemo.  But I am too worried about human error on my part in doing these steps. I am so very, very thankful for the support from Noreen and Pat! 

I am so thankful for all of the cards, notes, messages, calls, hugs, meals that we have received this week. 

I'm tired so I am going to bed now.  As Sarah prayed tonight, "Dear Lord, please take away all the cancer in Mommy's body and make her better."  In Jesus name Amen!

Love,
Tammy