Diagnosis and treatment plan

Hey there,

We’ve had a couple good days since the last update. Teachers from the Floris 5th grade provided a fabulous meal for us Tuesday night which included spaghetti lasagna, Caesar salad, and garlic bread. The meal was topped of with ice cream sundaes which we really enjoyed. Thanks Cynthie and Melissa!

We thank you for the special prayers yesterday, and are sorry we could not get back to you with news prior to now. We went to the 3 pm appointment and did not leave until 5:50, so we were overwhelmed and wiped out. We got home, and after a late dinner, spent the evening with the kids decorating the Christmas tree.

We will try to explain what we heard clinically, without much commentary. First of all, there are 5 treatment options available to cancer patients:
1) Surgery
2) Chemo
3) Radiation
4) Biological treatments
5) Hormone treatments

Since the tumor was 3.0 cm and 4 lymph nodes were positive for cancer, her stage is IIIA (1-3 lymph nodes is Stage 2, 4-9 lymph nodes is Stage 3). The single cancerous tumor was HER2 receptive and estrogen receptive (which effects how they can treat the cells). Over the next week or so, she will have to get a PET scan to make sure that there is no "active" cancer activity in the rest of her body, and assuming that is the case, they will be looking to attack the microscopic cells that may be loose in the bloodstream. That means she will get to enjoy all of the treatment options, and she's only 1/5 of the way there!

The stages left are:
1) Chemo therapy -- 3 months of aggressive therapy with 2 meds: Adriamycin & Cytoxan. This will be 4 treatments every 3 weeks. At this time, we plan to start that the first week of Jan.
2) Chemo therapy combined with biological treatment - 3 months of Taxol & Herceptin
3) Radiation - 6 weeks of daily radiation (#4 is happening at same time)
4) Biological treatment - 9 more months of Herceptin, every 3 weeks
5) Hormonal treatments - for the next 5-10 years

Needless to say, we are overwhelmed. We did not expect that the treatment plan would take so long, so we're needing a little time to read more, learn more and accept how that will work. Our focus now (besides Christmas preparations) is getting an echocardiogram for a baseline as some of the treatments can affect your heart, and having a port put into Laurie’s chest so it can be used for administering the chemo and drawing blood for check-ups. At this point, that is all we know. As we learn and understand more, we will share more with you.

By now you know that we are a family of faith and believe that because of our faith God will get us through this very difficult journey. We look forward to another opportunity to celebrate the birth of our savior, Jesus Christ, and thank God for the gift of salvation we have through Him. As always, your continued thoughts and prayers are the best gift we could ask for from you.

Love, Laurie and Forrest

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