A minor bump in the road

Hey everyone,

I mentioned last time the nagging cough Laurie has had the past few weeks and that is the reason her chemo scheduled for yesterday had to be postponed until next Monday. Since she had a slight fever yesterday, her doctor was concerned that she may be getting a secondary infection. Since chemo shuts down her immune system, getting a secondary infection would be quite serious and they decided to be “safe” and delay the chemo. So instead of chemo, she has an inhaler which should take care of the cough and or her "reactive airways". And she gets an extra “good week” before her 4th, and last, treatment of Adriamycin and Cytoxan, next Monday.

Three weeks after her next treatment she will begin her weekly treatment of Taxol and Herceptin. Some people have asked me where we are in her recovery so I'm including the stages of her recovery as outlined by her oncologist below.

The stages left are:

1) Chemo therapy -- 3 months of aggressive therapy with 2 meds: Adriamycin & Cytoxan. This will be 4 treatments over 12 weeks. 1 every 3 weeks. Her 1st treatment was Jan 5th, she had her 2nd on Jan 26th, 3rd on Feb 16th, and hopes to have the last one next Monday, March 16th.

2)Chemo therapy combined with biological treatment - 3 months of Taxol & Herceptin. Weekly for 12 weeks. At this time, she hopes to start this on April 6th (Spring Break) and continue through June 22nd.

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

So while this throws her schedule off a week it is always good to be cautious and we accept that. We look forward to a good week of recovery and thank God for his constant love and care.

Laurie wanted me to post the following which was given to her by Carl Bradley, a dear church friend whose wife dealt with cancer as well.

What Cancer Can’t Do

“There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.” 1 Corinthians 15

One of the most dreaded sentences a patient might hear is “You have cancer.” These words bring a chill to the ear. Although great progress has been made in treating cancer, recovery can be long and painful and some people do not survive.

An enthusiastic believer in Christ, Dan Richardson, lost his battle with cancer. But his life demonstrated that even thought the physical body may be destroyed by disease, the spirit can remain triumphant. This poem was distributed at his memorial service:

Cancer is so limited …
It cannot cripple love,
It cannot cripple hope,
It cannot corrode faith,
It cannot eat away peace,
It cannot destroy confidence,
It cannot kill friendship,
It cannot shut out memories,
It cannot silence courage,
It cannot invade the soul,
It cannot reduce eternal life,
It cannot quench the Spirit
It cannot lessen the power of the resurrection.

If an incurable disease has invaded your body, refuse to let it touch your spirit. Your body can be severely afflicted, and you may have a great struggle. But if you keep trusting God’s love, your spirit will remain strong. – D.G.E.

Why must I bear this pain, I cannot tell;
I only know my Lord does all things well.
And so I trust in God, my All in all,
For He will bring me through, whatever befall – Smith

Our greatest enemy is not disease, but despair.


We wish everyone well and thank you again for all your prayers and support.

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