Chemo Protocol

This week Holli met with Dr. Ackman, the oncologist at WFU. Her cancer is considered stage 2A due to the two nodes being positive. She had one more drain pulled so one left to go!

She will have her port-a-cath placed April 27th and will start chemotherapy that day. Her chemo will be every other week for 4 doses and then weekly for 12 more doses.

Some good news

Holli had her followup with the reconstruction and oncology surgeon yesterday.

Her drains were not able to be removed because they continue to drain a good bit of fluid. There is no evidence of infection and her surgical sites look good. Overall her pain has been much better controlled for the past few days which is an answer to prayer.

Her pathology and molecular studies were also encouraging. The tumor was actually a lot smaller than predicted by exam or mammography. It was only 0.6 cm diameter of the total 1.9 cm mass. The other appears to be benign reactive tissue around the tumor. Her report did confirm that two nodes of the twelve sampled were positive for cancer.

The best news is that her cancer is estrogen receptor positive, progesterone receptor positive and Her-2/neu receptor negative. According to the surgeon, this receptor profile is the most favorable in regards to chemotherapy as it increases the kinds of chemotherapy that can be used as well as the effectiveness in chemotherapy eradicating any remaining cancer cells that may have spread through body.

Once her drains are out (expected in 1-2 weeks), she will have a port-a-cath placed at the end of the month. She was told that based on her case she should expect chemotherapy treatments every other week for 4 to 6 months with two drugs IV as well as oral Tamoxifen for up to 5 years. She has not met with the medical oncologist yet to review all of this but will do so in the next week or two. He will determine which medications and dosing regime will work best based on her cancer type and stage.

Please continue to pray for her full and complete healing. Thank you so much to all who have been an encouragement to her through this. You are greatly appreciated and loved!

James

Update on Holli

Holli had her first follow-up this past Thursday. She was able to get two of the four drains removed and her surgical sites look good. Although her pain is better, she continues to experience a good bit of pain as she heals.

Her pathology report showed that only two nodes of all of those taken had cancer. Her tumor was a bit smaller than thought and there were clear margins around the excised tumor. This is an answer to prayer. She will not need radiation therapy.

We follow up next Wednesday with the oncology surgeon who should have a full report on tumor hormone receptor type which will determine what type and for how long she needs chemotherapy. Please continue to lift her up in prayer during this time.

James

pretty painful............

I'll be honest and admit that this is the most painful experience I've ever had physically. My surgery went well thursday, they did find one positive node out of the three he checked right then and took out 15-20 more nodes and sent them to pathology that we'll find out about in a week or so.

Hopefully they are negative as well, but regardless they are OUT of my body! If they are negative then I probably won't need radiation. I will still need chemotherapy. We are waiting for the results to determine what stage and type of cancer it is to better know the treatment plan.

The first twenty four hours in the hospital were just awful. I couldn't get my pain under control. Everytime the nurse asked me what my pain level was on a scale of 1-10, my answer always seemed to be 9-10 consistently. So they let me stay one more night. I couldn't even move my left arm at all on thursday, not until sometime on friday. This isn't even the arm they took the nodes from. I can move it just fine now, but my thumb is still numb.

I have only been able to take very short breaths, any deeper ones and it hurts too bad. But this is improving. Thursday, pretty much without break, it felt as if an elephant was sitting on my chest, or that my chest was on fire, or that all of my ribs were broken.

This too has gotten better, I think the elephant has now wandered off :). Now it just feels like the other when I try to get out of bed and move around. But like right now James has me propped up with pillows in a lazy boy and I'm pretty comfortable, IF I sit still. :) I don't mention this for sympathy, but rather so that maybe you'd know to pray specifically how to pray for pain control.

My dad came to the hospital on friday and my mom stayed and helped with my kids and I am so thankful. She's taken great care of them as always.

They have been a big help at home as well. My dad sat with me and fed me a meal the other day. My sister came to my house and that was very encouraging too. My dear friend Carrie came to the hospital from Charleston all day friday and saturday morning helped me in and out of bed and with whatever I needed and I am so grateful for her friendship! love you girl! I was told many people came to sit with my family in the waiting room, thank so much..........

well, we press on. I have to remember that this too is temporary and it shall pass.....I'm grateful we apparently caught this early. thank you for praying for us.

Please pray for strength for James to juggle all he needs to these days.........

holli

Jean Hamilton gave me this verse right before surgery. James and I wrote it on our hands before going into surgery.

psalm 147:5.

Holli is feeling much better today and will be headed home in the morning. Thanks for all of the prayer!

Holli's surgery went well. She did have one node positive for cancer of those sampled. We are unsure of what her treatment course but thats for another day! Thank you for your prayers for her during this time.

Holli's surgery is scheduled for tomorrow, Thursday, at 1220 pm. Please pray as Holli requested on her previous blog. Thanks.

James