Alright, well here is the update.

Mom and Brian went and met with the clinical trial nurse on Tuesday, as well as the oncologist to go over everything that could/would/will happen as she goes through the study. Mom had to give a DETAILED list of every type of medication she is on/has taken in the last month as well as when she took it last. Now, when most of us think medication we think prescription medication, however, this is not the ONLY type of medication Mom had to list. She had to list everything from prescriptions to vitamins to over the counter medication-you name it she had to give it. Dr. Pansegrau (the oncologist) had to sign a bunch of paperwork saying that mom was healthy enough to take part in the study and give consent and all that fun stuff. Mom also had to sign one thing giving her consent to take part in the study as well. Maybe it’s just me but does anyone else think it’s a little ironic that the doctor has to sign more paper work than the actual patient?

Mom went in this morning (Wednesday) to have the CT scans and three ECG’s done as well. All of the ECG’s had to be taken back to the cancer clinic right afterwards. The CT scan was a full body scan from Mom’s head to her knees as well as a brain scan (Mom’s hoping the found one :-P) to make sure the cancer hasn’t’ spread to her brain. If in the event that is has, then Mom will not be able to take part in the clinical study (thus the reason for having this test).

Originally Mom was supposed to be going to have an Echo test done on Sept 5, however that has since been changed to a MUGA test. And what exactly is a MUGA test you ask? Well it stands for Multigated Acquisition Scan-a fancy way of saying a test for the heart. Mom will be injected with a radioactive dye and it will highlight every part of her heart.

The bone scan is still scheduled for Sept 2 as planned. Mom has also been booked to get more blood work done at 2pm as well as at 2:45pm on the 8th Mom will be meeting with Dr. Pansegrau for a physical and such.

Mom will also be going to a Therapeutic Touch session on Sept 2. Her and I went to one session back in 2001 (I think) and Mom felt so relaxed afterwards. We are also going to the Look Good, Feel Better Program. This is a program for women who have cancer and is aimed at giving them tips for doing their make-up while having chemo and radiation as well as tips on how to wear the head scarves and turbans.

It is looking like the chemo treatments will start on Sept 10 at 8:30. Mom will find out on the Tuesday (Sept 9) what regime she will be in for the clinical study.

And finally, Mom is going to the Vancouver Cancer clinic sometime next week to go pick up a couple wigs. I am hopefully going with her if we can figure a day that works best!! :)

Test Dates

Ok, so Mom has gotten a few test dates already. They will all be happening at Surrey Memorial Hospital.

• The CT Scan has been booked for Wed Aug 27. Mom has to be there at 7:40am and the actual test will take place at 8am. Mom will have to take Telebrex to coat her kidney's but no other medication this time.
• The Bone Scan has been booked for Sept 2. Mom will have a radioactive injection at 1pm and the scan will occur two hours later.
• And finally the Echo is scheduled for Sept 5 at 7:30am.

So these are just a few of the tests Mom will have to get done before the clinical trial can begin. Will post more test dates as they come.

Wigs anyone?

Here is the newest information-and the reason for "newest" is because Mom & Brian were given the wrong information yesterday, and therefore so was I. So I had to wait until I had all the correct information before I could give an update.

Mom and Brian went to their Chemo Teach class yesterday morning at the Cancer clinic. They said it was really helpful and gave them a lot of information as to what they can expect to happen (chemo symptoms, phone numbers to call if/when they have questions, etc.). Mom also said it a bit of an “information overload” as so much was discussed in such a short period of time. But all-in-all they found it to be very useful!!

Mom was originally scheduled to start chemo on Monday Aug 25; however that has since been postponed for another 3 weeks. The reason for this is because Mom is now going to be taking part in a clinical trial. Mom will be put on a drug called Docetaxel that she will be given once every 3 weeks. The clinical trial she will be on is a study of Docetaxel in combination with Sunitinib. So Mom goes to meet with the oncologist and the clinical trial nurse on Tuesday Aug 26 at 1pm. Before starting the trial Mom will have to have all the tests she has had done already re-done. These tests include CT scans, x-rays, blood work, a current bone scan, ECG’s, Echo’s, possibly an MRI/CT of the brain, physical, & medical history.

Like I had mentioned before, Mom will be starting Chemo in 3 weeks. She will likely be on a 6 cycle treatment plan, which should take about 5 months. This means that Mom will have chemo once every 3 weeks. This will continue until she has gone through 6 cycles. One of the side effects Mom will have to the Chemo will be losing her hair, which normally occurs within 2 weeks of the first Chemo treatment. So Mom will be getting some wigs, scarves, head coverings, etc. She went to the place in the Cancer clinic this morning to take a look, but they didn’t have any, so Mom will try again later.

Mom figures that once she starts chemo she will more than likely stop working as she will be too tired. So she should be finishing up in about three or four week’s time.

I know people have been asking what all they can do to help Mom and Brian through all of this and Mom hates asking for things like that so I will post some ways that you can help if you so choose.

• Rides to & from the cancer clinic/medical appointments-would love to maybe work out a schedule for this so Mom isn't stressing about how she is getting there.
• Meals (pre-made & fresh)
• Flowers/cards
• Stop by for a cup of tea/coffee (though Mom can’t have any)/glass of wine
• Invite/Take Mom out for breakfast/lunch/dinner
• Stop by and watch some TV or a movie with her
• Drop off bubble bath/lipstick/scarves-these were her requests LOL
• Humor her-through emails, phone calls, visits, etc.
• Keep her up to date as to what is happening in the office (work people *hint, hint* )
• Take Mom out for a drive.

As Mom has said- The battle has begun... and gonna fight it tooth and nail!!!!

Finally some good news!!

Ok, so just a small update today. And for a change, it’s some good news!!

Mom and Brian went to see Dr. Bond this morning at 8:30 to get some results and have the sutures removed (from where the chest tube was). Before their appointment with Dr. Bond, Mom had to have a few x-rays done which were sent right to Dr. Bond’s office. The x-rays show that there is no fluid in the lungs-means the talc is doing its job!! One of the reasons why this is such a relief is because Mom has been coughing a fair bit the last couple days and has been having the shortness of breath like she had before. Dr. Bond told them the reason for this could be caused by a few different things- Pleurex scaring, talc irritation or the lesions could just be bothering her lungs.

Mom and Brian also got the results from the HER-2 test, which came back negative. This is good news because it means that the type of breast cancer that Mom has is not the really aggressive kind.

So as of right now, things are a go for next week-meaning she should be starting treatment.

Biopsy Results

Hey guys,

Sorry this is so late; it’s been a long day… Also please bear with me as my mind is just not co-operating and I can’t seem to get words and sentences to go together.

Mom and Brian went to see the oncologist today to get the results from the biopsy. Mom’s lungs are all clear of fluid which is awesome!! It means the talc material is doing its job properlyJ.

What Mom and Brian were told is that it is Breast Cancer and that it has metastasized. Meaning it has spread from its original site to another. There were a bunch of questions asked as far as previous surgical history goes and what the chances were of it being found last year versus this year. The oncologist said it wouldn’t have made a difference if they had found it last year as it had still spread to the lungs and she would still be where she is today-just not as many tumors. Mom asked which of the two original surgeons messed up-when Mom had the mastectomy and then the lymph node removal; she had two different Dr’s perform the surgeries. She was then told that in reality, neither one of them did. Quite often they have a heard time locating the lymph nodes, however, the three they did find happened to have come back negative for Cancer. What we now know is that even though those three were negative, there was still another one there that was positive and was never located.

So what does this all mean right now?

Well they are waiting on one more test to come back before they know for sure what kind of chemo treatment they do. This test is the HER2 test, which tests for growth-promoting protein on the surface of breast cells. This is the Canadian Cancer society’s link to a bunch of breast cancer information, including stuff on HER2 testing:

http://info.cancer.ca/E/CCE/cceexplorer.asp?tocid=10

The results from the HER2 test should be coming back sometime next week and Mom goes back to see the oncologist on Aug. 21. She also will be going in for some more blood work that morning as well and will be getting all the results then. The oncologist doesn’t want to rush into chemo treatment until they know whether or not Mom is HER positive or Negative-this will help determine whether Mom will be put on a certain type of medication called Herceptin.

On Aug 20 Mom will be going to a 2-hour Chemo Teaching which will, as the name says, teach Mom about Chemo. This will help her to know what all is involved in it and what she can expect rather than going through it completely blind and not knowing what may happen next. If all goes well (or as well as it can) they have a tentative booking for the first chemo treatment, which would be Aug 25.

Mom will be going back to see Dr. Bond on Thursday Aug 14 to get the incision checked-oh and just to clarify this, the incision was 10mm NOT 10cm as Mom told me originally-and to also have the sutures removed from where the chest tube was.

Right now Mom and Brian and the rest of us, are just taking it one day at a time. Time will tell how the rest will play out.

She''s BACK!

Hi everyone!

I am out of the hospital - wahoooo... you can't believe how glad I to be home.... one can take only so much hospital food! This will be short - as the energy level is not that high at the moment! Will leave the blogging to Meghan!!

But I just wanted to say hi to everyone and say thank you for all the love and prayers... the flowers and the emails - they all touched me very much.

Now comes the long hard battle - but we will make it for sure!

Love

Roni/Mom

sorry...

hey everyone,

Just wanted to apologize to anyone who may have tried to access the blog over the weekend. "Blogspot" had a bit of a hiccup over the weekend and marked several blogs as spam and prevented access to them. I however wasn't aware of this until this morning. Again I just want to apologize to those of you who were looking for information. So sorry :(

Updated...

Ok, so an update from this morning's post. Mom is going home today as originally planned. They still aren't sure what is going on but it's not something to get overly worried about so they are sending Mom home with some antibiotics. She also made a promise to Dr. Bond (the surgeon) that if she is coughing more than normal or starts spitting stuff up then she will go back to the hospital right away. Mom will be going back to see Dr. Bond next thursday for a follow-up appointment as well.

So that's the update for now. :)

Possible minor setback...

Hey guys,

Well, it looks like there may be a bit of a minor setback...Mom is being sent in for another x-ray this morning and she has had a bit of blood work done as they think she may have either an infection or pneumonia. From what the Dr. has told Mom, this is something that is quite common with the talc material going in. She has had a bit of a fever and the Dr/nurses have been able to hear something in her lungs when she takes a breath. So for now her IV has gone back in and they are giving her some large doses of antibiotics to help get rid of this quickly. Mom is supposed to be going home today and I gather that is still the plan as long as there is some change. I know Mom is looking forward to going home as she is going stir crazy in the hospital. I will update this in a bit when we know more.

Just a Quick update

So just a few things, first off Mom wanted me to pass on a HUGE thanks to those who have visited and sent emails and have brought flowers-her room smells a lot like lilies (yuck!!), but Mom loves it!!!

She is resting comfortably (well for the most part) with her new roommate, James. He's a very fun old guy :). All her IV's are out now and she just has the chest drainage tube that should be coming out in the next day or two.

Well I think that's about it for now.