Pathology Report

Yesterday Mom and Dad had a visit with Dr. Faddis to remove Mom's drains and to discuss the pathology report. The report was great and exciting news. All of the lymph nodes that Dr. Faddis removed were clear and cancer free. She also had clear and cancer free margins (the edge tissue). There was no cancer in the skin. The cancer was only detectable microscopically in the breast tissue that was removed. Dr. Faddis told Mom and Dad over and over throughout this visit that this is all great news and a truly excellent report. Dr. Faddis was not able to tell Mom what this means in terms of her future treatment plan. She will have a visit with Dr. Kenyon the oncologist and hear his thoughts about the pathology report and how this new information will impact her future treatments.

Mom is recovering very well. After she arrived home last Saturday it was only a matter of a few hours before she declared that she was bored with just sitting and was ready to DO something.

Prompted by her industrious spirit, Steve and I went out front and dug 40 two foot by two foot holes so that we could plant all the baby roses that we bought in early August at the rose sale. Dad joined us after his nap and helped us with the project. The next day Mom helped us plan where to plant all the different varieties and we completed the project. Now we have a huge front yard rose garden that we will always remember was planted the weekend after Mom's successful surgery.

Mom has spent the week peeling apples from out back to make more applesauce, picking the blackberries that hang over the fence, helping Maya with her homework, and steadily working on increasing her strength by sweeping the floor and walking around the block. You can't keep the woman down.

Mom will have a couple more weeks to recover before she starts in on more treatment. We know for sure that she will continue taking the herceptin at the infusion center every three weeks and also have radiation treatments five days a week for several weeks. This will all start up again at the end of September or early October.

On the home front, Elias is having a great time in kindergarten; Maya is making the transition to the higher expectations of 3rd grade; and I went to the humane society and brought home two kittens. We like to keep busy.

Love, Emily

Surgery Day

Mom and Dad went to Good Samaritan Hospital at 6:30 am on Thursday September 4 for Mom's mastectomy. The first big step in the process was a visit to radiology to have dye and radioactivity placed in Mom. The purpose of this was to help locate the sentinel node during surgery. Then by examining the sentinel node Dr Faddis could determine how many lymph nodes were cancerous and would need to be removed. The first step proved a bit more annoying than expected. The radiology department was on the slow side and had to be moved into action by Dr. Faddis. Mom was taken late to radiology at around 9:00 am. She was supposed to be in surgery at 10:00 am. Dr. Faddis was pacing around waiting for her return to her room so that she could be taken to surgery. When she did not return around 10:00 she lost her time slot in the operating room. She finally returned at 10:20. She was not pleased that she now had to wait longer to start surgery. She had a very painful time in radiology with the injection of the radiation and the dye and the long time she had to spend in "the tube" with her arms above her head having some kind of scan done. Dad, Patty, and I did our very best to entertain her and comfort her as we all waited for the operating room to once again be available. At around 11:20 they wheeled her away to surgery. We moved our group to the upstairs main waiting room and began the long wait.

Our wait turned out to be longer than anticipated. Dad, Patty, Grandma and Granddaddy and I all did our best to talk our way through our anxiety. We had been told that the surgery would last an hour to an hour and a half. That means we started being hopeful around 12:30, were expecting something around 1:00, and started worrying at 1:30. Dr. Faddis finally arrived in the waiting room at 2:04.

Here are the results of the surgery as we know them right now. This is a summary of what Dr. Faddis told us there in the waiting room after completing Mom's mastectomy.

1. He could not find the sentinel node. This is very rare. It has only happened to him a couple of times in his 10 years of doing surgery. He searched for it for a long time. His best guess is that the reason he could not find it is because the chemotherapy has been so effective in the area. It is almost like that in the warfare that has taken place in Mom's breast between the chemo and the cancer that the sentinel node just got wiped out.

2. Because he could not find the sentinel node he had to make a decision about how many lymph nodes to take. He did not take them all. He did not think it necessary. But, he took more than he might have if he had been able to examine the sentinel node. Those that he took will be frozen and examined to see if they contained any cancer. He really does not think they will be cancerous. He really does not think that she will have to have more surgery to remove more nodes. He did not take so many that it will effect the use of her arm.

3. He was pleased about the how her breast looked on the gross level. He did not find any cancerous mass or lump. He found a lot of scar tissue from the work of the chemotherapy. He could tell that the chemotherapy has been effective. On the gross level there was nothing that he saw that he would say was cancerous. But, this does not have a lot of meaning until we get the pathology report.

4. We will get the pathology report sometime next week mid week. This will give us and the doctors more information about how much cancer is left and what will be the best way to fight it.

Mom left recovery and was placed in a private room at around 3:00 pm. She was in a great deal of pain and very nauseous. The nurses were able to help get the pain in control fairly easily, but the nausea was a different matter. She was nauseated and throwing up intermittently all that afternoon, evening, and through the night. She was miserable. She was either swimming in nausea or swimming in over medication. Dad stayed in the hospital with her all night. There was not a lot of sleep for either of them. She also had an allergic reaction to the antibiotic the gave her in the night. That caused more mayhem and discomfort. In the morning a better anti-nausea medication was found and Mom finally had some relief. By early this afternoon her cheeks were pink again and she had hope of surviving. This evening she ate some food. Dad will stay the night with her again. She will come home tomorrow.

I am very tired and that is the best I can do for tonight. Thank you to everyone for their thoughts and prayers. Thank you especially to my Aunt Patty who helped Dad and I in the hospital on Thursday and then came over this morning to watch Elias so I could go back to the hospital. Thank you to my friend Cedar who watched Elias all day Thursday and Lori who watched him this afternoon. Thank you to Steve who has done everything at home. Thank you God even for these hard days and for the hope of more days in the future.

Love, Emily

Surgery Date

Mom had two doctor appointments at the end of this week that greatly informed us about the course of her treatment for the next two months.

On Thursday Mom and Dad went and saw Dr. Fry the radiologist. We all think his name to be quite fitting and funny. Mom and Dad both liked him. He is passionate about his work and very positive. He believes that Mom will still have some cancer after the surgery. He considers it his work to eliminate the cancer that is remaining. After surgery Mom will have seven weeks of radiation. She will have radiation treatment five days a week. Dr. Fry told my parents that radiation treatment has made vast improvements in the last couple of years. She will have a CAT scan that will enable Dr. Fry to develop a radiation plan specific for her body and the cancer that remains. There are very few possible negative health effects. Dr. Fry also encouraged Mom to use her time during radiation treatments as period to recover from the chemotherapy and surgery. He wants her to get back to her walking and healthy living during radiation. Mom was encouraged to hear this. He also told her that radiation will be a breeze after all she had to go through with the chemotherapy.

On Friday Mom and Dad went to see Dr. Faddis to set a surgery date. Mom will have her mastectomy on Thursday September 4. It will be a single mastectomy. They may or may not remove lymph nodes during this surgery depending on what they find. She will have to stay in the hospital one night and possibly two.

That is the news!

Around the home front we continue to work on our home improvement projects. Mom is making lots of applesauce from one of our back yard apple trees and putting it in the freezer. Steve goes back to work on Monday. We are buying school supplies to send the kids off to another school year soon.

Love, Emily

A Change of Plan

When last I left you Mom was struggling with her second dose of the new chemotherapy. About a day and a half after her dose she arose again to join the family. It was amazing to watch her transformation from the retching, hallucinating lump in the bed back to the upright cancer warrior she has become. Resurrection once again.

The following days were up and down for all of us. Mom was on and off the couch as this chemo had now taken her body down to the point where she didn't really feel well any of the time. Steve and I continued to ready the house for the new hardwood floor installation upstairs. The workers arrived the Friday after the second chemo to install the new floor and continued to work the next week. This next week we all mainly focused on getting ready for vacation the following week. Maya and Elias went to OSU kidspirit daycamp for the mornings. This was a new, fun experience for them. On that Friday we journeyed up to Canby for the annual Heritage Rose Garden rose sale. There we had a great time purchasing roses for our new rose garden. Both Mom & Dad and Steve & I left rose gardens we were very attached to at our old houses. It was fun to purchase a new start for a rose garden at Buchanan st.

Our week of beach vacation at Netarts Bay was wonderful. We were joined there by Jeremiah, Nan, and Sam; Aunt Patty and her friend Joan; Grandma and Granddaddy; and my friend Cedar. The week was filled with beach walks, sand castle building, kite flying, movie watching, game playing, puzzle working, eating, and baby oogling. Mom was a mostly happy participant in all of this. She did not get to go on as long of walks as normal and was less tolerant of the constant draining beach wind, but managed the higher level of stimulation with some nice naps on the couch.

Our family of six was a bit apprehensive for a variety of reasons about going home as the week at the beach came to an end. Steve and I were not looking forward to the work we had in front of us to get the house back together as the floors would be done when we arrived home. Also, this would be Steve's last week of summer vacation. The kids could feel the end of their summer vacation nearing as well. Elias had some anxiety about going to kindergarten. Dad had to confront returning to work and all the approaching September programs. Mom of course had another round of chemotherapy waiting for her the Tuesday after we arrived home.

Monday after we arrived home Mom had an appointment to see Dr. Kenyon her oncologist. At this appointment Dr. Kenyon asked her about her experience with the last round of chemo. As Mom related her story Dr. Kenyon had some concerns about how her body was reacting to this chemotherapy. He and Mom both questioned if continuing this chemotherapy is the best plan. He then examined Mom's breast. From this examination he was not able to feel any cancer at all. He and Mom then continued with a conversation about what is the best path forward at this point. Mom questioned him extensively how stopping this chemo or continuing this chemo might impact her outcome. Dr. Kenyon does not really know. He does know that Mom has already done the majority of the work by completing the first 12 weekly chemos. These last proposed 4 chemos were always presented as the more experimental phase of the treatment. Whatever Mom does at this point the research shows that there will be about an 80% chance of there still being cancer in the area after surgery. There has only ever been a 20% chance that the cancer will be completely gone at the point of surgery. This being said, the possibility that Mom will have to do more chemo after surgery is very high regardless of if she were to continue with these 2 more pre-surgery chemos. Also, Dr. Kenyon said that the chemotherapy that would probably happen after surgery could be a different mix of chemo than the one she is working her way through now. So, Mom and Dr. Kenyon took this all into consideration and decided to change the course of treatment. Mom is stopping her current chemo and will proceed to surgery in the very near future. She has an appointment with Dr. Faddis this Friday to set a date for the surgery. Dr. Kenyon said it will take place some time in the next two weeks.

It is very important to us that this change of plans is not seen as negative. Mom is still doing everything she can to beat this cancer. There are different roads to the same end. The doctor and Mom believe that going ahead with the surgery and not taking her down any further with this chemo is the best thing to do. Mom's proposed course of treatment is a work in progress, not a holy document. I know that I found safety in this plan that we were given early on and that giving it up has been another lesson in recognizing that I am not really in control of any of this anyway. My sense of being able to control what life serves up is false. Beating cancer is an art, not a science.

Mom will continue with the biotherapy herceptin treatments because it is so important for beating her herceptin positive cancer. This means she still gets to visit the infusion center. Dr. Kenyon told her that she will probably keep having every three week herceptin treatments through next March. Radiation is also scheduled in her post surgery time period.

September will now be surgery month for us as well as the start of school and the beginning of many fall church programs. Please keep us all in your thoughts and prayers as we keep busting down this path that is in front of us.

Love, Emily

Round 2 Dose 2

Yesterday morning Mom went in to the infusion center to have her second dose of this second round of chemotherapy. She was rather anxious after her experience three weeks ago of becoming violently ill after her initial dose of this new chemo. The Thursday before she and Dad met with Dr Kenyon, the oncologist, to discuss if Mom would go ahead with this course of treatment. Dr. Kenyon asked her, "What do I have to say to convince you to go ahead?" The three of them then proceeded to have a conversation about all the very convincing reasons Mom needs to do this second round of chemo. Most important, is that the survival statistics are better for women with inflammatory breast cancer who follow this specific course of treatment. They also discussed how the medications could be adjusted to hopefully reduce the nausea and other ill effects.





This brings us back to yesterday. I understand that Mom was pretty anxious during the infusion process. When she came home she was able to sleep. Around 3:30 she started to feel sick. Dad applied some of the "magic 4" topical anti-nausea medication. This medication instead of making her feel less noxious, caused her to have hallucinations and become rather paranoid and out of her head. She also developed a rash on her face. Dad called the doctor and struggled with their slow response. Three hours later he was able to talk to an on call doctor who recommended a course of action using some of the medications on hand.





The report I have from Dad this morning is that the night went pretty well. Mom's nausea has stayed at a 3 or a 4 on scale of 1 to 10. Dad says that she is also no longer out of her head, though she is still anxious and troubled.





Aside from all of this, today is my daughter Maya's 8th birthday. Steve, the kids, and I are traveling up to Portland to go to the zoo. We had our family celebrations earlier knowing that today would not be a great day around the house because of the chemo schedule. We are going to try to have a special day out and about. But, because I will be away most of today, I wanted to get the word out to our community about Mom's second dose.





I hope that this day is not too hard on her. I hope that the medications are able to keep the nausea at a low level, while not making her feel like she is going crazy.

Let me explain the pictures before I end this posting. Two of them are from our Sunday school Da Vinci days art project. We made super heroes. Elias is in the "courage" super hero and Maya is in the "love" super hero. Then there is a picture of Elias as the Mona Lisa. The last picture is of Maya's little birthday tea party.

More later,


Emily

Positive Picture Post

Hello Everyone,

Here I am as promised bringing you good news and good pictures. I know some of you were a bit anxious for the good news to arrive earlier, but I do lead a busy, exciting life on Buchanan St. and my blogging time is limited.

To review, last week on Tuesday Mom became quite ill after her new dose of chemo. Tuesday evening new anti-nausea drugs were prescribed. Wednesday Mom continued to stay in her bed and was still very noxious. The three anti-nausea medications together were only able to make her less ill and did not hold it back entirely. Thursday, upon advice from a local nurse friend, my Dad petitioned the doctor for another anti-nausea medication called "magic 4". This medication is made by the compounding pharmacy and is applied topically. Dad brought it home Thursday around dinner time and Mom added it to her regime. Around this same time Mom was able to rise up from her bed and take to the chair for the first time since chemo. Thursday evening Steve and Dad went to a special choir practice where a choir director candidate was to work with the choir as part of his hiring process. I brought the kids in to see Mom before they went to bed and offered them a creamsicle as an evening snack. As I was pulling the creamsicles out of the freezer Mom called out that she would like to try one too. I passed out the snack and was happy to see Mom actually take a few calories in. I left her there as I helped the kids with their shower and jammies and bedtime story. As I was reading to the kids in a different room I heard Mom up and about. Soon she came to find us and was eating a piece of toast. It seemed truly miraculous to have her up and about and interacting with us again. I call it the miracle of the creamsicle.

Mom continued to improve that night. The next morning she got herself up and eating a bit. She was determined to go downtown to the annual summer shoe sale at the local Birkenstock store. This is now called the miracle of the shoe sale. After the shoe sale Dad took her through the drive-thru at Burger King to get an ice cream cone as she was suddenly hungry again after several days of not eating and then the energy expenditure of shopping. In the drive-thru she made the sudden decision that a whopper jr. was what was needed instead of an ice cream cone. This, of course, is now documented as the miracle of the whopper jr.

I might be a little exuberant with my miracle classification, but Mom's resurrection was miraculous to me. Since she has gotten up and about she has struggled with heart burn, shakiness, dizziness, and fatigue. She wants to have more energy. But, she also recognizes that once again she is doing pretty good. She does not look forward to the next round of this chemo, which will be July 29.

Before July 29 we have more exciting times to come. Steve's birthday is July 20 and he will be turning 35 years old. Maya's birthday is July 30, but we will celebrate it early so that Mom can be a happy participant instead of a sick one. Maya will be 8 years old.

On a completely different note, I feel like I need to say a word about a dear friend of my brother. My brother's long time friend and neighbor was found on Tuesday morning in his hotel room in a coma. He also had a broken wrist and they suspect the coma is caused by some trauma to the head. This friend is currently up at OHSU where they will soon try to bring him back to consciousness. The friend is the father of two young children. Jeremiah and the friend's wife have been with him in the hospital since he arrived. I would ask that all your prayers and good thoughts be turned to this man, his family, and my brother as he deals with another trauma in his life.

Love, Emily

The New Stuff

I am blogging away from home so I am not able to attach any great new photos of beautiful baby Sam or any terrific action photos of my kids on their new play structure. Instead I will write about the rotten new chemotherapy that Mom took on Tuesday.

Tuesday morning at 8 am Mom went in for her new chemotherapy. This chemotherapy is one that she will have four times with three weeks in between the doses. We had gotten some information that lead us to believe that this chemo might have more side effects, but others had told us that there was no reason to believe that it would be any harder than the last stuff. Mom and Dad were at the infusion center a bit longer than normal, but arrived home in a very good mood around 1:00 pm. Mom said that in some ways the infusion of this chemo was easier. They did not give her the massive dose of benedryl with this cocktail and thus she was not as sleepy and groggy. She said that she felt fine!

At around 4:00 pm that all changed. Mom made a move from the warm living room to the cool basement as nausea began to take hold of her. She then proceeded to get rather violently ill. Dad called the doctor and his nurse called in two new anti-nausea prescriptions to add to the one very expensive anti-nausea that she was already taking. I stayed downstairs with Mom as Dad ran to the pharmacy. When Dad returned Mom tried one of the new medicines. This was not enough and she continued to be overpowered by sickness and nausea. She then tried the third medicine and this combination was able to slow the vomiting. I believe Mom and Dad were able to go to sleep at around 11 pm.

Yesterday Mom continued to take all three anti-nausea medications. She told me that with all three of these she still feels like she has the very worst morning sickness. The medications are able to keep her from vomiting, most of the time. She is still caught in the grip of the nausea all the time and sometimes she cannot help but completely loose it. She is also, obviously, in the woozy haze of all those medications. Mostly she is in bed or on the couch in the basement. Mostly she keeps her eyes closed and lays very still.

I think that I have heard from several sources that this might last about three days. Part of me wanted to wait to post this blog until she was through it and I could report the good news of her recovery as well as the rotten news about what she has to endure with this new chemo. But, perhaps the good news will get it's own posting with the cute pictures of all her lovely grandchildren to match.

Love, Emily

Celebrations

Life here on Buchanan street has been punctuated by celebrations and it is time I shared a few of them with you. 

Saturday May 24 Mom and Dad accepted an offer on their house on Division street. We were all very timid to become excited about this piece of news because we had experienced one deal falling though and this one initially seemed a bit shaky. But, the potential buyers persevered through their own issues and Mom and Dad did their best to deal with the repair issues that arose during the inspection process. The end result is that yesterday Mom and Dad officially sold their house and received the money from the sale. We all went out to dinner and gelato to celebrate the conclusion of the final house deal in this three house process! We are all so pleased and proud that we were able to sell two houses and buy a new one in just about three months. We had lots of contingency plans if this process were to have taken longer, but we are happy that we never had to use them.  

Wednesday June 18 Mom had an appointment with her oncologist Dr. Kenyon. At this appointment Mom, Dad, and Dr. Kenyon decided on the path forward for Mom's treatment. First Dr. Kenyon examined Mom and told her that he can no longer feel the cancer in her breast. What a wonderful thing to hear! He then told them that this is the point in treatment where the decisions become a bit experimental. He said that some doctors would proceed right to surgery at this point. But, there is data coming out of research in Texas where if one does another round of a different chemotherapy before going to surgery, then the survival statistics are even better. Dr. Kenyon gave Mom the choice of being done with chemo (for now) and doing the surgery, or having four more doses of chemo, three weeks apart, and then moving on to surgery. Mom decided to do the additional round of chemo in pursuit of those better numbers. 

Tuesday June 24 Mom had her last chemotherapy session of this first round of 12 weekly doses. This was a reason to celebrate too! Even though Mom will be continuing with chemo, coming to the end of the 12 felt like a big deal. At this final chemo the nurse took the time to explain the new chemo regime to Mom. One of the best things that Mom heard is that because her blood count numbers have stayed so high during this first round, she is going into the second round in very good shape. The new chemo is an unknown and thus causes Mom anxiety, but there is no reason to believe that it will necessarily be worse or harder. We will all just have to wait and see. 

Here are a few other reasons to celebrate:

Mom gets a week off chemo  before she starts the new stuff!

Jeremiah, Nan, and Sam are coming for the Fourth of July! Baby Sam has been to our house once already on June 9 and this was his very first long distance outing.

It is summer vacation! Steve and the kids are home and that makes for a much fuller, activity filled household.

Once again thank you to everyone who reads this and follows our family's story. We appreciate all your interest, support, and good vibes.

Love, Emily

 

All Together Now

This blog will be mostly a listing of events with a few details here and there. From reading the list I think that you will understand that we have all been very busy this past week. Great events have taken place.

Last Thursday at around 6:00 pm we entered our new house on Buchanan Ave. for the first time as new residents. Paul and Dave Boling and Bill Meier were there ushering in the first of many moving van and truck loads of stuff.

Friday night we all slept in the house for the first time. It was a very hot night in Corvallis. The Evans's slept on their newly filled water bed and the Herbs slept in the cool, cool basement.

Saturday morning was moving day. We were overwhelmed with the amazing turn out for our moving party. Snacks and lunch were provided by church folks. Moving and cleaning help was provided by a great gathering of church community from near and far, family from various branches, and friends of all sorts. A HUGE amount of work was accomplished. Most everything was moved from both houses. A stunning accomplishment. It was also about the hottest day we have had all spring. What a sweat bath.

Sunday after church more moving took place. There were a few big items that needed to come over while we still had the moving van and utility dolly. The Boling brothers were there with us again helping us with these last big items. This was also the day that I took an initial try at organizing the kitchen. I started at 10:30 am and finished at 5:30 pm. I had cleared enough away that I was able to wipe the counters!

Monday was another big day of slowly chipping away at the mountains of boxes and furniture surrounding us. It seemed insurmountable. Jeremiah and Nan also had a visit to the doctor this day. He decided that they should go into the hospital at midnight to begin induction.

Tuesday was yet ANOTHER huge day of unpacking, box organizing and furniture moving. It was also chemo day for Mom. Jeremiah and Nan gave us regular reports from the hospital where different induction methods were being used. By dinner time it was obvious that baby Sam would be entering the world soon. Mom and Dad took off to Portland to lend their support to Jeremiah and Nan and to welcome their new grandson into the world.

Wednesday morning at around 2:15 am Sam Tanner Evans was born. He weighed 8 pounds 8 ounces and was 21 & 1/4 inches long. Nan had to have a c-section after quite a few complications arose. Mom and Dad were able to greet Sam at around 4:00 am and made it back home at 5:45 am.

Of course more unpacking occurred on Wednesday too.

Also on Wednesday Mom had a doctor's appointment that went very well. The chemotherapy seems to be working and the inflammation in her breast is down even more from last month's check-in.

Thursday, yes, more unpacking. Thursday night Steve had his Spring music concert at school. He is always quite relieved when his programs are done. Soon the school year will be done too!

Friday was a busy fun day. Steve took the day off work to split all the wood from the huge tree we had to have taken down. This was at our house we are selling on Dixon St. because it came up negatively in the inspection as it was cracking the foundation! The tree was removed last week Thursday and the gigantic rounds of wood have been on our front lawn ever since. We have to clear out of the house next weekend, so it was time to get the wood split. Steve and Dad rented a splitter and the whole family took turns running the machine, hauling wood, and stacking wood. It was a pin oak tree and we will use the wood at our new house in the wood stove and fireplace.

Saturday (today) Steve and I woke up at 4:30 am to get ready for our garage sale. We also had to take care of this project this weekend in order to be out of our house on time. We had a great time practically giving away all sorts of stuff. It was a great relief to see other people carting away our junk.

Tomorrow we will all travel up to Portland after church to see Jeremiah and Nan and new baby Sam. Mom is in the kitchen cooking right now so we can take some dinner to them.

Here we sit in our new house. We are all together in this place and that feels so good. The house is still a wreck with boxes needing to be unpacked, furniture needing to be placed, and all the regular chores of life like laundry and meal prep hardly being adequately taken care of. But, we are doing our best and this is our life!

It is 8:00 pm and I am very ready for bed.

Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Love, Emily

Let's Move!

Yes, I have been avoiding the blog. I have been avoiding it because my real estate life has been so painful that I did not want to commit it to written words. Actually, I still don't feel like chronicling it, so I might start elsewhere.

How about here...Mom lost her hair this last week. It was starting to fall out last time I wrote and it continued at a pretty steady pace. Mom and Dad spent some time online and found great hats and scarfs, many of them free trade. On Wednesday last week my Dad cut Mom's hair really short for her. It looked good that way, quite butch. Also, it made less of a mess coming out. Then on Thursday her hats arrived in the mail. Friday Dad shaved her head and she has been seen styling her cool hats and scarfs ever since. I doubt that we will ever see her in a wig.

On Saturday we all went up to Portland to see my brother Jeremiah and sister in-law Nan and deliver them a truck load of hand me down toys. Nan is due TODAY and we all eagerly await the arrival of baby Sam. We were happy to see them and happy to pass along all these baby and toddler toys that were hanging out in our attics, but now need a new home since we are leaving our attics. It is nice when people accept your stuff!

Today was a big day in our real estate life. The first big thing is that Steve and I decided to give the people buying our house everything they wanted from us just so that we could have peace of mind and get on with our deal. Some people might think this stupid of us, but really we did not have the heart or the energy for the real estate game. We just want to move on and little bits of money are not worth our energy! We will have more than enough money to do what we want to do and we are lucky to be able to say that. The second big thing is that Mom, Dad, Steve, Maya, Elias, and I all spent an hour and a half down at the title company making our ownership of the Buchanan St. house official. We did it!

So. let's talk about moving. We will have a pre moving party this Thursday afternoon in order to get some of the large items onto a truck and get a head start on moving day. If you are strong and able to help us lift some of our largest items on this day please let someone in the family know. Then this Saturday May 17 we will do our very best to move two households into one. Everyone that wants to help out is invited. The moving will start at 9:00 am and continue into the afternoon. Show up at 1555 NW Buchanan Ave or 1415 NW Dixon St or 1835 NW Division Pl and there will be something you can do. Like I said before, some light cleaning of Division Pl would be very helpful in order to get it ready for an open house that Sunday.

That is all for now. Real estate has worn me out for today and it is time for me to go to bed. Thank you again to all the people who are helping us at this time in our lives. Thank you for all the food and boxes and offers of help. Thank you in advance to all the people who are going to help us move.

Good Night,
Emily

A Week's Worth of News

It has been a little more than a week since my last blog posting. What has happened this past week? What in our crazy life are people interested in? What do we have to share?

Last week on Tuesday April 22 Mom had another round of chemo. This was her third treatment and the first one without other health issues bogging her down. We are able to notice a pattern now in her week. We are starting to be able to predict what days will be harder and easier. There is some comfort in a routine.

Last week Saturday April 26 Steve and I accepted an offer on our house. There was much relief and rejoicing. We went to Maya and Elias' soccer games with big smiles on our faces. Packing felt more exciting. We had a celebration dinner.

Last week Sunday April 27 my Grandma was out alone on her evening walk and fell. My Dad and Granddaddy took her to the emergency room. She was admitted to the hospital and stayed the night. The next day she learned that her pelvis cracked in two places. She is home now and using a wheelchair and walker to get around. She is doing really well. She is such a strong woman.

Today April 29 Mom had her fourth dose of chemo. She thinks her hair might be beginning to come out. She had an appointment with her oncologist after completing her chemo. He said that he can see and feel that the chemo is working!

Today we had our home inspection. I nervously wait for the results. When the inspection results are negotiated then we are another big step forward in completing this sale.

We are still following the schedule of closing on our Buchanan St house Thursday May 15 and moving Saturday May 17. Thank you to everyone who is writing me to let me know that we can use their pick-ups and their person power on this big day. I really believe that we can use everyone who can come. For just a short list of big items we have to move consider these things: 3 water beds, 2 freezers, a greenhouse, a kiln, 2 pottery wheels, over 20 outdoor whisky barrel planters, couches, loves seats, 6 chests of drawers, a loft bed, desks, hutches, and boxes and boxes of toys, books, and dishes. We are getting rid of lots of stuff, but there is a ton to move and we can use all of your help.

We have added another event into the agenda and that is an open house at my parent's place on Sunday May 18. Yes, this is the day after we move. Unfortunately it is really the best day to do it. So, in addition to moving on May 17 we also need to clean house! Please help!

Then the next weekend May 24 we will be having a garage sale.

Our house on Dixon st. is scheduled at this point to close on May 30.

Yes, we are involved in many stressful things. Possibly some of you think we are completely out of our minds. Sometimes we are! But, we continue to believe that Mom's cancer has provided us with an awakening and opportunity to live our lives in a way that strongly supports our beliefs and values. Thank you for all of you who are loving and supporting us on this journey.

Love, Emily

Snowy Sunday

Yesterday morning I woke up at 5:00 am to see the snow falling and accumulating around my house here on the valley floor of Corvallis. What a strange spring with plenty of surreal experiences and the snow outside my window yesterday was one more.

Yesterday after dinner Mom, Dad, Steve, and I did some calendering. Here is a schedule of events for the moving process:

Thursday May 15 we close on the house on Buchanan St.

Saturday May 17 we will have a moving party and move into the Buchanan St. house.

Saturday May 24 we will have a garage sale. It will probably be a two day garage sale.

I will contact those of you who have offered to help me pack up these houses. I may not be ready for help until next week. When I do ask for help it will probably be Tuesday and Thursday mornings from 9:00 - 11:30 am. That is a time I have available when both kids are in school and I could actually get a good bit of packing done. Feel free to contact me if you read this and would like to help me out during one of those times.

We will need as many people as would like to help out on moving day. We will try our best to move everything on that one day. Pick-ups and other cars that can take our stuff the few blocks from Dixon St. or Division St. to Buchanan St. would be very helpful. We are two household moving into one. Because of this we know we have a lot of stuff to get rid of and we rejoice in the massive unburdening of STUFF that is about to take place. On the other hand, we still have plenty of STUFF to move and will need as much help as we can get.

We hope that this week Mom will just be able to deal with her next dose of chemo and not have to struggle with other health issues. She will go into the Neville Building on Tuesday morning to receive her next round of Taxol and Herceptin. So far, she is not loosing any hair or even noticing any thinning. She does experience different kinds of flu like feelings on different days and certainly tiredness.

Time for me to start my day.

Love, Emily

Thursday Update

Today I got an email from my good friend Rose in Hawaii who is keeping a close watch on our family situation. The beginning of her email went something like this:

"How are things going? I keep checking the blog site - does it look like the lung will heal? Is the breathing easier? Is your Mom in lots of pain? Does she still look more pink and less ashen?"

Rose continues with more questions from there. I love her questions. They transmit her love and concern for me and my family across the ocean and into my heart. Her recent round of questions has prompted me to give you this Thursday update. I need to remember that even though the story goes on in real time for Mom and my family, many of you are still stuck at where I last left you in the story. I need to catch you up!

Tuesday after Mom was done with chemo she spent the rest of the day at various medical facilities dealing with her lung tube. A big part of this was more chest x-rays to look at her lung. After looking at the most recent x-rays the doctors decided that Mom could have the lung tube removed. Mom said that as soon as the tube was removed the pain went away. Then she had to wait another hour and have another x-ray to make sure that the lung stayed inflated. This last x-ray showed that her lung was doing just fine and she could go home.

Wednesday Mom spent the day trying to recover from the previous 24 hours of taking big doses of pain medication. Of course this was also the day after chemo and she had all those drugs in her body too. It was a very sleepy day for her. Other than sleepiness, she did not have many negative chemotherapy side effects. Last time Mom was given a steroid with her chemotherapy. This caused her to have a rather negative reaction of feeling like she was going to crawl out of her skin with antsiness and anxiety. She could not relax. This time they did not give her any steroid and it has been much better. She has been able to sleep and relax.

Today Mom has continued to recover from the events of earlier this week. She is walking and eating and watching TV with the grand kids. Her cheeks are pink. She is not in pain. I think I am right to say that at this moment she is doing better with all of of this than any of us dared hope.

Now an update on our real estate life!

We have decided to go ahead with the purchase of the house at 1555 NW Buchanan Ave., despite the fact that we have not sold either of our houses! We have spent a good deal of time today getting our financial ducks in a row and we are ready to go. We will close on the new house May 14th. We still hopefully anticipate the sale of one or both of our houses this Spring or Summer. Spread the word, two great houses for sale!

I will let you all know when we are ready for the big pack. Thank you to everyone who has brought us boxes and food and support.

Love, Emily

Collapsed Lung

Dear Everyone,

We have had another turn of events. Mom had to be treated in the Emergency Room yesterday for a collapsed lung. She has had trouble getting a deep breath ever since the surgery where they put the port in 2 weeks ago Thursday. When she was in the hospital last Tuesday for her first chemo the hospital nurses were a bit dissatisfied that she could not get her oxygen level above 94% or so. But, they chalked it up to stress. Then after the chemo she got congested in her breathing and antsy and feeling like her skin was crawling and they believed all those symptoms, including the congestion, were a reaction to the steroids they gave her with the chemo.

Yesterday while Mom and I were out shopping I encouraged her to call the nurse about her breathing issues so that there could be some resolution before this next round of chemo. We both thought it would be bad news for her breathing and congestion to get any worse. The doctor had her come in at 3 pm and they walked her around and measured her oxygen and listened to her and were generally unimpressed with the congestion. But, while she was there Dr. Kenyon searched for a chest x-ray that should have been taken after the port surgery to make sure everything was okay and could not find that particular x-ray. Because of this he sent her over to get a chest x-ray at the hospital.

An hour or so later when we were all eating dinner at American Dream Pizza, because doctor's appointments and work schedules had once again limited our ability to cook dinner, Dad got a call from the hospital. They were calling to say that Mom had a collapsed lung and that she needed to go to the ER fast. She was met there by Dr. Kenyon, the cancer doctor, (who held her hand) and the partner of the doctor who did the port surgery. There she had to undergo a very painful procedure where they re inflated her lung by placing a tube in it through her chest. This tube drained the air that was trapped between the lung and the lining of the lung and thus allowed the lung to re inflate. There was a possibility that she would have to have surgery and be admitted to the hospital, but no one wanted this to happen since it would mean added recovery time and a delay in her chemo treatment. Instead she suffered great pains in the ER and was sent home with the tube still inside her and a bunch of pain pills.

Today the tube is still in and draining any last air that is stuck between the lung and the lining of the lung. She is still in pain and needing frequent pain meds. Dr. Kenyon did not know if she would feel like doing the chemo today, but she has decided to do it anyway. It is very important to her to keep on the chemo schedule. I am here in the chemo room with her right now as she is hooked up to the chemo and is sleeping. When this is over she will go get another chest x-ray to make sure that her lung is still inflated and if everything looks good she will be able to get the tube out later today.

Oh, the cause of this is that they punctured the lining of her lung when they put the port in. I guess it happens sometimes, not often, but it does happen.

On another note, I believe that last night after Mom got home from the ER her cheeks and lips finally looked pink and healthy again. I had thought that her grayness had to do with cancer, chemo, etc, but I now believe it was because she wasn't getting enough oxygen. She has been doing the morning walk, watching the kids, going to soccer games, doing chemo all on one lung.

After reading this some of you might feel angry with the Doctors and the medical establishment. I think that our family really cannot afford to be angry. We need these doctors and their expertise. We know they are human and we know that things happen that they cannot control. All the doctors have done everything they can to help Mom through this next hard situation. For this we are thankful.

Love, Emily

Chemo Round One

It is 8:30 pm and Mom and Dad are finally home. They left the hospital at 7:30 pm. Then they came over to my house, ate some dinner, said goodnight to Maya and Elias, and filled Steve and I in on their most recent experience. Let me now take the time before I go to bed to fill you all in too.

Mom handled the chemotherapy experience very well. Her chemotherapy consisted of two drugs. One is called Taxol and it is a type of chemotherapy drug used primarily in the treatment of breast and ovarian cancer. The second drug is called Herceptin and it is not even called chemotherapy. Instead it is called biotherapy or an antibody drug. This drug targets the cancer cells and their specific receptors and destroys them. It starts working almost immediately. It is because of the Herceptin that Mom had to have this first dose in the hospital. The staff monitored her blood pressure, pulse, and temperature very closely to make sure that she did not have any adverse side effects to this aggressive medication.

There is another piece of new information about the chemotherapy schedule. Mom learned today from Dr. Kenyon that her chemotherapy will last for around 24 weeks. She will have the Taxol/Herceptin chemotherapy every week for 12 weeks. After that she will have another combination of drugs four times, but this time three weeks apart. The hope is that the cancer will be gone before they do the mastectomy. The doctor says that current research shows that in cases like my Mom's, that by using this specific chemotherapy regime the cancer can be completely eliminated 50% of the time before going to surgery.

So, this is where our good thoughts and prayers need to focus. We can focus on the fantastic hope that she Mom could be cancer free in 6 months.

We will see what the next few days bring in terms of side effects to the chemotherapy. The doctor also gave Mom hope that her side effects might not be as bad as someone in a more traditional every 2 week chemotherapy regime because she is getting a lower dose of the Taxol by taking it weekly.

Good Night,

Emily

Hurry Up and Wait

We are in hurry up and wait mode.

Hurry up and tidy the house for a showing because the people will be here SOON and then wait around somewhere doing something until we can go back home.

Hurry up and get to the hospital early Monday morning to have all the critical heart tests done before chemotherapy starts and then a long anxious wait until the next morning (Tuesday) to go to the hospital to actually do the first round of chemotherapy and see what that is like.

But here it is Tuesday morning when the long wait should be over and we are still in hurry up and wait mode. Mom and Dad were scheduled to go to the hospital this morning at 8:30 am so that Mom could be admitted to the hospital for this first round of chemo. But, the hospital called around 7:30 to let them know that all the hospital beds were FULL and that they would call them back and let them know when they had a bed open. Mom and I spent the morning trying to get some errands done and pass the time. The hospital called back at around 10:00 am with the news that Mom and Dad could come to admitting at 11:30 and begin the process of being admitted and doing this chemo thing.

So, the dogs and I are now here at home waiting to pick up Elias from preschool. The four of us will then try to be productive until it is time to get Maya from school. I wish I could be there at the hospital with Mom and Dad, but probably it is best for me to be here with the kids and the dogs holding down the home front.

I think the lesson of "Hurry up and Wait" is adaptability. This whole journey we are on is one that will go easier on us if we are able to adapt and not expend too much energy being upset when we have to hurry up or when we have to wait. We need to use our energy for the journey, whatever that happens to be at any given moment.

I will write late after we have our first look at chemo.

Love, Emily

Houses for Sale

I have been reluctant to write this week because every minute or so something changes. I do not want to be spreading information that has the potential to be wrong an hour or two later. Now that it is Thursday I feel that I have a few things to report.

I will start with the real estate news. Both Mom and Dad's house and Steve and my house are for sale. As I said before, we are planning on relocating together to a bigger beautiful house on Buchanan St. that sits on a town size mini farm of .5 acres. Mom and Dad have been working with an offer that was made on their house. Nothing is final yet in that situation. Steve and I just got our house listed yesterday after running through a few potential buyers that decided not to buy from us directly. We have great hopes of selling two houses in the near future!

A second piece of news is about a change in Mom's chemotherapy treatment. Originally Mom was told that she would have chemotherapy every two weeks. This schedule has now changed dramatically because of the particular kind of cancer that she has (H+ if that means anything to anyone). Now she will be having chemotherapy treatments every week on Tuesdays. She will start this Tuesday up at the hospital where they can monitor her as she has her first dose. This treatment can be very successful, but it is also hard on the heart while it is going on. She will have baseline heart tests done on Monday and then these tests will be repeated throughout her treatment to make sure that her heart is okay.

Next I want to report that Mom successfully had her "port a cath" put in today in a short surgery up at the hospital. This port is how the chemotherapy will be administered to her. The surgery was fairly short and everything went well, though she is now a bit sore.

Finally I want to thank everyone that has helped us out this past week. We had two great meals brought to us by Vicki and Bob and then Carolyn Dyer. Those were a tremendous help. Somehow we keep forgetting to feed ourselves and having some food brought solves that problem! Also, thank you to the folks who have dropped boxes off to us or allowed us to come pick up boxes. We are in packing mode and all the boxes that come our way will be put to great use.

Thank you to all of you once again. I appreciate all the comments and responses that you have left on this blog. They are uplifting to Mom and to all of us. I think this blog is already a success and I am devoted to keeping it up as long as it is useful to all of us.

Love, Emily

Another Big Day

Everyone in my family agrees this has been the most exhausting spring break of our life. Yesterday was another big day for all of us, but much more positive and with a lot less breath holding than the past week. The day started out with Mom having some stitches removed from her biopsy and finding out the medical schedule of events for the next week. She will have her chemo port put in on Thursday. Next, while we were packing up the crib and jogger stroller to take to Jeremiah and Nan in Portland in preparation for Baby Sam's arrival sometime around May 12, the realtor called to let us know that our offer was accepted on the house on Buchanan St. where the Evanses and Herbs will now be cohabitating in the near future. This call took all of us down to the real estate office to sign more papers before taking off to Portland. We then spent a great day in Portland with Jeremiah and Nan. We ate good food, helped them set up the crib and cradle for Sam's arrival, and experienced a wide range of weather while walking to the park. Lastly, when Mom and Dad arrived home they found more good medical news on the answering machine. I am not going to be able to explain this very well, but another test showed that as they narrow down to what specific strain of cancer is causing her Invasive Inflammatory Cancer, that hers is one that they are more successfully able to treat than others. The one that she has responds better to the chemo, mastectomy, radiation regime that Mom will be undergoing. She has an even better fighting chance!

I am now going to branch out to using this blog for the other reason I originally set it up. I thought as well as a blog being a great way for me to keep you all informed, it would also be a great way for me to ask for help. What we need the most help with right now is getting two houses ready to move. Mom and Dad have lived in their house for the past 17 years and thus theirs will be the biggest challenge. Help could come in several different ways:

Spreading the word that there are two great houses to buy if you know anyone who might be interested in living on Dixon St. or Division Pl. Priced to sell!

Picking up fruit boxes from the grocery stores and leaving them on my porch.

Collecting your newspapers for a week and dropping them off on my porch.

Letting me know if you would feel comfortable helping us pack.

Helping us move when the time comes (approx. May 15)

Thanks again for your good thoughts and prayers.

See you soon,

Emily

Good News!

Dear Everyone,

Good News! There is no evidence that the cancer has spread! Next week Mom will have the port put in to enable chemotherapy. Chemotherapy will start the week after that and continue for four months. We are all enormously relieved that Mom has a good fighting chance.

More good news is that Mom, Dad, Steve, and I have made an offer on a large house that we would like to live in together. We have not yet heard back from the seller, but we have great hopes for this life adventure as well.

Keep thinking those good thoughts everyone.

Love, Emily

Draw the Circle Wide

I woke up this morning at 6:00 am and decided to change the name of the blog. I named it last night "All Together Now" while Steve, the kids, and I were watching The Great Muppet Caper. I knew there was a better name out there, but I did not have the focus I needed to pluck it out of my brain. For people outside the Corvallis First Christian Church community, "Draw the Circle Wide" is one of the favorite songs we sing in the 8:45 am service at church. The line that came to me this morning was:

"Draw the circle wide, draw it wider still, let this be our song, no one stands alone, standing side by side, draw the circle wide."

In the past I always thought about drawing the circle wide as a message of extreme inclusiveness. Today I am thinking about it also as a message of support; "no one stands alone standing side by side."

I will work on this blog as a way to put the information out there so that we can all stand side by side through this process.

I will draw the circle wide with this blog to include everyone who wants to share this process with us. Feel free to share this blog address with whoever you think might be interested.

Love, Emily

We'll Try This

Dearest Everyone,

As you all know my Mom was diagnosed with invasive inflammitory breast cancer last week. It was suggested to me that using a blog during her treatment might be a great way to communicate new information and family needs to the larger community in a very efficient and first hand way. I am willing to give it a try. Please feel free to post messages back to us in this space or email me directly.

Here is what is happening to us this week. This week my Mom and Dad are touring around to various Corvallis medical establishments so that Mom can undergo a variety of tests. These tests will determine if the cancer has spread to other parts of her body. We will know the test results late this week.

We did get one good piece of news on Sunday afternoon. The doctor called to let Mom know that her blood work had come back all clear. The cancer is not in her blood.

It is after 7:00 pm and for me that means it is almost time to put the kids to bed and go to bed myself. It is a bit odd to be broadcasting information like this. I think I will have to warm up to it and see how much I feel safe letting out.

It would be cool if it worked.

Love, Emily