Tuesday, March 1, 2011

March 1st Update on Mary

This has taken us a few days to process and to think through, and now we will try to let you know where we are at.  On Friday Feb. 25th we met with the oncologist and were blown away by his report.  On our last post we mentioned that the results of one test had not come back yet but now those results are in. That test  HER2 returned postive which is not a good thing.   We quickly learned that what you don't know can hurt you! 
Basically the HER2 test is fairly new and not done routinely but tells the doctors a lot about the type of cancer and how aggressive it is.  HER2+ is a gene that has more receptor sites than normal and is producing too many cells too rapidly.  The doctor then explained that she would need chemo to kill the cells that had already spread throughout Mary's body. This chemo would start in 2 weeks and involve one treatment every 3 weeks for 18 weeks.  We were kind of prepared for that as it had been mentioned previously as a possibility.  But with the news of the HER2 gene it means an extra year of treatment after the initial chemo. The idea of another year of treatment is daunting!  The plan is to surgically implant a port in Mary's upper chest so that the chemo can be injected as this would be over an extended time.  Needless to say we were still overwhelmed by it all.  There are so many unanswered questions and some fears.  We have been on the internet researching recommended  drugs, side effects, alternatives, coping with chemo etc.  We are also in the process of finding an apartment in Thessalon to live in.  The treatments will be in Sudbury but we plan to stay in Thessalon between treatments.
We are just waiting to talk to the surgeon about  the intervenous port and a consult with our family doctor in Blind River.  We are praying that the Lord will direct us on the right course of action and wisdom and courage. I hope we  can maybe get away for a few days (maybe Ottawa or Toronto) before the chemo starts. We again would like to thank you all for prayers, notes, and concerns.  We are negligent about replying to emails but hopefully will get a chance to talk with you. Thanks so much.

1 comment:

Lina said...

Hang in there--you are in out thoughts and prayers out here in the bush!