12 Aug - Mommy's Hat

Sarah's brother, Thomas, and his girlfriend, Kerry, are visiting us for the weekend. Here are some pics of the boys having fun trying on Mommy's hat during an evening cookout in the backyard. :)
Sarah's feeling better & we got confirmation that she can start Herceptin - so her first treatment is scheduled for next Tuesday! Also important next week will be a baseline CT scan of Sarah's brain and organs which we are praying will show all clear of tumors. If there are no new tumors and radiation cleans up the breast area, we've read that spinal mets like Sarah's can be controlled for long periods - and that's exactly what we are hoping for. We're emotionally torn between being eager to hear CT results that are encouraging and dreading the possibility of bad news. They say cancer is a rollercoaster of highs and lows, and that's definitely true. Seems like we've had quite a share of lows though, and I'm ready for a high this time...

8 Aug - Staples Out

Another milestone in the mastectomy recovery for Sarah today - she got staples out and everything seemed to be healing ok. We're hoping this means she can start Herceptin next week. This is a nice picture of Sarah & the boys in a rare moment of calm (lasted less than a minute!) :)

4 Aug - End of a Long Week...

It was a hot week and the only fun thing to do outside for the kids was to swim! Here's Sam in our little backyard pool.

It was also a long week full of doctor visits. Tuesday Sarah got her drains tubes taken out; Wednesday night one of the drain holes started leaking quite a bit so we were up late putting thick dressings on it & got up every two hours at night to check it; Thursday morning oncologist visit for red blood cell booster shot; Thursday afternoon first meeting with radiation oncologist & then after that over to the surgeon to fix up the leaking drain hole - which ended up being two stitches. So... we're ready for the weekend! Overall, Sarah is recovering well from surgery and eager to get the staples out (next Tues) and start Herceptin.

My parents are returning to San Antonio this Saturday, so we'll have to adjust to life with less help again... They've really helped us a lot over the past two weeks so that Sarah and I could focus on getting her through the mastectomy, and the kids have enjoyed having them here!

27 July - Wishing God Didn't Trust Us So Much

Today I'm reminded of a quote that my cousin Andres included in one of his emails to me:

"I know God will not give me anything I can't handle... I just wish that He didn't trust me so much."

This morning we were told that pathology tests on Sarah's removed breast tissue showed cancer cells at the margins and in all 16 lymph nodes taken out. This means that the tumor had penetrated in to surrounding tissues adjacent to the breast.
So, Sarah will now be doing radiation treatment next in order to try & clean up the chest area as soon as her incision has healed up enough (in approx. 4 weeks). In the mean time she has started Tamoxifen right away today and will start Herceptin asap as well (2-3 weeks). She'll drop Tamox during radiation since it interferes.

Mother Gwynne, the Asst. Rector at our church, brought by a little angel today which I found inspirational & wanted to share. On its wing it says "Miracles Happen." To me, the outstretched arms of the angel seem to invite us into a comforting embrace, while at the same time encouraging us to let our spirits soar and fly free no matter what challenges we face in our physical lives. I do expect miracles - not sure what form they will take, but I trust they'll be just what we need. I'm praying for both physical healing as well as emotional/spiritual healing that lets love and hope displace fear and hurt in us as we face the future.

I just wish He didn't trust us so much...

26 July - Sarah's Back Home

Sarah finally got to come home from the hospital today! She's feeling pretty good, although we still have to make sure her red blood cell count comes back up into the normal range. The loose shirt is hiding two very uncomfortable drain tubes that keep fluid from building up at the surgery site. We're going back to see both Sarah's oncologist and surgeon tomorrow - could be that the drain tubes can already be removed, otherwise it'll be after the weekend.

Also, here's Ben - the proud T-baller after his last game this season. He really seemed to have fun playing! And... what kid can resist the fun of kicking up that ballfield dirt? :)

25 July - Post Surgery

Well, it's done... Sarah's mastectomy went according to plan and she's recovering fine. Wow, what a trooper this woman is! Despite her smile in this pic, Sarah's pretty exhausted and it looks like she's likely to spend a second night in the hospital. Her blood pressure got back to normal by morning, but her red blood cell count is still pretty low (guess you lose a fair amount of blood in this type of surgery). Overall, I think Sarah is relieved to have this step behind her and in fairly good spirits. No post-anesthesia nausea, which was also a big relief! :) I spent last night with Sarah in the hospital (yes, managed to sleep in the visitor's chair) and will try to spend the night there again today if she doesn't get a room mate.

21 July - Time for Surgery

We've had a change in plans and Sarah's oncologist has recommended she get a mastectomy asap - it's scheduled for next Monday, 24 July. This was prompted by suspicion that the primary tumor was not responding to the chemotherapy (Adriamycin and Cytoxan) and in fact getting bigger. Sarah had another breast ultrasound this past Wednesday and although not completely conclusive, it did show a larger mass that is likely active tumor.

So, the plan is to stop the current chemo, remove the primary tumor, and then get her on Herceptin (which her tumor should respond to due to the HER2/NEU+++ attribute) possibly along with Taxol (a chemo drug) a few weeks after the surgery. My parents will be here for 2 weeks to help with Sam & Ben while Sarah recovers.

10 July - Second Opinion

Switching to a new format so less scrolling is needed to view entries. Here's a picture of Sarah and Sam taking in the Soccer World Cup final on Sunday. Was a long game, so neither saw the penalty kick finale... Sam went down for his nap & Sarah ended up napping, as well! Sarah's nausea is finally tapered after 7 days - this 3rd chemo was a doozy for side-effects.

Well, the trip downtown to Rush University Hospital Cancer Center to get a second opinion went fine. Although the doctor had a few new thoughts for us, her opinion (along with the ones from doctors at Duke and Johns Hopkins) have lead us to the overall conclusion that we seem to be getting excellent medical care for Sarah under her current oncologist. And, the treatment plan she's on seems like the best we can do based on the latest studies and standards of care. So, she'll do a mastectomy probably after one more round of chemo and then begin a long term treatment with Herceptin (slows/inhibits tumor growth), Zometa (bone strengthener) and maybe low-dose Taxol (chemo agent) to keep the bone metastasis at bay. Still no way to know what the future holds, but we remain positive & hopeful and look forward to many more years as a family together. We're very thankful for all the prayers & please keep 'em coming!

Well, Sarah's still trudging through the side effects of chemo & the blood cell stimulant shot (flu-like side effects), but we got the blood tumor marker results and they seemed to be encouraging. We still need to see what the doctors say about it, but one marker did go down & the other one stayed approx the same but is already in the "normal" range for someone without cancer. Seems like these days every week brings new ups or downs. Now we're looking ahead to getting a second opinion on Monday from a doctor specializing in breast cancer at Rush University Medical Center in downtown Chicago. Ben will be jealous that he doesn't get to go -- he'll miss a chance to ride the train in to town. :)

4 July - Another Week 1

Well, our Oncologist recommended doing the chemo & seeing what blood tumor marker levels told us later this week. So, we're starting another "week 1" in Sarah's 3 week chemo cycle. Here's a picture of Sarah surfing on day before chemo & then getting treatment #3 on 3 July. Our Independence Day celebrations will be pretty laid back. The new anti-nausea drug has not done much yet to prevent Sarah's chemo nausea which hit her full force last night - hopefully it will not linger any longer than last time (~ 4 days).

2 July Update

Day before a big day for us. Sarah gets her third round of chemo tomorrow, we think. But, the tumor in her right breast doesn't seem to be getting much smaller despite the two previous chemos, so we'll be deciding tomorrow with our oncologist on whether to continue chemo or do the mastectomy right away & get Sarah on the hormone and antibody drugs that should hopefully dramatically slow the growth of Sarah's cancer cells. If Sarah does get chemo, she might have less nausea this time due to moving to the latest anti-nausea drug called Emend. So, tomorrow we'll see how the rest of this week will unfold - chemo yuck-week or surgery.

25 June - Ben Rides His Bike

Ben learned how to ride his bike without training wheels this weekend! Now all he wants to do is ride his bike... :) (I don't know why this picture keeps loading up sideways). We also had a nice dinner visit from our friends Mary and Eric this weekend - Sarah and Mary are enjoying the weather and comfortable chairs in the backyard. Sarah's been tired but otherwise feeling good & her white blood cell count stayed high this time thanks to a shot right after her last chemo. Just gearing up for the next chemotherapy in one week.

19 June 2006

Went to talk to Sarah's surgeon - mastectomy is scheduled for 11 August 2006, three weeks after her fourth chemo. We're both very worried about what the future will hold, but have resolved to take Sarah's treatment one step at a time and be positive. Our oncologist consulted with a doctor at John's Hopkins and both were in agreement that Sarah was receiving treatment consistent with the latest body of cancer knowledge based on her situation.

17 June 2006

Ok, made it through the week and Sarah is enjoying her first comfortable day off anti-nausea drugs. Here she is with Sam at Ben's friend Maddie's birthday party. Two chemo treatments down, two more to go for now.

12 June 2006 - Another Difficult Day

Today Sarah went to get her second chemotherapy and we also got the results of her spine MRI. We were expecting it to confirm no cancer there, but unfortunately it showed small cancer lesions in several spots. This changes the treatment plan as it focuses on controlling the cancer vs. removing it all and we are still working out what the plan will be. In the mean time we are just trying to digest this news and stay positive. Sarah's cancer should respond to two drugs that will slow or hopefully halt the advance and she will start those right after her mastectomy.

11 June 2006 - Sarah's Birthday

Here's a partial family photo for Sarah's birthday. Perfect timing (last day before next chemo) so that Sarah could enjoy the day.

10 June 2006

Our two speed demons having fun in the back yard. My parents, "Oma and Grandpa," are here to help watch the kids during "week 1" of the next Chemo cycle while Sarah works her way through the nausea and fatigue.

Ok, Sarah's feeling better now, but her hair started to fall out on Saturday, 3 June. By Monday it was looking pretty patchy, so Sarah had me shave it off. Here are the before & after shots. You can see in the 3rd pic how her hair started falling out on the sides first - scarves and hats from here on out for a while...

Sarah sitting with Sam at the Memorial Day parade through Arlington Heights.

Memorial Day weekend was a hot one, so Ben and Sam got to play in the backyard pool. Sarah is starting to feel better with less nausea but the fatigue is sticking around.