Looking towards the future

So we took a little hiatus to enjoy some holiday family time and try to forget the whole cancer thing. Its still not completely forgotten as we have some things to do in the future for Katies health, but we tried to have a resemblance of normalcy around our home.

Katie is all through with Chemotherapy treatments and we are so very happy about it!

Gradually her chemo symptoms have subsided and we have enjoyed having her back and active around the house again. She is still not at 100%, she still gets tired more than usual and her symptoms continue to linger, but nothing like it was before. We are so glad to be through what we hope to be the tallest hurdle of this whole process. Just a few weeks ago Katie had her first cold since the beginning of her diagnosis, she mentioned how nice it was just to be sick with a normal sickness and not the pangs of chemo like she has been used to. Its the little things that we take for granted.

Following her last chemotherapy treatment Katie received an MRI to check the progress of the effects of the Chemo. At first we were elated because they called us on the phone to tell her that there were no signs of cancer from her scans, that it appeared she was cancer free. We were amazed and so happy that maybe this could all be over. We set an appointment to meet with our Oncologist to hopefully put this all to an end. After meeting with the Oncologist we learned that an MRI is like looking out of a window from an airplane and trying to find the ants. The large tumors had been obliterated by the chemo, but the microscopic cells that could still potentially carry the active cancer cannot be seen from an exterior scan. After a few hours of deliberation we determined that the best course of action would be to continue with the mastectomy on the one side and removal of the lymph nodes where the cancer was present. Only after a proper biopsy of the tissue could they determine if she really is cancer free. IF she shows any signs of cancer still present in her cells, they will continue with radiation treatments following the surgery and eradicate any remaining cancer. After multiple doctors have reviewed Katies scans, they unanimously feel that this is the best course of action.

Katie’s surgery is set for February 6th. The initial part of the surgery will be the lymph node and breast tissue removal. The procedure should only take a few hours. Following the mastectomy the plastic surgeon will come in and place a spacer in the area to reserve the space and tissue for her breast reconstruction that will have to take place at a later date. If radiation is not required, then the breast reconstruction surgery will only be a couple months after. If radiation is needed, then we will have to wait at least 6 months following the last radiation treatment for her reconstruction to occur. The reconstruction will be what they call an autologous breast tissue transfer. They will in fact remove fat cells from her abdomen and use those cells to create a new breast. In hearing this, and looking at the bright side of things, Katie remarked to the doctor “This is great!” “I should have done this years ago!” 🙂 Everything still depends on what the biopsy shows following her initial surgery, evidently the only way to really diagnose this stuff is to get the tissue under a microscope.

The surgery will require Katie to be in the hospital overnight, followed by a week in bed. I have planned to take that week to be at home and we have Katie’s parents and sister coming to watch the kids while we are at the hospital. It will be an annoying recovery but much more optimistic than going through another round of chemo.

Through all of this Katie will continue to receive her infusions that provide hormonal treatments to block the spread of any cancer production. She also continues to go in monthly to receive a needle injection into her ovaries to block her fertility throughout the treatments.

We are very confident on our course of treatment over the next month, we hope for the best news but we are prepared and ready to fight even at the worst. We continue to see the blessings of the Lord and the timing of things work out in the best way. And Hey! We are starting to see some hair start to form on her head again!

In the meantime, we have entered into a purchase and sale contract on a new home in our area. We found a home about a mile east from our current home that fits our situation better and will allow my parents to come down from Idaho and move in with us. We have been hoping to get my parents down here, and this just happened to be a good situation. We never thought we would try to tackle a house move in the middle of all of this, but we could not ignore the timing and the circumstance that just seemed to fall in to place to allow us to do this. It has sure been an extra test of faith for our family, but we have not been able to ignore the tender mercies that have been once again evident through the whole process. Cancer treatments or a home move by themselves are enough to send someone to the crazy house, but both of them at the same time has been monumental. Its amazing how it has all progressed though. I hope to one day write down the time line to see just how perfect it has been fitting together, we just pray it continues to be so. We are extremely sad to leave our current neighborhood, even though we will only be a mile away and will continue to keep and cherish our friendships, it will be hard to have the impact that a relocation will bring. At the same time, we couldn’t imagine a better situation right now.

Christmas was magical as always, we were so very blessed by the kindness of friends and family who helped provide an amazing Christmas experience for our children. We were brought to tears multiple times by the evident kindness of others over the past few months. I don’t think we could have made it through this hard time without the help of others. There were a few times when I could not see how we were going to survive the future, and then a doorbell would ring, or the mail would arrive, or a text message would come, and people would be inspired to provide the one bit of help we desperately needed in that moment. We have even had friends provide fundraisers in our families name. We are so very grateful.

Thank you to everyone who continues to support us. We recognize the many texts from people over the past few months that were worrying about us being silent. It was a nice break to enjoy some family time, but we are ready to tackle the rest of this and we appreciate everyones help to do so.