My Mom started chemo in January. The regimen that she followed called for four treatments of Adriamycin (the red devil) and Cytoxin and then four treatments of Taxol, a total of eight treatments over a 16 week time period. We were told that the Adriamycin and Cytoxin were supposed to make my Mom sick and the Taxol would cause bone pain. After chemotherapy we were told that she will have a month off and then start radiation. Radiation will be for five weeks, Monday through Friday. We have an appointment to meet with the Radiologist the beginning of May to go over her radiation schedule, I will know more about radiation then.
Before my Mom was diagnosed with breast cancer she had a growth removed on her jaw bone that was osteomyelitis (bone infection). She got the growth cut out and a small donor bone was put back in last summer but the infection came back with a vengeance. She was on oral antibiotics almost 24/7. Her osteomyelitis was caused from a bad root canal that left bacteria above her tooth. Before she could start chemo she had to get the osteomyelitis taken care of because she would no longer have enough white blood cells to continue to fight the infection. Her oral surgeon decided that he would remove the part of the bone that the infection was in and after chemo put back in more donor bone. My Mom decided to kill two birds with one stone so she had the bone taken out the same day they put her port in for chemotherapy. I was so relieved because I thought we had finally gotten this bone infection taken care of and we can start chemotherapy so my Mom can get better. Long story short... the bone infection has still not gone away!!!! My Mom says that sometimes it is her jaw that is hurting her more than the chemo. She has been on oral antibiotics throughout chemotherapy to keep the osteomyelitis at bay until chemo is over. Once chemo is over we are going to find another oral surgeon and hopefully kick this bone infection in the butt.
About two weeks after her port was put in we started chemo. We were very anxious and nervous for the first day of chemo. None of us knew what to expect. Her very first chemo was on a Friday. My Mom woke up on Friday morning and packed a bag full of meditation CD’s, seashells from the beach, books, and a blanket, becasue of this she calls chemo days, beach days. Every morning as she is packing her bag for chemo she says "I'm going to the beach today!" My Mom and I carpool in the morning so she dropped me off at work (I work at the hospital) and then she was off to work. She came back to get me around 3:00 pm, I dropped her off over at the cancer center (right around the corner from the hospital) and headed back to work to finish up. I got off work around four and immediately drove over to the cancer center. I was preparing myself for what I might see just in case my Mom may have been sick. I walked through the cancer center's door and to the back room to find my Mom hooked up to her chemo and pigging out on cupcakes! I started to laugh, she told me she had the munchies. I was relieved that my Mom was ok and not sick.
The further you go into your treatments the sicker you get. The Adriamycin and Cytoxin would usually hit my mom two days later. She felt extremely worn out. In the mornings before we went to work she sounded fine, I would call her about half way through the day and I could just tell it in her voice how tired she was. I asked her one time what it felt like and she said that it wasn't the kind of tired that made her sleepy but it was the kind of tired felt like she would stop breathing if she didn't think have to think about it. I would say that the worst thing about the Adriamycin and Cytoxin were the mouth sores that my Mom got. They were horrible. She couldn’t eat anything that wasn't soft. She ate a lot of smoothies and oatmeal. My Mom has never been a fan of oatmeal before but she said that it would slide right down her throat. Because of how swollen her tongue was and the mouth sores she would talk funny, like slurring her words.
My Mom has now finished all of her Adriamycin and Cytoxin and is now almost finished with the Taxol. The Taxol has been so much harder for my mom than her first four treatments. They called the Adriamycin the red devil, I call the Taxol the devil in disguise. They didn't tell us just how bad this would be for my Mom. The Taxol has caused her a lot of bone and nerve pain. She has gotten to the point that it is hard for her to hold onto a pen or to button up her clothes. The Taxol has also made her fingernails turn yellow and start to curl and are beginning to fall off. She had her first treatment of Taxol on a Wednesday by Friday she felt like her feet, hands, and face were on fire, a burning sensation. The burning sensation turned into a tingling sensation, her feet and hands felt like they were asleep. Her legs and feet began to hurt so bad that having a blanket over her hurt. This is the times that I wish so badly I could take away some of the pain. I hate seeing my Mom hurting. We put cold towels around her legs and this seems to help for a little while. This kind of pain usually only lasts about three days and after the three days she feels a little bit better each day. She is now hoping that the neuropathy that she is having right now will go away when she finishes chemo. She is really annoyed because she can’t work with her hands and can’t walk very well.
Tomorrow is my Mom’s last chemo!!! Tonight she is dreading her last treatment but at the same time she is nervous to be finished. She is worried about the cancer returning after chemotherapy. She is going to have to start changing her lifestyle, I told her I will do this with her so it won’t be so hard. We will exercise regularly and start eating healthier. She will also be taking a pill for five years called Tamoxifen. This pill is supposed to stop her body from producing estrogen, her cancer was feeding off of the estrogen. This means my Mom will never be able to take any kind of hormone replacement pills, this could be a hard thing for my Mom, we will see…
If any of you know me well, you know that I am extremely close with my family, especially my Mom. My Mom has always been my best friend and has always been there for me. It is now my turn to be there for her. She has such a strong faith and positive attitude and I know that is what is getting us through this. I thank Heavenly Father every single day for sending me to my Mom. I Love you Mom!!!!!!
"Have Faith. Your creator will never give you a problem or an opportunity without at the same time providing everything you need to handle it." -Dan Zadra
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Speed Bump
I have decided to start a blog about my Mom’s battle with breast cancer. I know I am a little late at starting it considering her last chemo is this Wednesday but better late than never right? I am still learning how this blogging thing works, so bare with me. I have a whole lot to catch you guys up on so I have decided to start with a timeline.
Monday Dec. 13, 2010
My Mom had her yearly mammogram.
Thursday Dec. 16, 2010
My Mom told me she had to go to work early because she had a patient. I didn’t think anything of this. I had the day off so I ran some errands and came home around 3. I noticed when I pulled in the driveway my Mom and Dad’s cars were both home. I thought it was kind of weird that my Dad was already home from work. I walked in and My Mom was sitting in her green rocking chair and my Dad on the couch. I asked my Mom how her day was and noticed that she had been crying, I asked her why but she said she had a long day and was tired. I believed her. I then looked over at my Dad who started crying. I knew right then that something bad had happened. I wasn’t sure I even wanted to know what happened. By this time I had already started to cry and pace. It’s weird but I think that I kind of knew what they were going to tell me. I remembered that my Mom had had a mammogram on Monday and I knew then that it was breast cancer, my body started to go numb. This kind of thing only happens in the movies and to other people, it doesn’t happen to you or the people you love the most. We cried, cried, and cried that night.
My Mom had woken up that morning to go have an ultrasound of her breast. Once she had the ultrasound she knew that what she saw wasn’t good. The radiologist then came in and told my mom that he was 99.9% sure she had breast cancer. The next step was a biopsy. The radiologist didn’t have an opening until the next day, if any of you know my Mom that was not going to happen. She told him she would stand outside of his office all day until he could do the biopsy. He told her to come back at noon. My Mom went to work and called my Dad, he met her at the hospital for her biopsy.
Friday Dec. 17, 2010The pathologist was able to tell my Mom that the tumor in her breast was a grade three, the fastest growing kind of tumor. He told her she needed to get her breast removed ASAP. My Mom, Dad, and I all met with my Mom’s surgeon, Dr. Anderson. He made us feel a little bit better and was able to get my Mom in for surgery on Tuesday.
Tuesday Dec. 21, 2010
Double Mastectomy Day! We woke up early and took my Mom to the hospital. The first thing they did was inject my Mom’s breast with some kind of dye that would help the surgeon to find her sentinel lymph node. This is the lymph node that the cancer would usually travel to first if it has gone to the lymph nodes or to another part of the body. The dye was supposed to glow if the cancer had invaded the sentinel lymph node. We waited around a few hours for the dye to work and then they wheeled her into surgery. The surgery lasted about four hours. The sentinel lymph node had glowed so they removed the patch of nodes around the sentinel node, these nodes would then be tested for cancer. We got to take my Mom home the day before Christmas Eve. Before we left Dr. Ben Jacobs, the oncologist, talked to us about what would be our next step. My Mom had to have time to heal before they could start chemotherapy, he suggested four to five weeks. We had a trip planned to Hawaii in January and we were worried to go. Dr. Ben Jacobs told us we needed to go and the week we came back we could start chemo. Dr. Ben Jacobs also told us that the thirteen lymph nodes that were taken out were all negative for cancer, the only one that had cancer in it was the sentinel node. This was our first miracle. My Mom’s tumor was about 3cm, there were spots of cancer throughout the whole breast. They staged my Mom’s cancer at a 2B, because of the size of the tumor and the one positive lymph node.
This is just the beginning of the story. I know this post is long, I’m sorry! I could keep writing and writing but I will continue tomorrow.
I just want to let you all know how thankful we are for all of the prayers and positive energy sent towards our family! My Mom keeps saying this is just a speed bump we need to get through. That’s all it is, a speed bump.
Monday Dec. 13, 2010
My Mom had her yearly mammogram.
Thursday Dec. 16, 2010
My Mom told me she had to go to work early because she had a patient. I didn’t think anything of this. I had the day off so I ran some errands and came home around 3. I noticed when I pulled in the driveway my Mom and Dad’s cars were both home. I thought it was kind of weird that my Dad was already home from work. I walked in and My Mom was sitting in her green rocking chair and my Dad on the couch. I asked my Mom how her day was and noticed that she had been crying, I asked her why but she said she had a long day and was tired. I believed her. I then looked over at my Dad who started crying. I knew right then that something bad had happened. I wasn’t sure I even wanted to know what happened. By this time I had already started to cry and pace. It’s weird but I think that I kind of knew what they were going to tell me. I remembered that my Mom had had a mammogram on Monday and I knew then that it was breast cancer, my body started to go numb. This kind of thing only happens in the movies and to other people, it doesn’t happen to you or the people you love the most. We cried, cried, and cried that night.
My Mom had woken up that morning to go have an ultrasound of her breast. Once she had the ultrasound she knew that what she saw wasn’t good. The radiologist then came in and told my mom that he was 99.9% sure she had breast cancer. The next step was a biopsy. The radiologist didn’t have an opening until the next day, if any of you know my Mom that was not going to happen. She told him she would stand outside of his office all day until he could do the biopsy. He told her to come back at noon. My Mom went to work and called my Dad, he met her at the hospital for her biopsy.
Friday Dec. 17, 2010The pathologist was able to tell my Mom that the tumor in her breast was a grade three, the fastest growing kind of tumor. He told her she needed to get her breast removed ASAP. My Mom, Dad, and I all met with my Mom’s surgeon, Dr. Anderson. He made us feel a little bit better and was able to get my Mom in for surgery on Tuesday.
Tuesday Dec. 21, 2010
Double Mastectomy Day! We woke up early and took my Mom to the hospital. The first thing they did was inject my Mom’s breast with some kind of dye that would help the surgeon to find her sentinel lymph node. This is the lymph node that the cancer would usually travel to first if it has gone to the lymph nodes or to another part of the body. The dye was supposed to glow if the cancer had invaded the sentinel lymph node. We waited around a few hours for the dye to work and then they wheeled her into surgery. The surgery lasted about four hours. The sentinel lymph node had glowed so they removed the patch of nodes around the sentinel node, these nodes would then be tested for cancer. We got to take my Mom home the day before Christmas Eve. Before we left Dr. Ben Jacobs, the oncologist, talked to us about what would be our next step. My Mom had to have time to heal before they could start chemotherapy, he suggested four to five weeks. We had a trip planned to Hawaii in January and we were worried to go. Dr. Ben Jacobs told us we needed to go and the week we came back we could start chemo. Dr. Ben Jacobs also told us that the thirteen lymph nodes that were taken out were all negative for cancer, the only one that had cancer in it was the sentinel node. This was our first miracle. My Mom’s tumor was about 3cm, there were spots of cancer throughout the whole breast. They staged my Mom’s cancer at a 2B, because of the size of the tumor and the one positive lymph node.
This is just the beginning of the story. I know this post is long, I’m sorry! I could keep writing and writing but I will continue tomorrow.
I just want to let you all know how thankful we are for all of the prayers and positive energy sent towards our family! My Mom keeps saying this is just a speed bump we need to get through. That’s all it is, a speed bump.
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