Goodbye to the C word!

Well... we got the CA 27-29 cancer marker results and the MRI reslults of my Mom’s spine back. The results were normal!  The CA 27-29 is a cancer marker specific to breast cancer. The normal range is between 1 and 38, my Mom’s was a 12. Dr. Ben-Jacob said that this test isn’t always accurate and it only works with 80% of women so my Mom still needs to pay close attention to her body and let him know of any symptoms. I know that it’s good that my Mom’s cancer marker came back normal but they never tested the cancer marker before, when she had cancer. I think they should have tested her for a baseline. I know a woman that had breast cancer with multiple lymph nodes positive and her test came back an 8 before her treatments. She said that the test doesn’t work for her because her marker was always low even with cancer. This is what worries me. I really wish the Dr. would have run this test after her mastectomy and before her treatments so we would have a baseline we could go from. Dr Ben-Jacob called my Mom last week with the results of the MRI and CA 27-29 and said “I now consider you in remission”. I know this is awesome news but I kind of wish they would do a whole body scan. I want to know 100% that there is no cancer in my Mom’s body. They will do the CA 27-29 every 3 months for the first year and after that the Dr. will decide how often it needs to be done. My Mom has also started taking the tomoxifen, she will take this pill for five years. Once my Mom hits the five year mark she will be cured! YAY! She will make the five year mark I know it. Especially with all of your prayers!   

 My Mom was also tested a few weeks ago for BRCA 1 and BRCA 2 gene. This is the gene that causes breast and ovarian cancer. The geneticist thought it could be a possibility that my Mom had the gene because ovarian and breast cancer seems to run in our family. Like I said earlier my Mom was always worried about ovarian cancer not breast cancer. We had no idea that they were linked on the same gene. If we would have known that my Mom would have been getting mammograms every 6 months instead of every year. Anyways, the genetic test came back negative! Which is a good thing for me, I will still have to be careful but at least we know it’s not genetic. This also means my Mom doesn’t have to hurry up and get her ovaries out anytime soon. My Mom doesn’t want to get her uterus and ovaries out right now, she says she keeps getting everything pulled out of her that makes her a girl and before long she will be a little boy with no hair. She is funny.

My Mom has always wanted to drive the Oregon coast so we have decided to finally go! We are leaving this afternoon and are so excited. My Mom also wants to take us to the redwoods. She went there when she was younger and wants to make sure that Carson and I see how beautiful it is. I will post some pictures when we get home!

Thank you for all of your love and support through this whole journey. Now we have to make sure that this cancer doesn’t come back!! I think we will always worry about it and it will always be in the back of my Mom’s mind. Keep those prayers coming because they work! It’s not over yet, we still have to battle!

She Who is a True Survivor

One day she woke up and her world had changed forever.

She was faced with a reality she never dreamed possible.

It was her worst nightmare, and

Her world was crumbling around her.

Determined not to be a victim to anyone or anything,

She decided to set a new course for her life.

She'd redesign herself, her life, and her environment

To create the life she wanted for her future.

It wasn't easy.

It was an uphill climb from the start.

But the view she now has was worth

Every struggle she faced.

She is finally becoming the women she always wanted to be.

Strong, yet tender. Wise, yet humble,

Open, loving, and forgiving...

Not letting any of the past hold her down.

She never would have dreamed

The devastation she had once faced

Would have been the refiner's fire

That turned her life around.

She is now the epitome of a true survivor.

-Suzy Toronto

Summer...

Where do I even begin! We have had such a fun summer filled with lots of family! We have loved every minute of it! My Gammy (Mom’s Mom) and Pa G came and stayed with us for a week after my Grandpa Sales and my Mom’s aunts left. My Mom was so happy to see family. She really enjoyed all of their visits. The weekend after my grandparents left we went to Colorado to see some of our cousins. It was a last minute thing, we weren’t planning on going until the day before we left. Our cousins are from Oklahoma but were in Colorado because my cousin Taylor was playing in a softball tournament there, who by the way is an AMAZING pitcher! It was a short trip, we left Thursday night, my Dad drove all night and we got there Friday morning. We watched lots of softball games, went out to eat, went to the mall, and then left Sunday morning. It was so good to see some of my family from Oklahoma that we don’t get to see often. It just makes us miss them all more! I really wish we lived closer! Maybe one day… ;)

My Mom is finished with all of her radiation treatments as of Tuesday, June 30! The radiologist didn’t think her skin could handle much more. Her underarm looks pretty bad. It had been really hurting her the last week of radiation. The Dr. gave her a cream to rub on it every day. I would cake it on for her really thick. She is extremely red from the radiation and her underarm looks like somebody took a really hot iron to it. It is peeling and gets irritated really easily because her skin rubs together. It will get better though!

My Mom and I walked in Relay for Life this last weekend in Smithfield. We had never been involved in this before and it was so much fun! It started at noon on Friday and ended at noon on Saturday. We were on the Budge Clinic team, someone from each team has to be on the track at all times, even in the middle of the night. They had softball games going on in the middle of the night and karaoke. Cancer never sleeps, that's why this relay is all day and all night. It was an awesome experience and so many people participated! My Mom and I bought a lot of raffle tickets (all money went to American Cancer Society) and ended up winning a lot of fun stuff! My Mom got a huge basket filled with TONS of pink stuff! Mugs, garden tools, humming bird feeder, regular bird feeder, wind chime, and so on. I won a fun basket filled with lots of hair products. My Mom also won a free foot zoning session, she has never done it before! They also had a survivor dinner on Friday night that we went to. That was fun because my Mom got to mingle with all of the other survivors. It was a really fun time! I encourage all of you to be a part of Relay for Life!!

Today my Mom and I met with Dr. Ben Jacob, her oncologist. She finally had her first blood work drawn to see if the cancer is gone! The cancer marker that they drew today were CA 27-29. These are the markers that they will check every three months for the first year. Unfortunately, the tests don't come back the same day, it takes two days for them to run it. We will know the results by Friday. Dr. Ben-Jacob also put her on tamoxifen today. This is the pill that she will take every day for five years, it binds with the estrogen so her body can't use the estrogen which in her case was feeding the cancer. Tamoxifen does have some side effects. The ones he told her she needed to be aware of were uterine cancer (go figure) and blood clots. He told her to make sure she is getting her pap smears regularly, this would detect uterine cancer and to notice any soreness or redness anywhere that could possibly be blood clots. They would usually show up in the legs or lungs... scary. My Mom has also had some soreness on her spine the past few months, she told the Dr. this today and he wanted to go ahead and do an MRI of her spine so we can clear our minds. We are praying that it will come back clear. My Mom says she doesn't think it could be cancer but then again she said she didn't think she had breast cancer either. Better safe than sorry. We went ahead and had the MRI this afternoon, Ben-Jacob should call us with the results Thursday or Friday. I am praying that the test result for the cancer marker will come back normal and the MRI will be clear! We could use all your prayers as well!

My hand is still in a splint and won't be out for another three weeks! I have been getting used to it. By the time I am out of the splint I just might be left handed! HAHA

My Mom and her Aunts from Oklahoma

Grandpa Sales and Us

Gammy and Mom (notice the red mark on her neck, this is from radiation)

Mom, Gammy, and me

Cousins!

Mom with her Aunt and cousins

Survivors and Caregivers!

My Mom's new friends, they have all battled breast cancer

My Mom's Luminaria bag, everyone at Relay for Life had one that has battled cancer. They lit all the bags up at night and then we walked a lap in silence.

They gave us these shirts for free at the survivors dinner.