Mom's Progress

This whole cancer thing has really not been fun for any of us, especially my poor mom. August 13th she had a double mastectomy and reconstruction. The surgeries took about 5 hours and my poor dad was on pins and needles the whole time. He was actually breaking out in hives in the waiting room! Mom did well and was released 2 days later. Jacob spent his last week of summer at their house helping to take care of their dogs and doing anything that needed to be done. He is such an amazing 10 year old. He never complained once about missing his last week of summer to help his Mom-o and Papa. Unfortunately mom's wounds on the right side did not healing correctly and to make a long story short she ended up having a second surgery to remove dead tissue and skin, reduce the size of her expander and give the remaining tissue and skin the ability to grow back healthy. The pathology reports came back that there was no cancer in her lymphnodes and she was thrilled. It even made the thought of having a second surgery bearable. That joy was short lived after her appointment with the oncologist who told her that while it was great there was not cancer in her lymphnodes, her pathology report was troubling. He did a new chest x-ray and bloodwork and sent her home to rest and heal completely before he started her on any kind of treatment. After receiving the bloodwork analysis, he called and let her know that going without chemo was not an option. He also suggested that she have a port placed to make receiving her treatments easier. She was upset, but seems to finally be getting back to normal. Emotionally she has had a hard time accepting that she is sick and my dad has been very cautious and has not really let her do a lot up until last Thursday. I think all this laying around at home resting and not doing anything has contributed to her feeling down. She went out over the weekend to see a movie, did some shopping and even had the boys come over for a visit, so she's starting to improve. She was able to go back to work from home on Tuesday and has enjoyed feeling somewhat normal again. Tomorrow is her appointment with the oncologist to really discuss her blood work at length and find out more information about her treatments. I'm just praying that what the doctor has to say is not a devastating blow when she's just starting to feel normal again.