First trip to the Huntsman Cancer Institute

Today was Laura’s first meeting with the doctors at the Huntsman Cancer Institute. After a significant wait, we were introduced to several health care workers, all women. The first was the Physicians Assistant (Victoria ?) who had a bunch of questions like family cancer history, Laura’s rugged lifestyle and what we could expect from the doctor once she came in. Dr. Leigh Neumayer turned out to be a very good fit for Laura. She explained all the options Laura had clearly and was very understanding and thorough. She was clear with Laura up front that surgery and chemo are in her future. But, she left a surprisingly large amount of it up to Laura. First, she said that Laura could choose between chemo first, then surgery, then more chemo or surgery first and full chemo later. Dr. Neumayer said there was not a statistical advantage to either method, but the reconstruction process might be slightly different. Without hesitation, Laura chose the latter option of having the surgery first. She is anxious to get the surgery done and the cancer out. Also, having two sessions of chemo didn’t sound like much fun. So, the surgery will take place on Friday, May 22 with the chemo to start four to six weeks later.
We spent quite a bit of time talking with a nurse named Vicki, who will be Laura’s main guide through this all. The Huntsman Cancer Institute has lots of very talented and caring people. Both Vicki and Dr. Neumayer gave Laura several phone numbers and e-mail addresses and assured Laura she could call anytime. Vicki was very reassuring and told Laura she was in very capable hands. We don’t doubt this at all after having been with these people for a while. Vicki explained the procedures and schedules and got us both a little more prepared for what we will be going through. Laura was also asked if she would consent to two minor research procedures. The first was done in conjunction with a blood sample. They needed to draw two samples of blood but asked to be able to take four samples, the other two for some kind of cancer study. Laura agreed to do that. The other will be done during the surgery. She hasn’t consented to this one yet. It is a bone marrow sample that will be taken from her hips. This is completely unrelated to her surgery, but it will add to data that will benefit future cancer patients. It is supposedly a very minor procedure that will happen during the surgery. She will probably consent to that one as well.
The last stop was up a floor to get another ultrasound. This was to get a look at the lymph nodes in her upper right arm. The intent was to see if there were any signs of cancer there. If so, they would do a biopsy immediately. But, they saw no sign of cancer there. They will still perform a surgical biopsy on at least one lymph node and the sentinel nodes, but that will wait until the main surgery.
Laura’s sister, Wendy Birmingham (who lives nearby while attending the U of U), came to see us just as we were heading to the ultrasound. She waited until we were done then generously treated us to a late lunch up in the Point Bistro at the top of the Huntsman Cancer Institute. It was after 3:00 PM before we got to eat lunch and we were both tired and hungry. It was very good for Laura to get a chance to talk with Wendy for a while.
Laura is also scheduled for an MRI on her healthy breast to make sure nothing was missed there. That will be Saturday, May 16, at the Huntsman Cancer Institute again. This will determine whether a single or double mastectomy will be done next week. Monday, May 18 at 8:00 AM she meets with the plastic surgeon.
Laura has been taking this all generally well, but she has had ups and downs. She is understandably nervous and seems to want to cry often. But, she has lots of family and friends that care for her and will be there for her through it all.