Chemotherapy Scheduled

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On Thursday, June 4, 2009, Laura met with Dr. Neumayer for a post surgery appointment. Laura was given a new set of antibiotics and one of the two drain tubes was removed. The second will be removed next Tuesday by Dr. Agarwal, the plastic surgeon. Laura was accompanied by her sister, Wendy Birmingham, through all the day’s appointments. The girls and I were gone on a camping trip to Southern Utah visiting Arches N. P. and several other sites. We appreciated Wendy’s willingness and concern for Laura. The following is an excerpt from an e-mail report Wendy and Laura wrote after the day of appointments.

“Next we saw the social worker, Lisa. She wanted to ascertain whether Laura and her family were doing okay. She talked to Laura for quite a while, discussing how the kids and Kevin were doing. Laura felt that her family was doing pretty good and she doesn’t need to lock the knife drawer, yet.”

We are hoping that continues.

Wendy’s e-mail was thorough and informative. Here are a few of the more interesting items she listed. They met with Dr. Saundra Buys, the medical (Chemotherapy) oncologist. Laura liked her a lot and spent quite a while talking and learning from her. They went over all the possible chemotherapy options. The selected option is a 4 dose method each administered 3 weeks apart. The first day of her chemo will be June 19, 2009.

Another interesting item is that Laura’s cancer has likely been around for up to 6 years. Lobular cancer is very difficult to find in a mammogram.

Laura met with a geneticist who evaluated the genetic aspect of the cancer. They went over relatives and the causes of their deaths, etc. and took some blood samples. The lab will determine whether or not Laura is a carrier of a cancer gene that can be passed on to her children along with the chances of her siblings having the same gene. Generally, cancer is not passed on genetically, but only about 5% of cancer cases are attributed to genetics.

Laura will meet with the radiation oncologist on June 25. Hopefully, we will finally find out then whether or not she will be going through radiation therapy as well. She will also need to have an echo-cardiogram this Tuesday. This will ensure that her heart is healthy enough for the chemotherapy.

Laura is still resting quite a bit and is in some pain still from the surgery and the expander. But, overall, she is doing great. She is optimistic and hopeful for the future. She is hoping not to have to go through the radiation treatments, but is willing to do whatever it takes to become completely healthy again.