Here is our latest update...

We have finished the first round of radiation treatments. They did 3 internal treatments & removed the tube. We will go home tomorrow

We will return to Oschner's March 6 & stay Monday- Friday every week in March. We will be staying at Hope Lodge on nights then. They don't charge for the room but we will have to drive to the hospitalsl each day (only a couple of miles). It will not be as convenient in many ways BUT will be much better in $s. We got a big discount to stay at Brent House but it was still expensive (at least in our eyes). It was so easy just to walk to & from the room, go back for a nap, have fridge & microwave right there. We actually ate most meals in our room. We will not be allowed to do that at Hope but they do have a kitchen/dining area where we can fix our meals.
We talked to Dr et al about immunotherapy. They told us it was an excellent treatment that really worked for some cancers but not the type SallyAnn has. It was a major disappointment when her last labs came back positive & meant she was no longer eligible for brachytherapy. Only options left were mastectomy or radiation. The biggest problem with mastectomy is that given her medical history she is not a good candidate for silicon insert reconstruction. They could do the diep flap but the plastic surgeon was 100% sure she would have issues with the wounds. After much thought & prayer it seems best option is radiation.
She started with 3 internal treatments through the MammoSite tube. She will have 25 treatments of beam radiation on right breast - 5 a week for 5 weeks. We will stay at Hope in March. Barrett is coming to help April 1. The first week of April we will drive over daily with his help. Sometime after the end of the treatment SallyAnn will start taking an estrogen blocking med for 5 or more years. These are slow growing but estrogen driven cancers.
After treatments they say there only 1% chance of cancer returning, at least this type & area. Most women have at least 3% or getting breast cancer. 1 in 8 do develop breast cancer.
This has been such a difficult roller coaster. So many times we thought we had a plan worked out only to see things change. The one option we thought we ruled out was radiation, now it seems to by far be best option.
SallyAnn will have to give up tutoring for several weeks. That is more of a blow than just lost income. She really enjoys tutoring. We will be missing Gracie Beth & Elijah a lot. But we will do what we have to do. SallyAnn will also not be able to teach the Wednesday ladies Bible Study for a few weeks. Our Plexus business is way down. We will do what we can on the computer but probably will not be able to do much until after treatments end. We will continue taking the products we take currently, it helps us SO much. Not a sales pitch BTW, just how we feel.
This type of treatment is available in Gulfport but doctors here can only suggest they continue as they prescribed. We have developed a real trust in the Oschner's staff & don't feel we should make another change. Our Gulfport oncologist will continue to handle post radiation treatments.

We have several friends who have much more serious cancer & going through a lot more physical suffering. we continue our prayers for them. In a small way we know what they are going through. Physical is definitely an issue with SallyAnn but the mental/emotional side is even worse by far, there have been so many ups & downs & confusion about what to do.

IHS<><
Skipper
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