Tomorrow is another big day! My surgery is scheduled for 7:30 am. Please pray with me that cancerous tissue will be extraordinarily noticeable to Dr. Dietz, so that she can completely remove it . Please pray that a satisfying peace will surround me over the next few days as I await the pathology report. This surgery is my last chance before a mastectomy. That is why I am praying hard. I'd like to keep my body parts, thank you!! :)
Good night, Alicia
P.S. Greg will give an update tomorrow.
Monday, February 28, 2005
Monday, February 21, 2005
February 21, 2005
Just want to let you know the latest...
The second surgery to remove the remain cancerous tissue is set for Tuesday, March 1. Dr. Dietz explained that the surgery is necessary in order to remove an area of tissue where some new cancer cells were starting to grow. Why didn't they get it out the first time? Because of my age, the breast tissue is very dense, which makes it very difficult to find the cancerous cells. A second surgery is not an uncommon procedure for woman my age. I'd take this surgery over another lymph node dissection any day!
I am praying that the cancer cells will cease growing and that all of the cancerous tissue will be completely removed. I am overjoyed to know that there is no cancer in the lymph nodes. Thank you, Jesus!
I am very happy to say that the incisions are healing up quite well and my arm is almost up to full strength (still not picking up the big stuff. Greg is now the laundry basket carrier!) I have low level pain, which I can pretty much ignore (unless I overuse the area.) Kind of bummed that I have to almost start all over again with the pain thing.
Another good thing is that I have an appointment with an oncologist. His name is Dr. Michael Naughton. Like Dr. Dietz, he teaches at Wash U Med School. I am looking forward to working with him in killing my cancer! :) I have heard from an outside source, that he is an excellent oncologist.
Peace and love to you, Alicia
The second surgery to remove the remain cancerous tissue is set for Tuesday, March 1. Dr. Dietz explained that the surgery is necessary in order to remove an area of tissue where some new cancer cells were starting to grow. Why didn't they get it out the first time? Because of my age, the breast tissue is very dense, which makes it very difficult to find the cancerous cells. A second surgery is not an uncommon procedure for woman my age. I'd take this surgery over another lymph node dissection any day!
I am praying that the cancer cells will cease growing and that all of the cancerous tissue will be completely removed. I am overjoyed to know that there is no cancer in the lymph nodes. Thank you, Jesus!
I am very happy to say that the incisions are healing up quite well and my arm is almost up to full strength (still not picking up the big stuff. Greg is now the laundry basket carrier!) I have low level pain, which I can pretty much ignore (unless I overuse the area.) Kind of bummed that I have to almost start all over again with the pain thing.
Another good thing is that I have an appointment with an oncologist. His name is Dr. Michael Naughton. Like Dr. Dietz, he teaches at Wash U Med School. I am looking forward to working with him in killing my cancer! :) I have heard from an outside source, that he is an excellent oncologist.
Peace and love to you, Alicia
Monday, February 14, 2005
February 14, 2005 (by Greg)
We attended the post-op consultation visit with Dr. Dietz this afternoon. The news is really good, but not perfect. The good news is that Alicia is "node-negative". This means that there was no cancer found in the lymph nodes. Praise the Lord! The other news is that the margins around the tumor are good, but they detected some early stage cancer cells near the margins still remains. This means that Alicia will need another surgery, but a much less invasive one this time. The lymph nodes are the real painful part of the surgery, but since they won't be doing anything with lymph nodes this time, the pain will be much reduced. They will essentially just increase the margins by taking more tissue surrounding where the original tumor was located. The tentative date for this second surgery is the first week of March.
Wednesday, February 9, 2005
February 9, 2005
I'm back! :)
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR PRAYERS! I am so blessed!
Physically, I am still healing. The two incisions are healing well, and the swelling has almost ceased. I must admit that I am very pleased with the surgery (the way I Iook.) But I am struggling with full use of my right arm. I thought the wounds would be the major pain, but I was mistaken. I am unable to perform tasks that use the pectoral muscle. I was surprised that my small motor skills were even effected. After a few pouts, I am accepting the fact that it may be a while before it works again. I am trying my best to slowly strengthen that muscle.
The last few days have definitely been a learning experience for me. God is teaching me how to be patient with my healing. I am sometimes a stubborn daughter.
This is what I am learning...
I am learning how to use my left hand better.
I am learning what movement the pectoral muscle performs. This has given me a great appreciation of how intricate God has made our bodies. (ex. I can lift a light object, but I have a hard time writing.)
I am learning to be happy that I am able to do my own hair, even if it looks all messy (try doing your hair with the opposite hand and you'll know what I mean.)
I am learning that my prayer for others decreases my own pain and fear.
Again, thank you for your prayers and words of encouragement. This coming Monday, we will be meeting with Dr. Dietz to go over the surgery. We are praying that the margins around the mass were completely cleared of cancer (oh, and those lymph nodes, too.)
Love, Alicia
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR PRAYERS! I am so blessed!
Physically, I am still healing. The two incisions are healing well, and the swelling has almost ceased. I must admit that I am very pleased with the surgery (the way I Iook.) But I am struggling with full use of my right arm. I thought the wounds would be the major pain, but I was mistaken. I am unable to perform tasks that use the pectoral muscle. I was surprised that my small motor skills were even effected. After a few pouts, I am accepting the fact that it may be a while before it works again. I am trying my best to slowly strengthen that muscle.
The last few days have definitely been a learning experience for me. God is teaching me how to be patient with my healing. I am sometimes a stubborn daughter.
This is what I am learning...
I am learning how to use my left hand better.
I am learning what movement the pectoral muscle performs. This has given me a great appreciation of how intricate God has made our bodies. (ex. I can lift a light object, but I have a hard time writing.)
I am learning to be happy that I am able to do my own hair, even if it looks all messy (try doing your hair with the opposite hand and you'll know what I mean.)
I am learning that my prayer for others decreases my own pain and fear.
Again, thank you for your prayers and words of encouragement. This coming Monday, we will be meeting with Dr. Dietz to go over the surgery. We are praying that the margins around the mass were completely cleared of cancer (oh, and those lymph nodes, too.)
Love, Alicia
Friday, February 4, 2005
February 4, 2005 - Surgery Day (by Greg)
The surgery went great and Alicia is home tonight sleeping on the sofa!
This is probably much longer than you want to read, but I know that some people want all of the details...
The day started at 4:30am this morning when the alarm went off. Alicia woke up after the best nights sleep she has had in over a week. She had asked several of you to pray for a good nights rest and the Lord provided. She said that she woke up to the Josh Groban song "You Lift Me Up," and that was a comforting thing, so she laid there and listened to the whole song.
Around 6:30am, Jeff Loaney, our pastor of care and counseling called. He was at the hospital wondering where we were. Apparently, the word didn't make it back to him that our arrival time was pushed back to 7:30am from 6:00am. We felt terrible that Jeff got up early to meet us down there and we weren't there yet. Please forgive us Jeff!
We arrived at the hospital about 7:30am and got all checked in. They hand out local area pagers now (like the ones you get at nice restaurants when you are waiting for a table). What a wonderful idea. We got paged and Alicia headed back to "pod 6" to get changed into the hospital gown. After Alicia headed back, they let me keep the pager. After she was all changed and in her gurney-chair under the heated blankets, they let me back to "pod 6" to keep her company while we waited for her to be taken for the radioactive tracer injection. During this waiting period, Dr. Dietz stopped by and gave us the layout of the day: radioactive tracer injection, nuclear medicine for photos of the radioactive tracer, surgery and recovery.
Around 9:30am, they led Alicia to the breast center in the hospital for the radioactive tracer injection. This consisted of inserting 4 needles into the tumor and then adding the radioactive tracer directly into the tumor. After the tracer was injected, the needles were left in and she was sent downstairs to nuclear medicine. After arriving at nuclear medicine, she was placed on a table and a large camera was placed inches over her. She stayed there for about a half-hour while they took those pictures. (These aren't normal pictures, they are using special equipment that picks up the radioactive tracer. It's officially called a lymphoscintigraph.) The tracer hadn't fully traveled to the lymph nodes yet, so she waited until 12:30pm, when they took the pictures again. This was a little painful in that the needles were still there and she just couldn't get comfortable. She finished the second set of pictures around 1:30pm and was taken right on up to pre-op. The purpose of the radioactive test is to help the surgeon know where the lymph nodes are during surgery.
There was about a 5-10 minute window of time during pre-op that Alicia had the chance to visit with her parents, who had just arrived in town after a 5 hour drive from northwest Indiana. I know that was special for her to get to see her parents before surgery.
During the surgery, several people arrived: Charity (Sister), Anthony (Nephew), Connie (Mom), George (Dad), Linda (Friend) and Nancy (Friend). We all waited until around 4:15pm, when Dr. Dietz came out and debriefed us on the surgery. She started out by telling us that the surgery went very well. The first thing she did was inject her with the blue dye that will adhere to the radioactive tracer making the lymph nodes easier to find. She then extracted 3 lymph nodes. She said that one of the lymph nodes didn't quite feel right, so she had a frozen section performed and that test came out negative. This is wonderful news and is a good sign that the lymph nodes may be completely negative, but we won't really know that for sure for about another week. She then took out the lump and feels that it went well, but she can't really tell whether the margins are good until she gets the results of a test in about a week. Finally, she said that Alicia was taken to the recovery room and that we could go back and visit with her in about an hour.
Around 5:30pm, we all headed back to visit with Alicia in the final recovery room. Alicia was still feeling pretty groggy, but the nurses felt she should go home tonight. We all helped her eat a couple of crackers so that she could take her first pain killer. She just continued to sleep. Around 7:15pm, we helped her get dressed and she was taken downstairs in a wheelchair, picked up in the car at valet parking and we headed home.
She came into the house and went straight for the sofa (it is downstairs, while the bed it upstairs). She is sleeping on the sofa now and by the looks of things, she'll probably be out of it until at least tomorrow afternoon.
Thank you all for your love and prayers. They really do energize her and keep her going. She loves to visit the website and see all of the words of encouragement in the guestbook. Thank you all so much.
--Greg
This is probably much longer than you want to read, but I know that some people want all of the details...
The day started at 4:30am this morning when the alarm went off. Alicia woke up after the best nights sleep she has had in over a week. She had asked several of you to pray for a good nights rest and the Lord provided. She said that she woke up to the Josh Groban song "You Lift Me Up," and that was a comforting thing, so she laid there and listened to the whole song.
Around 6:30am, Jeff Loaney, our pastor of care and counseling called. He was at the hospital wondering where we were. Apparently, the word didn't make it back to him that our arrival time was pushed back to 7:30am from 6:00am. We felt terrible that Jeff got up early to meet us down there and we weren't there yet. Please forgive us Jeff!
We arrived at the hospital about 7:30am and got all checked in. They hand out local area pagers now (like the ones you get at nice restaurants when you are waiting for a table). What a wonderful idea. We got paged and Alicia headed back to "pod 6" to get changed into the hospital gown. After Alicia headed back, they let me keep the pager. After she was all changed and in her gurney-chair under the heated blankets, they let me back to "pod 6" to keep her company while we waited for her to be taken for the radioactive tracer injection. During this waiting period, Dr. Dietz stopped by and gave us the layout of the day: radioactive tracer injection, nuclear medicine for photos of the radioactive tracer, surgery and recovery.
Around 9:30am, they led Alicia to the breast center in the hospital for the radioactive tracer injection. This consisted of inserting 4 needles into the tumor and then adding the radioactive tracer directly into the tumor. After the tracer was injected, the needles were left in and she was sent downstairs to nuclear medicine. After arriving at nuclear medicine, she was placed on a table and a large camera was placed inches over her. She stayed there for about a half-hour while they took those pictures. (These aren't normal pictures, they are using special equipment that picks up the radioactive tracer. It's officially called a lymphoscintigraph.) The tracer hadn't fully traveled to the lymph nodes yet, so she waited until 12:30pm, when they took the pictures again. This was a little painful in that the needles were still there and she just couldn't get comfortable. She finished the second set of pictures around 1:30pm and was taken right on up to pre-op. The purpose of the radioactive test is to help the surgeon know where the lymph nodes are during surgery.
There was about a 5-10 minute window of time during pre-op that Alicia had the chance to visit with her parents, who had just arrived in town after a 5 hour drive from northwest Indiana. I know that was special for her to get to see her parents before surgery.
During the surgery, several people arrived: Charity (Sister), Anthony (Nephew), Connie (Mom), George (Dad), Linda (Friend) and Nancy (Friend). We all waited until around 4:15pm, when Dr. Dietz came out and debriefed us on the surgery. She started out by telling us that the surgery went very well. The first thing she did was inject her with the blue dye that will adhere to the radioactive tracer making the lymph nodes easier to find. She then extracted 3 lymph nodes. She said that one of the lymph nodes didn't quite feel right, so she had a frozen section performed and that test came out negative. This is wonderful news and is a good sign that the lymph nodes may be completely negative, but we won't really know that for sure for about another week. She then took out the lump and feels that it went well, but she can't really tell whether the margins are good until she gets the results of a test in about a week. Finally, she said that Alicia was taken to the recovery room and that we could go back and visit with her in about an hour.
Around 5:30pm, we all headed back to visit with Alicia in the final recovery room. Alicia was still feeling pretty groggy, but the nurses felt she should go home tonight. We all helped her eat a couple of crackers so that she could take her first pain killer. She just continued to sleep. Around 7:15pm, we helped her get dressed and she was taken downstairs in a wheelchair, picked up in the car at valet parking and we headed home.
She came into the house and went straight for the sofa (it is downstairs, while the bed it upstairs). She is sleeping on the sofa now and by the looks of things, she'll probably be out of it until at least tomorrow afternoon.
Thank you all for your love and prayers. They really do energize her and keep her going. She loves to visit the website and see all of the words of encouragement in the guestbook. Thank you all so much.
--Greg
Thursday, February 3, 2005
February 3, 2005
My surgery is scheduled for 2 pm tomorrow. I will have to show up at 7:30 for some pre-operative testing. They will shoot me up with some blue dye, that will cling to any cancer cells in my lymph nodes. I will then have a body scan to find those blue cells. They funny part is, they said that I will pee blue for a couple days. Pleasant! :) (Hey, I get humor where I can get it! :)
Today, I am just exhausted. The stress has been building up, and my body is tired of it. I am praying for a good nights rest. I am not exactly excited about tomorrow, but I know with your prayers and the presence of Greg and my parents, I will be okay. I kind of look forward to being put out because I don't have to think about it anymore.
Thank you for your love (every one of you.) I know that Christ will be with me tomorrow and over the next several months of treatment. Greg will updated this weblog tomorrow night with an update (It might be late.)
Hugs and Kisses, Alicia
Today, I am just exhausted. The stress has been building up, and my body is tired of it. I am praying for a good nights rest. I am not exactly excited about tomorrow, but I know with your prayers and the presence of Greg and my parents, I will be okay. I kind of look forward to being put out because I don't have to think about it anymore.
Thank you for your love (every one of you.) I know that Christ will be with me tomorrow and over the next several months of treatment. Greg will updated this weblog tomorrow night with an update (It might be late.)
Hugs and Kisses, Alicia
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