April's News, so far...

I hadn't put out another blog telling everyone about the latest stuff, as it all happened kind of quickly, and I wasn't sure exactly what to expect. Like I EVER know what to expect these days?!? Pat and I went up to OHSU to see the oncologist and discuss chemo regimes on April 2nd. Instead we ended up discussing the disadvantages of having "ovaries of steel" that have evidently endured two years of chemotherapy. This typically doesn't happen, and is (while I'm proud of my buff little "girl friends") not considered acceptable when you have an estrogen driven cancer. He recommended that I get them removed-that week. We met with a lovely OB/GYN on April 3rd and she drew labs, etc. that indeed confirmed that my estrogen levels were surging, and that she could take them out, but not until the next week. Wednesday the 11th she did the deed, and while she was in there, found the liver, invited another surgeon in who took out a piece of tumor, and they shipped it down to CA to Dr. Weisenthal's laboratory to see if he could give input as to an appropriate chemo regime. Dr. Chui at OHSU has a plan of his own, and maybe we can combine heads a bit here to see what will be the most effective next step. This is a procedure that I've been wanting to do for a long time, but the risk of anesthesia, surgery recovery, etc. etc. plus the fact that insurance didn't want to cover the tumor removal and assay, have until this time been insurmountable. Wow! Two surgeries for the price and healing of one!! What a deal. (A tumor assay is when they remove a kidney bean piece of tumor, put it in a special medium to preserve it, then test it against different potential chemotherapy drugs to see which are the most, the least, and midline effective toward killing the cancer cells. It's not evidently as refined a process as testing bacteria against antibiotics yet, but can increase the odds of getting an appropriate chemo by 7 to 1. Jonathan Treasure and his co-horts have used this lab frequently, and again, while it's not 100%, they've seen some remarkable things happen. If I'm going to work to really fight this stuff, I feel like I'll take any extra tricks that are available.)

This week I've been laying very low obviously. We were originally going to begin chemo today, which would've been just 5 days post-surgery, but decided to post pone until Thursday, giving me a few extra days which I think will be a good thing. I know I need to get back on it though, as the liver photo was a little ugly. (They took pictures of all the important organs and gave them to us. What a keepsake!) There is never a super clear cut path through timing of what you do and when you do it, as everyone responds so differently, and my system has had to deal with so much over the last 2 plus years that we weren't sure how it would heal up. Stopping the estrogen is deemed a partial treatment though, and I hope that in the long run that this will be a good move. So that's it for my stuff for now. I feel confident that the Lord will allow me to be on earth as long as I have a purpose that is to be fulfilled, and so my trust continues to lie in Him. His orchestration of things is more than I can comprehend, and this life for any of us is such a delicate balance to walk out. What we do with our fear, our doubt, lack of trust or belief...and how we love one another is the stuff of what it's truly made of. All temporal things will (by definition) pass away, but He and those who are His will not. I'm excited for a new heaven and a new earth, without the effects of sin and pain. (Not enough to forgo treatment, or jump off a cliff, mind you, but to live in that promised peace is a wonder to me!!)

The rest of the family is hanging in there...Valerie turned 22 on April 4th, and once again we've had to post-pone her party. Aargh. She and Nicole came down with colds in the middle of all of the surgery/recovery time, and now Pat's got it. Daniel has a touch of it, but it's not extreme yet. Sarah sewed a skirt for a 4-H fashion review, modeled it, etc. and gets to go to State with it this summer. Robert is loving baseball still, and has two practices and three games this week. So glad we have extra drivers for this stuff. Th' th' th' that's all folks!

Thanks for those of you who found out about the surgery and brought flowers, meals, cards and books to read. It was (is) nice to have some visual beauty and encouraging words to read in the house when you lose some body parts whether it's wanted or not. Thank you.

Love you bunches,
Jeanne