After five months Anne-Marie's treatment plan has turned into a treatment "don't make any plans" plan. The reason for this is two-fold.
#1 The approach of the SCCA doctors
#2 The fact that this is a recurrence, not an initial cancer diagnosis
I would go into depth on these two things, but you probably don't care and just want to know what changed.
Dr. Korde says the cancer is not responding to the Herceptin and surgery needs to be done right away. Apparently, it was the Tykerb that--while simultaneously destroying Anne-Marie's life--was successfully shrinking the tumor. Since going off of it, Herceptin alone hasn't had any measurable effect beside maybe keeping the cancer at bay.
The most amazing thing about this story is the fact that we both greeted this news with total indifference. Six years ago we would have completely freaked out. Somewhere between a Godly peace and a worn-out apathy, we joked with each after getting the news that "we're busy in October". I'm thinkin' that "right away" means "next month" in medical terms. Right?
Right?
So, Anne-Marie made a pre-op consult appointment for a couple of weeks from now. We'll update you as this develops
Thank you for keeping us updated.
ReplyDeleteWe will pray with you.
Well gosh darn. I don't know what to say, but I see everyone is leaving comments on facebook instead of here, so I wanted to be different. ;) LOL.
ReplyDeleteYou made a point of saying you greeting this news with indifference. You've learned so much over the years, probably the biggest thing is that how you are not in control of this. Only God is. He brought you both through the evil cancer the first time. Allowed you to become a family of 4! Allowed travel to a 3rd world country to see the way people live & die there. You've faced moves, job loss, and many unexpected other things along the way ~ worries, sorrows and great joys. Now, He'll do it again. I know you're both in it for the long haul together. Praying that you will feel HIS arms around you and always know HE has you taken care of.