Recovery and Treatment (My Mom)

I just realized after going through my blog archive that I never updated my mom's treatment since she had surgery almost a month ago! I apologize to all of those people that I don't see regularly!

Mom's surgery was more than successful! It was remarkable!

It was a long day, but it was worth all of the time and care that was given. She went into surgery a little later than expected because when she got to radiology, the radiologist could not find the marker he had placed on the tumor previously because the tumor was practically non-existent!! They ended up doing an ultra-sound to find it, and put a nice little needle through to it, while using a styrofoam cup to cover it up! It was quite the site!

We waited for a couple of hours to get her squeezed back into surgery. The whole surgery took about 3 1/2 hours. It was a long 3 1/2 hours, but they were very good about keeping us updated. When the doctor came out to talk to us after it was all over, she told us that she took out 4 lymph nodes and about a cupcake size area in the breast, and she was very pleased with everything. When she sent it all to pathology, everything came back completely negative! Even the lymph nodes were clear!

Mom had a reaction to the anesthesia when she woke up so they ended up keeping her overnight, which was good. She was so out of it after surgery, there was no way she wouldn't been comfortable at home with us.

When they got the complete pathology report back a couple of weeks ago, they found that of the cupcake size area they took out, less than 1mm of it came back cancerous! In February, the tumor was over 6 cm large, and in 2 months with chemo, it came back less than 1 mm! Praise the Lord! God is good!

After surgery, she was declared to be 99% in remission! However, because they are unsure as to what triggered this cancer to develop (the common causes have been ruled out through testing - Progesterone/Estrogen, genetic, etc.) Mom is going to have to endure another 12 weeks of chemo. They are doing a different type which is not as aggressive, but now it will be every week. This puts her last treatment at the end of August. This is somewhat discouraging just because that's the first day of school, and she was hoping to get this all past her by next school year so she could just start fresh. After the chemo, she will later go through a round of radiation. So, we still have a long road in front of us, but so far, results have been very positive!

I was glad to get to be with her during this time. It also just shows me how strong my mom is. I've said it all along, but she's a trooper. And all of this is because of God. God is continuing to take care of my family.

Healing

This is the big week. My mom will have surgery to remove the cancer that his been invading her body for the past months. Originally, her tumor was 3-5 cm around and had grown outside of the milk duct. It was considered invasive ductal carcinoma meaning that it had also travelled to the lymph nodes. In the breast MRI she received before her chemo treatments, 2 lymph nodes were of concern. They proceeded with a treatment of chemo to try to stop the growth of the tumor and spread to more lymph nodes. She endured 4 treatments, every 2 weeks, as well as a round of daily shots to help her bone marrow produce. She was also told that with the size of the tumor, she was most likely going to have to undergo a full mastectomy to remove the entire breast.

At her last doctor's visit, the tumor had shrunk to the point that they couldn't even detect it by feeling! Because of this, she will now undergo just a lumpectomy to just remove the tumor and the infected lymph nodes. This will result in a much easier recovery as well as a less serious surgery.

We can attribute this to the wonderful works of science, or we can attribute this to God. I think it's a little of both, but I truly think God has done the work in my mother. God is good, and without him in this process, I truly don't think this is what would be in store for her this week! God is good!

I am reminded by one of my favorite passages in the Bible. As I've grown older, it's meant more and more to me. It's simple, but it speaks so much about every situation we are in.

"For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace. " Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (ESV)

God has a plan. (Remember, this is a lesson I'm learning right now!) And yes, his plan could have been to take my mother from this Earth, and I would've hated that. However, God's plan is showing that this is His time to heal. He is healing my mother. Science has helped, but it's God's plan to have her here on this Earth to do more of what He planned for her to do.

Please have her in your prayers Wednesday morning. It will be a long surgery. I will keep you posted via facebook if you want updates! :)