wpr;456589She's been a real trooper. I am so proud of her.
Giving up watching our grandsons was the hardest part. The little boy turned one a couple of months into the process. He doesn't remember her as well as big brother does. We were there for Christmas. When she went to get him up, he cried because she didn't look right. It took a while for him to warm up. I was playing "airplane" with him and dropped him in her lap. She started playing one of their games and singing to him and it all came back.

❤

That is great news..thanks for sharing

Martha Careful;456595That is great news..thanks for sharing

I don't want to be too personal but I hope you are truly Martha Careful.  As I hope everyone is.

wpr;456588It's been awhile since I updated anyone. 
My wife went through her first round of chemo treatments. She had surgery to remove the tumor. We've had follow ups with both the surgeon and today, the oncologist. At today's session he told her that chemo killed 90% of the cancer cells. Twice they checked nymph nodes. 3 with the original exploratory and another two with the lumpectomy. All were clean.
Next up is another series of chemo treatments. She is HER2 positive so the protocol is more chemo. 14 more sessions. That will take us through December. The good part is it is only one chemo bag instead of 3. Might not need the additional infusions such as the anti-nausea med. This type of chemo isn't the kind that makes her hair fall out so hopefully it will grow back soon. She is looking forward to that. 
She also starts radiation treatments in a few weeks.  5 days a week for 4 or 5 weeks. The radiation doesn't last long. About 15 minutes but the whole process is around an hour.
We are both very happy this evening. We keep on marching along.

I'm looking forward to her full recovery. Nothing short of that is allowed. Or your membership fees will be doubled! 

Seriously though, she's on my mind and I truly hope this is just a bump in her long, very long journey of life. Sorry I haven't been more active in this topic. I'm kind of a coward when it comes to these things. 

Zero2Cool;456654I'm looking forward to her full recovery. Nothing short of that is allowed. Or your membership fees will be doubled! 

Seriously though, she's on my mind and I truly hope this is just a bump in her long, very long journey of life. Sorry I haven't been more active in this topic. I'm kind of a coward when it comes to these things. 

Thank you.
It's all good. No worries. No pressure. No condemnation.

Wow, Wayne. I missed this thread.

I hope everything is going well. It's amazing what modern medicine can do. Even more amazing that nothing's been found that's not as physically and mentally destructive and draining as chemo. I hope you, your wife and your family pull through together. This kind of stuff never impacts just one person. 

Your last updat was relatively positive. I sincerely hope it keeps going that way. Stay strong!

 

Thanks Rocky. As of this week she has crossed the halfway point for radiation treatments. We still have a ways to go. She does have a good attitude but the process is draining on her. We've only driven to see the grandsons once or twice this year. It's a 3 hour trip soon to be a 5 hour trip. Maybe if we had better rail service she would be more willing to travel. Maybe not because that would be a longer trip but she would be able to get up and walk around some.

Yesterday was a big day for us. She finished her radiation treatments. 20 treatments over a 4 week period. It was a grind. I liked leaving the office early every day but the reason stunk. The staff at the radiation clinic were amazing. Always positive, encouraging and uplifting. I don't know how they can do it every single day with every patient.

Our doctor has an amazing story of his trials and tribulations to simply get to the US. What he had to endure to get his US degree was astonishing. (He already has a degree in radiology in his county but had to earn one here as well.) He said he gave up everything to come here. His wife didn't want to emigrate. He volunteered at a local hospital while going back to medical school just so he could be near medicine. He told them he would do anything even shine shoes if he could be there. He said he met a cardiologist that he went to school with in his country. The other doctor was mocking him. That motivated him to excel. He drove Uber to support himself. It is people like this man who made America great. Not politicians with their sound bites and slogans.

Back to my wife. She still has chemo treatments until December. People in the oncology world will hate how I describe it but it is a "little" chemo treatment. Her first series was 3-4 different drug concoctions. Now she is down to just one. A different one that what she was given before. It has it's side effects. Nausea and achy joints are the main two. The good news is her hair is growing back. S-L-O-W-L-Y! This morning she almost had a 5 O'Clock shadow. Maybe it's more like a 1:15-2:30 shadow. That's exciting for her. We've heard both the oncologist and radiologist tell her she is "cancer free"!
She bought a tshirt last week.
https://i.imgur.com/enJkB0x.jpg
It's humbling.

I plan to buy her a pink diamond pendant in December. SHH.

wpr;457694I plan to buy her a pink diamond pendant in December. SHH.

I read this part and think, umm, she can read it right here. Then thought, wait, does she NOT frequent PACKERSHOME?!?!?!?!?!?

Zero2Cool;457696I read this part and think, umm, she can read it right here. Then thought, wait, does she NOT frequent PACKERSHOME?!?!?!?!?!?

Amazing as it sounds, she doesn't. Who would have thunk it?