Moving along

Wow, you prayer warriors are really at work. Amy took ½ pain pill this morning at 7:30 and hasn’t wanted one since!

Our morning visit with the Drs went well – to a degree. Sometimes it feels a lot like Ping-Pong. They did remove the bandages and one drain; the other is still going to town. We were told that this was just going to be a 15 minute checkup, but when the whole surgical team came into the room (and brought a box of tissue) we knew something was up. (Actually that was a little bit of hyperbole).
They told us that part of the pathology report had come back already and contained some information that would be important to us. I will try to break all the technical stuff down into some simple info.

First of all the type of cancer found was one that finally takes the right breast out of the woods – that was a relief. For those interested in the stage of the cancer we now have a an official score. Five of the 15 lymph nodes removed tested positive – that moved us into a stage and treatment category. Officially stage IIIa and because so many lymph nodes were involved, radiation is a definite must after chemo.

There are still several test to be run that will clear up the treatment picture – basically to check on the hormone receptors and genes in the cancer. Those could come back in such a way that treatment and delivery could go on as previously thought. Please pray to that end.

We should know more by our appointments early next week. There is a whole gamut of meetings and appointments scheduled in the next couple of weeks – see the upcoming dates box on the right as you pray.

I won’t go into all of the what ifs and possibilities in front of us, just please continue to pray for the right results on the remaining pathological tests.

The surgeon also recommended some exercises for Amy to keep her shoulder from locking up ( I guess a fairly common problem after this kind of surgery) and she is already able to get her arm above her head. In fact she got her pajamas on alone tonight! What am I here for anyway? She is doing incredibly well on the physical side. Drs were pleased w/ what they saw today and we are aware of the wonderful prayer structure that is lifting us before the throne of grace in many ways.

Amy may even be doing well enough to take over at the keyboard tomorrow.

Thanks again to all of you, the notes and comments are more blessing than you can imagine and are truly treasured.

Be back soon, Jon