Jenn - Update #3 - Surgery #2

Hello all,

Well, we had 2 more doctor’s appointments yesterday. The first was with the Radial Oncologist to discuss the radiation therapy that will take place. It has been decided that they will go with the Chemo first. It will consist of 8 treatments, 1 every 3 weeks so roughly about 6 months. The radiation will follow that for 5-6 weeks, 5 times a week. I know some people had mentioned concerns regarding the other side and the risk it would pose for cancer as well and according to the radial oncologist, removing the other side would not help in this case as the cancer is glandular, not lobular. It was also determined at that time that a PET (Positron Emission Tomography) scan was needed so today, she gets to lie down for a few hours and have a machine map out her body and determine which areas need the radiation treatment. A good explanation of the procedure can be found here: http://www.radiologyinfo.org/content/petomography.htm. If it all comes back with what they need to see, she will not need a CT scan. The second appointment on the day was to have the Infusaport “installed”. It is basically a tube placed under the skin in the chest area that goes in to a vein so that they can put the chemo treatment in, draw blood if needed, etc. in one place instead of sticking her 5 or 6 times each time she goes in for treatment. She went under for this surgery and was finished and up and going pretty quickly. We got there around 12:30 and she was home by 4ish. More appointments were added at both places today…it’s getting hard to keep track. Tomorrow we go see the Oncologist, I am guessing to get a schedule for the chemo treatments and be on the road to getting her healthy again!

Jim