Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!

Thank you ALL so much for your thoughts and prayers! They were answered yesterday. Mom saw Dr. Seligson for another follow-up appointment and things looked really good. So good, in fact, that her CHEST TUBE IS OUT!!! No more air-leak and no more fat-leak! She is very ready for a steak dinner, but Dr. Seligson advised her to take it slow. She can't wait for that filet at the boat. She said it feels so good!

She met with the oncologist, Dr. Stephenson, on Monday and discussed her treatment plan. Unfortunately, it wasn't as she expected. Originally, she was being told that it would be eight weeks. Somewhere along the line it has doubled. She also wanted to do some traveling before she started to feel bad again. Dr. Stephenson advised her against that. He said that the longer she waits to start treatment, the effectiveness decreases. He said that without treatment, she has a 50/50 chance of recurrence. With chemo, there is a 10-15% increase in her favor, making that a 60-65% chance that it will not come back. She thought about it a lot over the last month and is willing to take those odds.

They are going to use two different chemo drugs during her treatment. The first one is Cisplatin (the Lance Armstrong chemo drug). This one will take the longest to infuse, approximately 6-7 hours one time every four weeks. The second is Navelbine. She will get this one weekly with these infusions lasting for 1-2 hours. Dr. Stephenson informed us really well about these drugs and made her feel very comfortable with his plan for her. She is now taking applications for drivers for chemo days on the days that we are working.

She's really hoping the rain will let up soon. She's ready to get out to the golf course for some putting practice before it gets too hot. =-) Thank you all again for your continued thoughts and prayers. We are so grateful and extremely blessed to be surrounded by such caring wonderful people.