Things are going well over all. Lori is more tired than usual, but she is able to rest whenever she needs to rest, so that is good. Her pain is mild while the hydrocodon keeps on doing its thing. Other than soreness and some extra fatigue, she isn’t showing any other symptoms from the Taxol. We try to take a short walk every night just to keep her active, and she is typically able to accomplish that without too much trouble. Continue reading

Everything went well today. We left Lafayette for Indy at 1045, and we arrived at 1200 for a 1230 appointment. In the lobby, they have puzzles set out for patients awaiting their appointment times, and Lori and I crushed one puzzle (smallish one), started another, and found 11 missing pieces from the first puzzle mixed into the second puzzle’s box! So needless to say, we were feeling pretty proud of ourselves. They say pride comes before the fall, but we just kept on whipping those puzzles. Continue reading

We really don’t have a lot of news since Thursday. We’re gearing up for Lori’s first day of chemotherapy on Monday at noon. A decision on long-term care options and living arrangements is yet to come. Those decisions depend on how she responds to treatment and whether or not the HER2 test is positive. Continue reading

Typing on cell. This will be very brief. News was as expected, and we are certain Dr S is perfect for us. Biopsy results not all in. They ruled out 1 of the 3 types of breast cancer (ER). The HER2 test is still pending. If it’s not HER2, then it defaults to being triple negative. Either way, the treatment begins the same way with Taxol chemotherapy. She starts that on Monday. Avg life span of a person in her condition is 3 years but we already knew that her time belongs to God no matter how long that is. Continue reading

Dr. Schneider called tonight and told us that only some of the biopsy data has been processed. He didn’t specify what that data was. He asked us to meet him at 8:00 am tomorrow (Thursday) to start planning the way ahead based on what we have. His first patient appointment is at 8:45 am, so he is setting aside 8:00 for us out of his generosity. If we hadn’t had this connection, I’m sure we’d have had to wait until at least next Monday to see him. Continue reading

Today, I spoke to a very close friend of mine on the phone. He called from overseas where he is deployed with many others from my community. He told me that they have been working 80 hour weeks sustained. When his commander heard about Lori (He does not know Lori or me), apparently he sent everyone home early in an effort to remind everyone to focus on those things which are truly most important.
I can assure you that their work at that deployed location is very important! I told that story to Lori and my family, and everyone feels very deeply blessed by it. If that commander reads this, we thank you. Continue reading

My dad works as a pastor and he performed the wedding ceremony for a couple in his church, the man of which works as a cancer researcher at the IU Cancer Clinic in Indianapolis. When this all kicked off, dad called him and asked his opinion on best options. He highly recommended Dr Schneider (his boss I think), and he took the initiative to call Dr S. on our behalf. The day after we found out about the cancer, we had the brain scan done. While we were awaiting the results of the scan, Dr S. personally took the time to call my phone, and he asked to speak with Lori. Continue reading

I’m on my cell phone typing this. I just spent 30 minutes doing a full write-up but the page refreshed and I lost it all!!!!! I’m not doing that again, so I’ll summarize now and expand later on a laptop bc it’s a good story. Bottom line, biopsy not ready until tomorrow (Wednesday). Dr Schneider in Indy is tracking it and has been in touch. He’s ready to see us as soon as it’s ready. The dr is encouraging and I feel good about the timeline. Details later

We got the bone scan results back. Overall, it’s good news as far as we can tell. Without the biopsy results (they did not come in today) we still don’t know the specific type of cancer. The bone scan did confirm the spots on both femurs. They are also on the Humerus (both arms)…would that be humeri? They appear to by lytic, essentially meaning it is bone loss, not calcified pieces attached to the bone. The good news is that the loss is not severe and the Drs are comfortable discharging Lori tonight. Continue reading

Tonight, Lori had all of her IVs removed and she rested very comfortably using only oral pain relievers. Potassium was low due to the fluid flushing of the hydration IVs, and unfortunately, the latest tests revealed that those levels are still a bit low. So, she had to have the IV re-installed to get some more potassium flowing. Continue reading