Pet scan results show cancer in all of these locations: skull, cervical neck and entire spine (all vertebrae), both shoulder blades, chest lymph nodes, right ribs, a lot in her liver and also a lot in her hips and pelvis. Yes, this type of cancer does unfortunately mestastasize to the brain faster than other cancers.
We needed to know if it was breast cancer or melanoma metastasis. Liver biopsy came back showing it is indeed metastatic HER2+ breast cancer.
Liver enzymes (blood test) are elevated, but she is still a candidate for chemotherapy. Many of us children believed she would likely not choose chemo beacuse of her past experience with it and the poor quality of life she experienced while on treatment. Doctor Rich has explained that it isn't as intense as last time, so Mom has decided to start chemo. Her first treatment is tomorrow morning. Pray that she dosen't get as awful sick as she has before.
These same liver enzymes, along with tumor marker tests will be repeated throughout chemo treatments. If they improve, chemo is working. If the lab results don't change or worsen, chemo is not effective and the cancer is taking over.
For now, this will be a week by week (or maybe a minute by minute) process. We will support Mom in whatever treatment she wants to try or chooses not to have. Doctor Garner said it best when he described his definition of "fighting" this awful illness: "Fighting does not necessarily mean you have to choose every difficult form of medical treatment. You can choose to fight for one more family trip, a better relationship with a family member, or to be strong enough to make breakfast in the morning. You get to choose your fight."
Our goal is to help Mom fight this battle by looking toward whatever current goal she has in mind. It's bucket list time!
Doctor Rich says with chemotherapy treatment, his patients live anywhere from nine months to four years. "Pray for a miracle and even more so, for peace with His decision."
No comments:
Post a Comment