Step By Step
How many points for pulling out an old school NKOTB reference? And then how many for saying 'NKOTB' instead of spelling it out like an English major? What's that? You want me to earn bonus points for blathering on about bad (read: AWESOME) 80s music in a post that's really all about my mom's cancer?Okay. If you insist :)
It's helped me a lot to break down the whole cancer thing into steps, and to think about it in those compartments complete with neat little milestones. What can I say, it's the project manager in me. Phase One was Finding Out. Phase Two was Surgeries.
And as of today, Phase Two of this crazy cancer journey with my mom is officially complete. There will be no more surgeries, and she's handling her recovery from this last one really well. She might not think so, but I do. There's still a long way to go in order for her incision to heal, her shoulder to start working again, and her energy to come back. But it's OVER. And the results came back today.
I think she'll be okay with me sharing that the eleven lymph nodes they removed last week were not all cancer-free. One had cancerous cells, and one had a tiny little tumour growing inside of it. THANK GOD her surgeon had the wisdom to remove them all, instead of calling it quits after the last surgery and counting on chemo and radiation to take care of the rest. The results don't really mean much, they just confirm that the cancer is at the stage they thought it was at, and now they can finalize a treatment plan - Phase Three and Phase Four.
She'll meet with her oncologist on June 5 to find out The Plan. And then we'll begin Phase Three: four to six rounds of chemo, spaced two weeks apart, beginning as soon as possible. After that comes Phase Four: a to-be-determined schedule of radiation (that typically lasts four to six weeks).
If you're doing the math the way I'm doing the math, that means that there's still a *chance* my mom will be cancer-free and finished treatments by the time she becomes a grandma. Wouldn't that be amazing? She'll be tired and still suffering from the effects of the treatments, but she'll be there and she'll be in Phase Five (my favourite step!): The Cancer-Free Rest Of Her Life.
We're going to throw one heck of a party. I'll bring the music... ;)
Labels: Family, The C Word
posted by Lindsay @ 5:22 PM
8 Comments:
You totally get lots of points for the great 80's music references. (You should come sing that song with me when I get my Singstar!)
I'm so happy that the wisdom was there to do this surgery and that she can now move forward towards her cancer free life : ) Yay!
Love the processing...sooooo glad your Mom is doing well and on the road to recovery. This isn't easy.
Thanks Lindsay for keeping us updated. We plan to be there to celebrate when it's done. In the meanwhile, here's praying for her. Pearl
Marilyn says it like it is
We do the cheering.Sherri does the work(and Ron)Its great to be cheering her on and the prayers continue.Time will bring the healing and we continue to bear her up before the One who loves her more than we do.,for the healing. Thanks Lindsay for setting it up in stages---makes it all more possible.Love you.Eva
praying for phase five to come quicker than expected.
I'm so happy to hear that your mom is on the way to being totally cancer-free! I'll keep on praying. :)
Cheers to Phase 5!
also praying for step 5 to come super fast!
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