Weather Related Delays

Emily is healing nicely from her surgery.  Thankfully, she did not have as difficult a time recovering as her doctor predicted.  Her pathology reports have been delayed by the weather so we don't have anything new to report at this time.  Merry Christmas to all!

Cutting Edge Research

Emily is out of surgery. The doctor was a bit surprised by what she found during the procedure. The affected lymph nodes had all matted together and were much deeper into the tissue than they were expecting. However, the tissue around the nodes looked pristine and she was able to preserve all of the nerves in the area so Emily should regain full use of her right arm. She does have a 40% chance of developing lymphadema, which causes swelling and pain in the arm, and the recovery from this surgery might be rough because they had to go so deep to remove the tissue.

Speaking of tissue, apparently they did not have enough of a tissue sample to send to the drug resistance lab after the biopsy so her surgeon made sure to prepare a proper sample this time around. The technology around these tests is brand new and cutting edge. It wasn't even available last year when Em started this whole process. The doctors on the Tumor Board are split down the middle on whether Em should have chemo, radiation or both, but they are going to do the drug sensitivity testing anyway, just in case. The doctor in Boston is an Oncologist who specializes in hard to treat cancers and we have not yet heard her opinion. Fortunately, now that Em has had surgery, nothing else can be done for at least four weeks while she recovers.

We wish you a speedy recovery Em!

The Sixth Time is the Charm

Emily is going in for surgery on Thursday morning to remove her affected lymph nodes.  This will be her sixth surgery in just over a year and hopefully this one will do the trick.  No decisions have been made regarding chemo or radiation, but she is ready to get the cancerous nodes out of her body.

Information Overload

It has been a busy week for Emily with multiple doctor visits and lots of hard decisions to make.  She has been to a medical oncologist, a radiation oncologist, her surgeon, her plastic surgeon, a naturopath and back to the body imaging clinic for more tests.  At this time, she has not made any decisions about the next step in her care.  She is waiting for two things before she can move forward.  Her surgeon has sent all of her medical records, test results and scans to a Triple Negative cancer specialist in Boston to get a second opinion on treatment, which we hope will happen next week.  We are also waiting for the test results from the drug resistance sample that was sent in last week.  At that point, she should have everything she needs to make the most informed choice.  She says that it is hard to do because every doctor that she sees makes a good case for their personal specialty. Em, we hope you achieve medical clarity with ease this week!

Test Results

Emily's PET scan and MRI came back clear.  The cancer cells seem to be confined to the lymph nodes in her armpit and it looks like they are the same type of cells as before.  Since her cancer seems to be biologically resistant to chemo, they are sending some of her tissue to a company that tests for drug resistance.  This will help them identify what drugs, if any, would have the best chance of killing this thing. In the meantime, her doctor is recommending surgery to remove the affected nodes, followed by radiation.  It doesn't look like chemo is going to be involved this time around, which is great.  Emily is planning to meet with several different doctors and specialists and research any and all treatment options available so she can make an informed decision about how to proceed.

Chapter Three

I have been planning to write a final blog post that would sum up the year that Emily has endured, complete with an optimistic view of the future.  Unfortunately, instead of closing the book on cancer, we have just started chapter three.  Last week, Em went to her oncologist for a routine 3 month follow up appointment and her doctor felt an unusually large lymph node in her armpit.  She went immediately in for an ultrasound and biopsy and was told that there were 3 nodes that were large and misshapen.  The biopsy report came back today and, once again, it is cancer.  So far that is all of the information that we have.  She goes in for yet another full body scan on Thursday morning and will hopefully have the results by the end of the week.

The nightmare continues.

Good health

Emily has been home from Hippocrates for nearly two weeks and has jumped back into real life with surprising ease.  She is back to work full time, exercising and eating a mostly raw and vegan diet.  She and my dad have been working hard setting up a wheatgrass grow operation in their kitchen and they are juicing together and making vegetable smoothies.  She is cheerful and full of hope for the future.  

When she first arrived at Hippocrates, they did a blood test and then repeated it the day before she went home.  There was a huge change in her blood composition in the three weeks that she spent working on her health.  Her red blood cells were all clumped together initially, which is a common side effect of chemo.  When she left, both her red and white blood cells were separated and plump and moving around easily.  She lowered the amount of yeast and sugar in her bloodstream dramatically, which is good news because cancer feeds on sugar.  Her cholesterol was way down and she lost 10 lbs!!  What a difference.  :)  

As far as she is concerned, cancer is behind her.  Her next surgery is scheduled for October 30th and she is only supposed to be down for a couple of days.  I won't be blogging until her next surgery because there is not much more to say!  Congratulations, Em - we are glad that you are cancer free and healthy as a horse!!

Nature Bites!

Recently, Emily made it clear that she does not care for Florida. The heat, the humidity, the wildlife and the smell just aren't for her. Unfortunately, Florida doesn't care much for her, either! The mosquitoes have taken quite an interest in her freshly detoxed Oregon blood and she is covered in bites. Her bites soon had big red rings around them and it was determined to be some sort of allergic reaction. Since only natural treatments are approved at the Institute, they told her to treat the bites with olive oil and garlic. For days, she wandered around smelling like an Italian restaurant, with grease stains all over her clothes. Late last week she thought she had a new mosquito bite on her elbow, but then it swelled up to the size of a golf ball. This turned out to be a spider bite and they almost had to send her to the hospital for a shot! Luckily the swelling went down after she treated it with Tea Tree oil. The aeriel assault of her body continued when she was stung by a bee and, adding insult to injury, she was pooped on by a passing bird! Just when she thought all of the toxins were out of her body, nature strikes back.


Not to be outdone, the Atlantic Ocean also took its best shot. On a little weekend outing to the beach, she had this experience. "I was having a great time, swimming around in waste deep water, riding out the little waves. Then an enormous, surprise wave hit me from behind, knocked me off my feet and sent me face first into the sand and held me down. I couldn't get my feet under me and couldn't swim up. While I was struggling, the stupid current ripped off my hat, sunglasses, and bathing suit bottoms! I had to make a choice which to save and chose my bathing suit, so my hat and sunglasses are lost and gone forever. I finally righted myself, choking and sputtering, and promptly dragged myself out of the ocean, never to return."


Emily's epic battle with nature will continue throughout this week but she will be heading home on Saturday morning. Let's hope she can stave off any more attacks from Florida for the next couple of days!

Time Management

I've had quite a few inquiries about what else Em is doing at the Hippocrates Institute, besides learning about a raw food diet. She says she is busy from 7 am until 7 pm with treatments, seminars and lectures. She sent me a list of the different treatments she has tried or plans to try before she leaves so I thought I'd post it for those who are interested. Some of them sound a little out there, but if they work and she is cancer free for a lifetime, it is totally worth the time!

H-Wave Therapy - Induces dynamic muscle contractions to increase blood flow and lymph drainage

Viofor - Electromagnetic stimulation to speed up the bodies natural healing processes

Theragem - Uses a blend of wave frequency, color, light and crystalline energy to rebalance the body (they use actual gemstones... my last one was with rubies and emeralds!)

Ondamed - Biofeedback device that finds modulated electromagnetic frequencies to encourage a return to homeostasis

Infrared Therapy while on Oxygen - Slowly heats the body above 98.6 degrees to stimulate immune system & improve metabolic function. Done while breathing pure oxygen (Oxygen depleted cells are a big factor in cancer, so a lot of my therapies are done while breathing pure oxygen to re-oxygenate my body)

Aqua Chi Detox w/ Lymph Drainage while on Oxygen - I don't have a brochure on this one, but basically I lay on a bed that jiggles me around to stimulate my lymph system, then I soak my feet in a tub that has some sort of machine in it that creates a pulse that helps pulls toxins out of my feet. The water changes colors depending on what areas of the body are being drained. My tub water went crazy, changing colors every couple minutes. The girl next to me who has very advanced cancer and is very sick, had hardly any color changes at all. Apparently my body is very happy to release it's yucky stuff!

Massage, Reiki, Colonics, Breathing exercises, Oriental Health exercises & Chi Gong (which is similar to Tai Chi) are a couple other things I have done/plan to do.

I'm also doing vitamin and mineral therapies... I don't think an explanation is required there!

I've asked Em to send a list of some of the different lectures she has been to as well. I think the whole program is fascinating!

In Her Own Words

We got an email from Emily this morning. Here is what she has to say about her stay at the Hippocrates Institute so far.

Things are going well. We had a ton of rain yesterday but today is blue sky and sunny. It is probably the calm before the storm, though. Next week is supposed to get nasty. They expect Ike to hit here on Tuesday... but who knows what will happen between now and then. Things can always change. The institute is well equipped for hurricanes so they have told us not to worry. They have generators and everything so we keep going, business as usual, regardless of the weather.

Physically & emotionally I am doing great, aside from the mosquito bites (I had 53 upon last count) and the lovely detox rash I am sporting. I had the doctor look at my rash to make sure it wasn't West Nile Virus. He laughed and told me I watch too much TV. Detox rashes are common because your skin is your body's largest organ and you release a lot of toxins through your pores. Everybody else has had bad detox symptoms like headaches, muscle aches, extreme fatigue... but I have been fine except for the rash, which they assure me will go away by next week.

The food is growing on me. They are 98% raw here, which at first was hard to get used to. They said after a week or so your palette changes and you start to really enjoy the food. The first couple days I was like "yeah right... give me some cooked stuff!", but last night they served cooked asparagus and I couldn't eat it. It looked floppy and weird and tasted gross and I actually missed the raw asparagus we usually have. We had 100% raw, vegan pizza last night, too and it was delicious! I got the recipe so I will make it for us when I get home. The one thing that is NOT growing on me so far is the juice. We have green juice 3 times a day, and wheatgrass juice twice a day. The wheatgrass juice is good, and I fully intend to continue that at home. The green juice on the other hand.... yuck. I literally have to choke it down. I'm not sure what veggies they put in it, but I can't stand it. We'll see if that changes over the next two weeks, but somehow I doubt it.

My little group of friends and I took our first trip off campus yesterday and went to the beach. We managed to hit it just right in between rain storms, so it was perfect because it wasn't so bloody hot and the storms have stirred up some good waves. After the beach we stopped at KMart to pick up a few things, and holy cow... temptation galore! Everywhere we looked there were chips and candy and cookies.... the real world is a scary place!! We were all starving because it was right before dinner but we managed to make it out without any indiscretions. It really made us realize how much of a challenge it is going to be to maintain this lifestyle once we are away from the cocoon of the institute.

We are glad to hear that you are safe and sound, Em. Keep us updated when you can!

Healthy Living

This weekend Emily embarked on potentially the most critical part of her cancer recovery. She enrolled in a program at the Hippocrates Institute in Florida that focuses on detoxifying the body and making choices that promote healthy living. It is a 3 week program that teaches nutrition with an enzyme rich and organically grown diet that is primarily vegan. They also learn the benefits of juicing and using the powers of wheatgrass. There is massage available and exercise classes, among many other homeopathic treatments. More information on the center can be found at http://www.hippocratesinst.org/ for those of you who are looking for more details.

Emily chose this center after reading the book "Crazy Sexy Cancer" by Kris Carr. She had an inoperable form of cancer and tried any and all forms of treatment. The one thing that completely stopped the rapid spread of her cancer was her trip to Hippocrates. Technically Emily is cancer free, but she wants to create an environment in her body where cancer cannot grow again. Hopefully this route will prove successful for her!

We talked to her on Sunday and she was all settled in at the Institute. Unfortunately, Hurricane Hannah is bearing down on them so she says it is incredibly windy and so humid that it feels like a jungle. Hurricane Gustav isn't helping matters either. :) Despite the weather, we hope this will be a life affirming and invigorating experience for her and we can't wait to hear (and hopefully benefit from) all of the things she will learn in the next 3 weeks. Enjoy yourself, Em! We miss you already.

The Road to Recovery

After weeks of medical drama, things are finally starting to wind down for Emily. The leaking of the chemo into her tissue has caused complications with the healing process from the port removal surgery. As it turns out, there was some serious tissue necrosis around her port and after the surgery, her incision reopened. Now she has a perfectly round hole in the middle of her incision that is completely void of any tissue - it was dissolved by the chemo. It looks like she was stabbed with a pen! You can actually see all the way down to her muscle. Apparently the wound will heal, though much more slowly and much uglier than planned. Her plastic surgeon will have to do additional surgery on the affected area to remove all of the scar tissue that will fill the hole in the coming months, then he will sew it all up to create a less vivid scar.

One good thing to come out of all of this chaos is that Emily is now done with chemo. Wahoo!!!! That is the best news she could have received! Now she just has to get through a couple more surgeries and then we can finally put this all behind us. Keep your fingers crossed!

Relay for Life Pictures

The Relay for Life was a huge success! Dad managed to stay the entire 24 hours, arriving at 10 am on Saturday and leaving after 10 am on Sunday. His relay shift was from midnight until 5 am and he estimates that he walked at least 13 miles during that time. He also raised $851 for the American Cancer Society. Way to go, Dad! Special thanks goes out to Cemex for sponsoring the team - this was an emotional and inspirational day for our family.

Bye Bye Port

Emily is out of surgery and things went well. They didn't actually start her procedure until after 4:00 so she spent most of today hungry and bored in her hospital room. Her surgeon told us that she did find an infection around her port and wished she had done the surgery on Sunday. Either way, the port is out and we can begin moving forward again. She gets a week to recover before she has her next chemo appointment, which puts her one week behind her original schedule.

Speedy recovery, Em!

Surgery Required

Emily went back to her surgeon this morning for a checkup. The swelling and irritation had been getting progressively worse since Sunday and she was supposed to have chemo Thursday morning. Her surgeon took another look and was concerned that the condition seemed to be worsening, so she decided to do an ultrasound. The ultrasound showed that she has something called Thrombophlebitis, which means she has a blood clot in her vein and the vein is swollen and irritated. Right now, it is not dangerous to her, but if not treated could cause some real problems. So instead of having chemo tomorrow, she is having surgery! They will be removing her port tomorrow (Thursday) at 2 pm. She is thrilled to be getting the port out of her body, especially since it has caused so many problems thus far.

Regarding the last two rounds of chemo, we don't know exactly what will happen. After surgery, the doctors will determine if and when she can continue. They will have to administer it through a vein in her arm or hand from here on out. I will post a surgery update late tomorrow afternoon.

Unexpected Setback

We've all seen the medical dramas on TV where the patient comes in with a mysterious ailment and all of the staff work together to figure out the problem and decide on the appropriate treatment. This week, Emily had a vastly different experience in which she was met with apathy and a C.Y.A. approach to medicine. Let me start at the beginning....

On Thursday, Emily had some discomfort around the port that is used to administer her chemo drugs. The port is implanted in her chest about 3 inches below her collar bone and is attached to a catheter which is threaded through a vein. The area around the port was sore and tender with an area of skin about the size of a postage stamp that was bright red and inflamed. Suspecting an infection, she immediately she called her oncologist and was told to come in right away. The doctor looked at it and could not identify the problem so he called in his nurse and asked her (?) and she didn't know either, but they both agreed it did not look like an infection. They decided to order a "dye study" in which dye in injected into the port and an x-ray is taken in order to determine if the port could be leaking. They prepped her for the dye study and prepared to send her down to radiology for the x-ray. As soon as they had her all prepped, which entails inserting a 1 inch needle connected to a long tube into her chest, they notified her that no one was available in radiology, and since it wasn't an emergency, she would have to come back in the morning. They decided to leave the needle in her chest and simply taped her up and sent her home. So, she had to leave the hospital with a mysterious, painful infection AND a needle and tubing sticking out of her chest.

She went back in on Friday to finish the test and it was determined that her port was not leaking. The doctor said he still didn't think it was an infection, but since he couldn't come up with another explanation, decided to put her on antibiotics anyway. Meanwhile, the affected area was getting redder, more swollen and more tender by the minute and had doubled in size. His lack of desire to get to the root of the problem really concerned us all, but Emily dutifully took her antibiotic and hoped for the best.

By Saturday morning, the postage stamp sized redness had grown to the size of a baseball and was swollen at least an inch above the rest of her skin and extremely painful. Since she wasn't getting much help from her oncologist and his team, she decided to call her surgeon at home to see if she could help. That was the best decision she could have made. Her surgeon immediately recognized the symptoms as being the result of extravasation, which is a fancy way to say that the chemo drugs had, in fact, leaked outside of her port and into her chest.

Though her surgeon suspected extravasation immediately, she wanted to run some tests to rule out infection once and for all, so Em and our parents spent most of Saturday at the hospital. Why her oncologist didn't run these tests before arbitrarily prescribing antibiotics, we'll never know. The results of the tests won't be in until Monday, but her surgeon asked her to come back in Sunday morning so she could take a look at the area and see if the redness and swelling had spread. Had it shown signs of spreading, they were going to go straight to the Operating Room and remove her port. Luckily, it did not spread overnight, and her surgeon concluded that it was, in fact, extravasation.

Extravasation is typically caused by a break in sterile technique, not a leaky port. So in other words, the nurse that gave Em her chemo last week didn't follow proper protocol when administering the drugs and caused Emily a pretty serious injury. There are two things that can happen when chemo leaks into the tissue and it all depends on what type of drug is involved. With certain drugs, it causes severe tissue necrosis (tissue death), whereas with others, it simply causes terrible irritation of the skin and underlying tissue that can take weeks to dissipate. Fortunately, Emily is not on the drugs that cause instant tissue death. Unfortunately, she will have to endure the horrible pain for quite a while.

Needless to say, she had decided to leave her current oncologist.

Her surgeon is setting her up with a new oncologist at a new clinic that is closer to home. Hopefully she will have more luck with these folks! Em, I know this has been a painful and stressful weekend for you and I hope that you feel better soon!

Relay For Life

Our dad is participating in an event called Relay for Life, which is being held in Vancouver on July 26th. It is a 24 hour event in which teams of people gather and takes turns walking or running laps to raise money for the American Cancer Society. According to their website, the events are held overnight to represent the fact that cancer never sleeps. My dad's company, Cemex USA, has put together a team and my dad is planning to be there for the full 24 hour walk.

If you would like to contribute to this worthy cause, please click this link to be directed to John Porter's personal web page for the Relay for Life.

http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RelayForLifeGreatWestDivision?pg=personal&fr_id=6369&fr_id=6369&px=7385362&JServSessionIdr009=d33w4vgm01.app315a

Good luck on your fundraising effort, Dad! We are all rooting for you. :)

Her Best Friend's Wedding

Emily embarked on her first major outing since last fall. Her friend Angie was getting married in Utah and she was going to make it to that wedding no matter what. When she first found out she was going to have to start chemo all over again, she mapped out her treatment schedule. She wanted to make sure that on the weekend of July 4th, she would be feeling good enough to travel. Armed with this information, she chose her start date. Sure enough, she was on the upswing and felt fine for the trip. She was gone for less than 48 hours and she was exhausted when she got home, but it was worth every minute to be with her best friend on her wedding day. Congratulations, Angie and Dave! Best wishes for a long and happy life together!

It was right back to reality this week, however. Emily had her 4th chemo treatment and she commented that this one has hit her harder than the first three. Hopefully by Wednesday she will be feeling normal again so she can get back to work with ease. Two more treatments to go!

Acupuncture and Accessories

Emily has taken a new naturopathic course in her cancer recovery. She visited an acupuncturist last week and had a treatment that has really helped her feel better physically and mentally. They put three pins in her wrists and ankles and one in the middle of her forehead. The acupuncturist said that some people start to feel relaxed right away but Em was too concerned about the reality of having needles sticking out of her body to relax immediately. By that evening, she was bright and cheerful and feeling good. They also gave her suggestions on supplements to take that would ease some of her other woes. Among other things, they suggested drinking about 4 cups of green tea each day. She has been following all of the recommendations and really notices a difference in how she feels.

Another bit of good news comes in the form of vanity. Emily's hair is starting to grow back! She even had enough hair to clip in one of our beautiful barrettes. It took a few tries but she managed to get it in her hair to stay. Unfortunately, when she tried to unclip it, she lost one of her precious new hairs! The doctors told her that there was a possibility she wouldn't lose her hair with this new chemo drug and so far, that seems to be the case. Let's all cross our fingers that her beautiful hair continues to grow and flourish!

Thursday marks her third chemo treatment, leaving only three more to go. Once again, we find ourselves at the halfway point. Yay!

A little bit of normalcy

Emily has decided to go back to work! Her company is allowing her to work 15 hours per week so she can get back into the swing of things during this round of chemo. She will take 6 days to recuperate from her treatment, then work 3 days, have the weekend off and work another 3 days before she has another round. It seems like a very reasonable schedule to jump back into her regular routine. Monday was her first day back and things went smoothly, though she felt unbearably tired when she got home.

The side effects of this particular regimen are a little different than the first time but no matter how we look at it, it still sucks. She describes the feeling as more flu-like this time around, with nausea, fatigue and body aches. She finds that she feels nearly normal a week after treatment. Her next treatment is Thursday and she will be 2 down and 4 to go!

Round Two!

Emily has had a few weeks to recover from surgery and she starts chemo again on Thursday morning. She made the decision to switch to a new oncologist for this round and this guy is rumored to be the top oncologist in this area for breast cancer. He has recommended a chemo regimen of Gem-Carbo, which is considered the "gold standard" for triple negative cancer. She will have 6 treatments, one every two weeks. Supposedly, the side effects of this drug combination are not as bad and definitely not as toxic to her vital organs. Let's hope this round is less debilitating than the last!

Team Emily

Kathryn and Jocelyn show their support for Aunt Emily by wearing their new Team Emily t-shirts. Special thanks to Kris and Cassie at Shiftwise for designing them!

Blog Blackout

To start off, I’d like to apologize for the lack of blogging since Em’s surgery. I know many of you are curious about her well being and our up to the minute news source has been in a blackout. Or I’ve just been too busy to blog. Or lazy – maybe that’s the real reason….

Ahem – I digress. Again.

Things are finally looking up for our surgery patient. The first week was pretty horrible because of the pain AND the painkillers. They prescribed Oxycodone for her again, which works but has the unfortunate side effects of headaches and itchiness. To combat that, she was to take Benadryl. The combination of the two caused unbelievable drowsiness and coma-like sleep. She managed to wean herself off of the Oxy after less than a week, which is pretty impressive, considering the scope of her surgery. She was feeling better day by day until she popped an internal stitch last Tuesday. That caused her some excruciating pain for a couple of days and now she is a little hesitant to move too quickly. Realistically, that is the best course of action anyway.

Her pathology results came back with good news. All of the tissue they tested came back clear, with the exception of the new lump that caused all of this chaos. The doctor thinks it was a satellite tumor that was related to the original one and it looks like that was all there were.

She will be starting chemo again at the end of May, but it is still undetermined what type of chemo they will administer. Once again, the doctors are reviewing her case at Tumor Board to come up with the best course of treatment. Her oncologist will let her know soon what the consensus is for her next round of chemo. Emily has been researching the Triple Negative cancer online and it seems that the current treatment is the same as the one used for lung cancer. I had no idea that there were so many different types of chemotherapy!

That is all for now. I hope to have more information soon.

Freedom

After just over 24 hours in the hospital, Emily has been released! She is resting (uncomfortably, I'm afraid) back at home. She is pretty stiff and sore but she can get up and walk around when she wants to. Hopefully her recovery at home will be much more comfortable and FAST!

Out of surgery

Emily's is out of surgery and in recovery. The surgeon said that everything went smoothly and there were no surprises. Both doctors said that it couldn't have been more routine. Whew! Once Emily wakes up from the anesthesia, her release from the hospital depends upon her pain level. As soon as she is able to get off of the IV pain medication and can start taking her prescription drugs, she can go home. The doctors think it will be Saturday afternoon or Sunday for her release.

1:00 start

Emily's surgery started right on time! Miraculously, she didn't get delayed or bumped at all. Hopefully that will be the start of lots more good news for her today. Keep those fingers crossed and those prayers coming! :)

Surgery day

All systems are go for Emily's surgery today. She checks in to the hospital at 11:00 and her surgery is scheduled for 1:00. Hopefully she won't get bumped or delayed in any way. Her surgeon says that the surgery should take around 3 hours, but I don't think that includes any of the prep time needed for anesthesia and stuff. I will update the blog as I get information.

Rescheduled

The new surgery date is Friday, April 25th at 1:00.

Surgery Postponed

The common cold has more power than we had imagined. Because Emily has a cold today, they cannot do her surgery on Friday. Bummer. She made it 4 months without getting sick, even when she was down and out on chemo. Now she is 4 days away from surgery and she is struck down by a cold. What timing! I'll keep the blog updated as we find out when she gets rescheduled.

Blame it on the rain

In the past two weeks, I have been desperately searching for answers. There are so many questions rolling around in my mind. How can cancer continue to grow during chemo? Why Emily? Who can I blame for this mess? The answers hold little comfort, yet I continue to ask the questions.

Emily's surgeon did shed some light on my main concern. Was this new tumor missed in the first round of scans or did it just sprout fresh sometime in the past 3 months? Chances are, it was there all along. Because Emily is so young, her breast tissue is very dense and at the time of her original body scans, the tumor was indefinable. The doctors can only work with what they can see on the scans, so there is no one at fault for missing this little devil. Rats - I really wanted to sue someone!

How can the cancer continue to grow and spread during chemo? Unfortunately, chemo cannot kill a tumor that has already formed. It works only on cancer cells at a microscopic level. Once they create a tumor, the only thing that can even attempt to shrink or eliminate it is radiation. Bummer. Alas, this new information leads me to the conclusion that I have to stop searching for a culprit to blame and start focusing my energy into something more positive.

The little silver lining on the dark cloud of breast cancer is that Emily no longer has to have radiation therapy, according to the panel of experts who reviewed her case. We are relieved to hear that piece of happy news because Emily has such sensitive skin that we though radiation might be really unpleasant for her. We will take all the good news we can get!

The next steps in the process are surgery on Friday the 18th (yep, it got bumped by a day already), a month or so of healing time, then another 12 weeks of chemo. Please keep good thoughts and prayers coming her way this week, especially on Friday!

Great job, Cam!

It was a cold and nasty day up on Mt. Bachelor on Saturday but Cameron braved the elements and skied the whole day with the Riders for the Cure. He raised $1000 and was the 4th highest fundraiser at the event. Because of the value of his pledges, he also took home some great prizes like a white water rafting trip for 2, new ski goggles and backpack, a Zumiez gift card, and some other hats and t-shirts! The event raised $12,500 and despite the weather, it was well worth the effort. Thanks for participating in Emily's honor, Cameron. We are all so proud of you and love that you have such a generous spirit and kind heart. A big thank you also goes out to our family and friends who contributed to this worthy cause. Your financial support helped make this even more meaningful.

A beautiful brain

The full body scan came back clear. There is no evidence of cancer anywhere else in Em's body, just the newest little lump. It measures approximately 1 cm, which is about the size of a marble. Her first tumor was just over 2 cm so this new one is a fast growing and resistant little sucker. She had an MRI yesterday along with the full body scan and the surgeon told her she had a beautiful brain. What a compliment!

She is scheduled for surgery on April 17th, though the full extent of her surgery and subsequent treatment are still up in the air. Her doctors are presenting her case to a panel of experts next Thursday to determine the best course of action. In the meantime, she has scheduled consultations with various surgeons, oncologists and plastic surgeons. Her cancer is considered "triple negative" meaning it isn't estrogen fed, progesterone fed or HER-2 positive. This is a rare combination and very aggressive.

As if she needed a little more stress and upheaval, she has decided to move out of her apartment and up to Vancouver to live with our parents throughout the rest of the treatment period. All of these months without working and surprisingly huge medical bills made this decision a no-brainer. Ideally we will have her moved out before the surgery and she can recuperate in comfort at the purple palace.

We will post information as it presents itself. Thanks for continuing to keep her in your prayers!

Against all odds

Emily's cancer has returned.

She found a new lump right near her surgery scar last Friday morning. The doctor brought her right in for another mammogram, ultrasound and biopsy. The results were shocking to all of us, even the doctor. I guess it is rare (though not unheard of) to have cancer continue to spread during chemo. She is scheduled for another full body scan on Thursday to determine what type of cancer this one is and to make sure that there is no cancer elsewhere in her body. Once they get the results of the scan, they will schedule another surgery for her as quickly as possible.

Going forward, this means at least one or two more surgeries and then starting chemo all over again. Other than just these facts, all I have to offer is stunned silence. I can't believe she has to endure this again. Em, you know I love you and I'm heartbroken that this isn't the end of this nightmare.

Cameron Rides for the Cure!

This is Cameron.
OK, that was Cameron about 14 years ago, but I love that picture and finally I had an excuse to publish it! This is Cameron now.Em and I consider Cam to be our nephew, though that isn't technically correct. He is our cousin Holly's son but given our unusual gene pool, he might as well be our nephew. Yet, I digress....

On April 5th, Cameron is participating in Mt. Bachelor's Riders for the Cure, where he will be "Riding for Emily" and trying to raise money and awareness for the Sara Fisher Breast Cancer Project. Last year's top individual fundraiser brought in $1300 and we are trying to help Cameron top that amount. RFTC is what they call a "Jam Session" where skiers and snowboarders ride rails and do tricks in the half pipe and there are limbo contests and other fun activities up at the mountain. Everyone dresses in pink and can dedicate their ride to a particular person or just for the cause in general. Cam will be decked out in a pink shirt with pictures of Em all over it and (hopefully) a tricked out pink helmet. We will definitely post pictures of him looking his pinkest!

If you would like to sponsor Cam as he rides for Emily, please follow this link to my Uncle Earl's website where he has created a fast and easy way to pledge your support with PayPal, cash or check. Go to http://www.earlsphotos.com/ and click on the Riders for the Cure link!

We all appreciate your support and are cheering Cameron on in his fundraising effort!

Dramatic drop

Every time Em goes in for chemo, they test her blood and check her white and red blood cell counts. For the first time, her numbers were dramatically lower for both her white and red blood cells. The doctors advised her that she is dangerously susceptible to any illness or infection right now. She is supposed to stay away from public places and anyone who might be sick AND she cannot risk getting any sort of injury, even a hangnail! Her body may not be able to fight off anything right now. There is a shot that can be given to a chemo patient at this point that could boost her immunity, but according to her insurance, she is not sick enough to receive coverage of the cost. Had her blood counts been one point lower, she would qualify. Alas, she must hide away from the world for the next couple of weeks until they can check her blood again and qualify her for the shot!

Em completed her seventh treatment on Friday. One week of feeling bad, a week of feeling good (hopefully), and one more treatment before this chapter closes and the healing and rebuilding can begin. Keep your chin up, Em. We can finally see the finish line!

3/4 of the way there!

Nothing much new to report this week. Em did improve after around 9 days of feeling pretty crummy. She had her 6th treatment on Friday and is back to feeling the pain again, but we are hopeful that it will not be as bad or last as long this time around. She is armed with a bunch of new pain medications and the name of an acupuncturist who specializes in treating chemo patients. We've heard rumors that it really does the trick but can take a while to feel the effects. Em has such a dislike of needles (especially now) that she may not choose to take the alternative medicine route. We shall see.

Six down, two to go! The first Friday of April can't get here soon enough. :)

What a pain!

This has been one of the roughest weeks Emily has had since the beginning of this process. The chemo drugs that she was on for the first four treatments (the AC combination) will stay in her system for another two weeks, so they overlap with the new drug that she started last week (the Taxol). The combined effects have been nasty! The fatigue is dramatically worse than in previous weeks and the newest side effect is terrible pain in her joints and bones. Her femur bones ache, her hips and knees hurt, and she has pain in her toes and oddly enough, in her fingernail beds! The docs prescribed Oxycodone to ease her suffering (and possibly get her into a Hollywood rehab clinic) but it only works for about 2 hours. The discomfort keeps her from sleeping, even when she takes an Ambien. Yikes! According to her nurse, these symptoms should abate as the AC disappears from her system. Let's hope so!

Em, none of us can fully understand what your body is going through and how hard it must be to face each day with these yucky symptoms and side effects. Just know that we are all thinking of you and hoping that this too shall pass - hopefully sooner than later!

Cumulative effects

Chemo causes tiredness that sleep cannot erase. The doctors say that the effects are cumulative, so with each treatment she gets more and more exhausted. Emily will be sitting on the couch and chatting and suddenly she will slowly tip over and fall asleep. The best example of this fatigue is Em's recent description of the simple process of taking a shower. She can manage to complete the actual shower part, but has to sit down for a couple of minutes before even attempting to dry herself off. Once dry, she has to lie down on her bed for a rest period before getting dressed. Usually right after she gets dressed she falls asleep for approximately one hour. I guess it is a small blessing to not have any hair to dry or style during these days!

This week she started her new chemo drug called Taxol, which has some potentially scary effects during the first treatment. They have to deliver the drug very slowly into her system because whatever is in the drug cocktail can potentially trigger an allergic reaction and send the patient into anaphylactic shock. They pumped her full of Benadryl before they started to administer the Taxol and fortunately she did not have any reaction to the drugs. She also had to have her heart checked last week to make sure she had not sustained any heart damage during the first half of her chemo regimen. Those tests came back with good results and her heart continues to function normally.

The countdown continues - as of yesterday, Em completed her fifth treatment. Three more to go over the next 2 months. We are officially on the downhill slope!

Is nothing sacred?

It has been two weeks since my last post and Em has had her ups and downs. Literally. First, she spiked a fever, which is quite scary when you are a chemo patient. As long as your fever stays below 100.5, you are okay but once you hit that point, you must rush off to the emergency room, just in case. When her temp got up to 100.3, my dad fired up the heating pad and wrapped her in two dryer blankies. As all good Porters know, the heat treatment will fix anything! Fortunately the trip to the emergency room was averted and her fever slowly came down.

Her next crisis came during a fun afternoon outing with her lovely sister. :) She was feeling pretty good on Sunday afternoon and we trundled off to the movies together. After enjoying a good chick flick (27 Dresses, for those who are interested) and plenty of popcorn and candy, we stood up to exit the theater. The next thing we knew, she tripped and went rolling down the stairs! Fortunately for what was left of her pride, her wig and hat stayed firmly on her head, but she ended up sprawled out on the floor upside down, blocking the exit aisle. She managed to regain her composure (and her balance) but she has some nasty bruises to show for it. In the chemo literature that she received it does mention that the lack of red blood cells can cause severe lightheadedness and falling is actually very common. Bummer, huh? Especially in public!

A surprise highlight in her week came just today, when Jocelyn, Kathryn and I showed up for a visit. Em was getting ready to go to her chemo appointment and had not yet put on her hat. She put Jocelyn on her shoulders for a quick ride and got quite a surprise. Jocie could not resist leaning down and LICKING Em's bald head! We have attached some photos of the incident.

Being the good aunt that she is, Em just laughed and helped me search for a camera to capture the moment. It was truly an event to remember!

Today was her 4th chemo treatment and the last one of this particular drug combination. Starting two weeks from now she begins her Taxol treatment, which doesn't have nausea associated with it. Yipee! It will be interesting to see what fabulous new side effects it will have, however. She has reached the 1/2 way point! Way to go, Em!

Two Pokes in the Port

Back in December, Emily had surgery to place a port in her chest to more easily administer the chemo drugs. The port serves two functions. First, it eliminates the need to insert an IV in her arm each time she gets a treatment or needs fluids. Second, it is also used to draw blood since she has to have blood taken every time she has chemo. Seems like a good idea, right? For some reason, Em's port is malfunctioning and they have to try over and over again to get it to give blood. Thus, she must endure multiple pokes in the port. Our family members should get a kick out of this little play on words, since we have a yahoo group titled "A Poke in the Porterhouse."

We are learning more about the funky side effects from chemo as the days go on. Chemo directly affects the various "linings" in the body. For example, it can cause nasty heartburn because the lining of the stomach and esophagus becomes so sensitive. It also messes with the mouth and gums, wreaking havoc on dental hygiene. Those who know Emily know how fastidious she is about her teeth. This girl LOVES to brush her teeth and then to enjoy the minty freshness afterward. Enter chemo. She now has to use a lemon flavored toothpaste, which is far more gentle that the mint options, and she has been forced to relinquish her electric toothbrush for a small Dr. Seuss themed toothbrush for ages 2-8 with extra soft bristles. Hasn't she suffered enough? :)

As of today, she has had her third round of chemo. This week her red blood cell count should start dropping dramatically and she may start experiencing shortness of breath. This lasts through treatments three and four. She spent most of today feeling woozy and tired and she is hoping that she won't have any new symptoms this week. 3 treatments down, 5 to go!!

Buzz cut

It has been a full week since chemo treatment #2 and this week was far superior to the first round. Em tried hard to be more active in order to keep the drugs moving quickly through her system and it worked! Though she was still extremely tired, she felt better much sooner than last time. The week shapes up like this - on day one she feels amped up by all of the steroids. By day 3, all she wants to do is sleep and that last at least 2 or 3 days. Day 5 usually brings general body discomfort and random other symptoms. By day 7, she starts to feel pretty normal again.

As everyone knows, this was the week everyone said she would lose her hair. She was noticing minor hair loss on chemo day last week and it intensified as the weekend progressed. On Sunday she told us that her hair actually hurt her head and she decided to just get rid of it. Out came the shaver and my dad gave her a buzz cut. Oddly enough, she had just enough hair left to look quite a lot like my dad when he was a teenager! On Tuesday even that 1/2 inch of hair was bothersome so she shaved the rest of it. Now she is feeling much more comfortable but also much colder! Of course it doesn't help that the outside temperature this week isn't getting much above freezing. She is making use of her various hats to keep her newly vulnerable head warm and cozy. Unfortunately, Kate and Jocie seem to delight in pulling them off of her, but she handles that with laughter and playfulness.

All things considered, she is doing quite well now. She should enjoy the next 7 days of feeling like herself again and she rather likes not having to style her hair after a shower. I have been so impressed by how tough she is and how well she has handled herself through these events. The countdown continues - 2 down, 6 to go!

Biggest Little

Emily's friend Angie has a blog and she posted a very cute photo and a story about their friendship. You are a clever girl, Angie. You keep Emily (and the rest of us) laughing! Check it out at http://biggestlittle.blogspot.com/ - the title of the post is "I doubt it's serious" from 1-10-08.

Chemo Class

The services that are offered to those dealing with a cancer diagnosis and the treatments that follow are pretty amazing. They offer classes on a range of topics and various other support services that are all free. Today Emily and my mom attended a chemo class that they found very helpful. There were only three patients in the class (along with their support people) so there was a lot of personal attention by the oncology nurse who ran the seminar. She gave Emily some very specific advice on ways to shorten the duration of her chemo after effects. Apparently the continuous sleeping is NOT the way to go because it lengthens the time it takes the body to process all of the drugs. Instead she is supposed to get up every two hours during the day to walk around, have a little bit to eat and something to drink. Doing this should shorten her down time from 10 days to 3 or 4. What great news! She also learned about a fitness class that is offered to patients where they will tailor a workout specific to her needs and ability. They give her a heart monitor and have a nurse and a trainer standing by to help if necessary. Pretty cool, huh?

Upswing

It has been an interesting ride since Em had her first chemo treatment. After three days of hibernation, she managed to stay awake a little more each day. She had a myriad of symptoms, from kidney pain (which was so bad that she couldn't sit down) to aching bones (from the booster shot to stimulate white blood cells) to that pesky nausea. After a full week of feeling totally exhausted and yucky, she emerged from her apartment this weekend, feeling almost like herself again. She found the energy to take a couple of short walks, see a movie and to join us on a morning excursion to OMSI with Kathryn and Jocelyn. Her spirits are good and she is so happy to be feeling a little better. Hopefully her days will continue to improve for the rest of the week. Her next treatment is Thursday morning and she will be another week closer to the end of this road!