July 29th Update

Today we spent three hours with the radiation oncologist. Nancy will begin the process on August 9th with the fitting, they make a way to radiate the exact space every time...and on August 12th, Nancy will begin 6 weeks of daily radiation. Actually, it's only Monday-Friday. They are going to radiate the wall of her chest, where the lump was attached, and the lymph nodes area under her left arm, where we know the cancer had some level of spreading. There is no near term plans to radiate the spine or back area. Nancy will continue the Femara and Zometa treatments during this time.

They say to plan on seven weeks to get six done....there is a holiday, etc...so Nancy should be done the end of September. The first two weeks after radiation can also have some challenges...so we need to plan to take it easy then. The side effects are usually being tired and some skin irritation.

This was our first real meeting on radiation, so I apologize for not knowing more about it. All plans will be reviewed by Dr Anthony, Dr Lonnergan, and Dr Towbin next week.

Thank you all for great support!

July 25th update

Our appointment with the Radiation Oncologist is Thursday, July 29th at 1:00 pm. We will update with new info after that meeting. Thank you!

July 22nd Update

NO MORE CHEMO.....(AT LEAST FOR NOW).... Great news! Nancy had just Zometa (the bone builder up med) today, and will continue to have Zometa every 28 days. Also, she will return to daily pills of Femara.
We do not have a status on radiation, we need to first meet with Dr Laing, a radiation oncologist here in Spokane. That meeting is not set up yet. Not sure how long it will take to get an appointment....will update the blog as soon as we know.
After the Zometa today, they gave Nancy her anti-headache drug, which means she will be sleeping most of the afternoon.
Nancy's sister Lori is here, Mike will get here late tonight....Nancy should have a nice weekend! Thank you all for your special support.

July 16th Update

Both Scans are now done. The results will be known next Thursday. Nancy woke up this morning feeling good! Her sister Lori will be visiting starting next Monday.
The next update will be results from our meeting with Dr Anthony. We appreciate all the support.

July 13th Update

Nancy now has an additional Scan this week, a bone scan tomorrow at 9:30am. Dr. Anthony and Dr Lonergan had a conference call today and agreed a second scan was needed. It has been over 3 months since they have measured her progress, and two looks are better than one. So two days, two scans. Also, the review meeting with Dr Anthony will be Thursday, July 22nd. Nancy has a scheduled Zometa infusion that day...and we will find out that day if chemo is needed for a fourth cycle. If it is, we will also have chemo that day. If she does not need chemo, then we get some level of recess or break before radiation starts. Thanks for all the support, BC

July 11th update

Maybe our chemo treatments are over. Nancy completed the third cycle on Thursday. She felt good Friday, tired towards the middle of Saturday, and today had no energy at all. She has some aches today.. but no headache. We have the PET scan Thursday...and the following week we will have our first real progress report in some time. We have been truly blessed by all your support. Thank you!!

July 5th Update

Nancy had her infusion last Thursday. Last week she had new back pain.... which is to be expected. As before, after the infusion, she is tired but no headaches. Next Thursday is hopefully her last chemo session.


Todd and I drove a U-Haul to Austin Texas. Three days and 2200 miles. Todd starts his new job this morning. Ally flies down tomorrow morning. Hope you all are having a great 4th weekend. Special thanks to Mike, Cindy, and Patsy for helping last week.