She's Done

Lois has completed all her chemo sessions! No more. Not that it was "all that bad" - we met some wonderful people: doctors, nurses, and other patients. Always smiling, always caring and extending themselves to make their patients as comfortable as possible, these medical professionals can't be topped anywhere. And special thanks to Mitra and Debrah - thank YOU, ladies! You are terrific!

I haven't posted for a couple of weeks, mainly because Lois' sessions have continued to be rather routine and, thank God, uneventful. She did develop a bit of a rash on the back of her hands and fingers, and a bit more on her neck during the past couple of weeks, but the doctor said it was usual and would disappear now that she is done. She was also experiencing some fatigue in the last few weeks; but, due to this ordeal, we know her better. It will take a lot more than this to slow her down, especially to my favorite pace - one that involves mainly a hot cup of coffee and the early- morning news.

What's next? The doctor wants to see her every three months for the next two years, then every six months until the fifth year, then yearly. She will take a small pill, daily, to prevent her body from manufacturing any more estrogen. That's because it's estrogen that stimulates breast cells to grow and if they are cancerous, then estrogen is a very bad thing: prevent the estrogen from stimulating the cells to grow, and any cancer cells that may be left behind can't grow either. Bada-bing. There are no indications that any of the cancer remains.

She's been very much a "trooper" throughout this past twelve weeks of chemo. She's my inspiration for toughness and determination in facing some of life's most bitter challenges.

We can't say enough about how much your emails, comments, phone calls, visits have met to us. Thank all of you so much!

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This isn't the last of the updates. This blog has been too much fun to quit, I'm just not sure the direction to take now that the chemo is over. I will keep all of you up-to-date with the three month check-ups, etc., but I'm thinking the blog may expand into some of the more pleasant, non-chemo/cancer, related parts of our lives: family events, some of our day trips, good movies, pictures...we'll see.

Oh, and by the way, have you done your self-exam lately?

Jim

Breast Cancer Awareness Month

October is NATIONAL BREAST CANCER MONTH and we wanted to take the opportunity to spread the word to all our loved ones and friends. In particular, our message for this month is Self-Examination.

We relied on mammograms. Had we relied on regular self examinations, we would have caught this tumor before the mammogram did, because the mammogram did not catch it. Lobular cancers often do not show up on mammograms, but once we knew where the tumor was located, we couldn't believe how obvious it was.

Many women, including Lois, report not self-checking because they don't know what it is they are feeling for. What we learned regarding what to look is simply this: CHANGE. Without regular self-exams the change is undetectable. Then after a few months, the change is obvious; but no self-exams are happening, so now it is undetected - and growing!

We no longer trust mammograms and both our surgeon and chemotherapy oncologist seem to agree that in our case, we're not unreasonable.

Are you running regular self checks? Do.

Not sure about how to do a self-examination? Check out THIS SITE, and if you have a life partner (husband, etc.) have that person read the article too. It could SAVE YOUR LIFE.

Jim and Lois