Decisions, departures, and back to school

Hi family and friends,

These past few weeks have been a flurry of doctors appointments and activities! I'm not quite sure where to begin with an update. We met with Dr. Brenda Moorthy on Nov. 30 to have a second consultation with a breast surgeon and she was very uncomfortable with us waiting until January to have surgery, given the fact that my last chemo treatment was cancelled and I hadn't gotten AC since Oct. 30. She said the last thing we wanted to do was give the cancer enough time to start growing again and undo all of our hard work in chemotherapy. She was completely booked for surgery all of December but she said her associate, Dr. Cox, who we had previously met with, could make time to perform a single mastectomy. 

We quickly began scheduling with the hospital and met with a plastic surgeon who the breast surgeons recommended, Dr. Lewis Andres in Scottsdale. Dr. Andres recommended immediate construction following removal of my breast where he would insert a tissue expander that would act as a place holder and would expand the skin for an implant later after my radiation treatments. If we choose to remove my other breast at a later time — to eliminate the risk of a second reoccurrence of cancer in my healthy breast — is still an option, but at this point because of time constraints with doctors and hospital it wasn't possible to perform a bilateral or double mastectomy. Surgery was scheduled for Dec. 11. It was unsettling for me to have to make these decisions so quickly but we definitely felt that the most important thing was to get rid of the cancer. We were hopeful of leaving town for Christmas but we adjusted our plans and expectations and we were moving forward with the options we had available to us. Glen had planned to have nose surgery Dec. 8, as well, so we rescheduled that for Dec. 28.

Something else that Dr. Moorthy mentioned during her examination was that she was concerned about something she saw on my right nipple. She thought it was a papilloma, which could be cancerous. We decided to biopsy that before surgery to make sure there were no additional concerns. This past Tuesday, we got the results back and were so thankful to find out it was benign and not a papilloma but scar tissue perhaps from all of my nursing issues. 

In the meantime, we contacted Dr. Curley, my oncologist to make sure he was in the loop about my surgery being moved up. When we last met with him and our chemo treatment was cancelled, he indicated that we were still OK to wait till January for surgery and he reiterated that he still felt comfortable with that timing. He thought I was still under treatment because I got Keytruda, the immunotherapy drug on Nov. 20, even though we didn't get the AC treatment. He had worked enough with Keytruda to feel that it would hold the cancer at bay until January. The breast surgeons had only worked with a few patients who had used Keytruda, since it's such a new drug, and this is where we ran into our miscommunication. 

We then talked to Dr. Curley and when the surgeons realized we had more time to schedule surgery, they asked if I still wanted to move forward with things on Dec. 11. On Wednesday, I had an appointment with the plastic surgeon, which didn't go well and I realized that I wasn't ready to make the decision about whether I wanted reconstruction and I didn't feel good moving forward with Dr. Andres. I wanted time to meet with another plastic surgeon to decide if I want reconstruction at all. These have been very difficult decisions for me to make because I know they will be permanent and there are a lot of ways it will affect my future life. We talked about our concerns with Dr. Cox, who has been absolutely wonderful, and we all agreed to cancel surgery tomorrow. Immediately after, I felt peace about this decision. We will meet with another plastic surgeon on Dec. 22 and schedule surgery sometime in the next month as we gather more information. I will still have a Keytruda treatment tomorrow and meet with Dr. Curley.

We trust that God is aware of our circumstances and is in control of what is best for us in these next steps of my treatment. We are so grateful for peace that comes from the Spirit as we make decisions that affect our lives.

Some of the blessings of the past weeks have been to have our sweet son Paul depart for his mission to Baltimore. It was just as hard to say goodbye this second time around as it was when Rebekah left, but we are joyful for Paul's opportunity and desire to serve. Part of our hearts will be in Baltimore for the next two years. If Ryan leaves for his mission next year like he is planning, it will likely be three years before they see each other again. One of the sweetest gifts from the past six months has been to have my three sons bless and pass the sacrament to me each Sunday while I've been sick at home. I will really miss that. If you would like to be included in Paul's email list, please send us your email address.

Another blessing is that three of our children (Hannah, Kate, and Ryan) were able to return to school in person on Dec. 3. Daniel is unable to return until January because of the way his middle school schedule works but he has been a trooper and we are planning some good one-on-one dates next week while he is home. Hannah was so excited Wednesday night for her "first day" of school, we could hardly get her to sleep and the kids all came home beaming from ear to ear. We are being very careful about having them "disinfect" when they return home and pray for our continued health from other sicknesses.

We feel the real impact of prayer in our life right now and know that we have a loving Heavenly Father who hears and answers our sincere petitions, not always in the way or timing we expect, but always in a way that is best for us. Thank you for joining your prayers with ours as we continue our fight against cancer. 

We love you very much!