Month: September 2016

Overall Val has had a pretty good couple of weeks. Today is treatment #9 of #12 and chemo is scheduled to finish up on October 21.  We had a friend stop my with flowers at today’s treatment who has really latched onto Val during our journey. All of the cards, phone calls and visits are greatly appreciated!

This phase continues to go good with the only side effect being that each successive week Val is a little more tired.  We updated you last time about some extra testing on her thyroid due to a continuing funny feeling in her throat. Those tests came back with the good news that everything looked good. The doc thinks the throat irritation is being caused by the chemo and should go away after a while. 

We are still working on developing a plan for next steps after chemo. Our goal was to try and get the missing expander back in before radiation starts, making final reconstruction easier. The Oncology Doc is good waiting 4 weeks before starting radiation.  After consulting with the Plastics doc it looks like we would need more time than that so best guess is that we will move directly to radiation after taking a little break when chemo is done. The two docs are still consulting each other and we should know in the next couple of weeks for sure the next step. 

Thank you again for all your support! Even the smallest gestures mean a lot. Your continued prayers are wonderful. Please be praying that as plans are made for next steps that wise decisions are made and the way the Lord wants us to take is clear. 

Today was treatment #6 of #12. We are half way through the last phase of chemo!  Val continues to handle this phase better than the last. 

We met with her Oncologist this morning and continued the conversation of when / how to best handle the upcoming reconstruction steps since we are off the original game plan when one of her expanders became infected and needed to be removed early in phase 1 of chemo.  Nothing conclusive on the game plan yet but her Oncologist and Plastic surgeon are going to communicate to see what may be possible to make the final reconstruction process as easy as possible. 

She also has been bothered the past few weeks with a sensation in her throat that feels like something is stuck. With her history of thyroid challenges, an ultrasound is being scheduled to investigate and make sure there is nothing jiffy going on there. 

Thank you for continuing to lift us up in prayer!  So many have expressed that they are praying and it is a great encouragement!

Marc