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Texas, United States
Sweet Remission! God is so good!

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

The "Nasty" Chemo Begins.......

Invasive Ductal Carcinoma – that’s the name of this ugly cancer…….IDC

I’ve learned that IDC is the most common type of breast cancer.  It is also known as Infiltrating Ductal Carcinoma and starts in the breast’s milk ducts and invades surrounding breast tissue.  If not treated at an early stage, it can move into other parts of the body through the bloodstream or lymphatic system.

The strange thing is that women over the age of 45 have a greater risk of IDC and about 50 percent of IDC cases occur after age 65……about 20 percent of women with breast cancer have a family history of the disease.  Other factors increasing the risk include having no children or the first child after age 30…..

Riley was born when Leslie was 26 and the only breast cancer was Leslie’s great-grandmother when she was in her 80s…….Leslie seems to be an exception to these statistics.  Of course, she laughs and says….”Mom, I always TOLD you I was exceptional!”

Most women diagnosed with IDC will be offered chemotherapy and/or hormonal therapy.  Chemo……….oh my……nothing easy about chemo for Leslie!  And to make it even harder, you should have to be the family members watching her go through all this……..all of us feeling so helpless.

I apologize for running so far behind with blogging………somewhere along the way my laptop was “lifted” from my car.  I am not certain where or when and that makes it even more concerning, but it vanished. 

So, finally I’m providing the update…..on a borrowed computer.....

12 Weekly Treatments of the First “Chemo Recipe” Complete! 

The best part of completing this round……Leslie’s face has cleared up and is no longer puffy or swollen…...Les is soooo thankful for that…..although she always looks beautiful, she was very self-conscious of her teenager-like skin condition.  Soooo goodby to “taxol”……thank goodness!  The taxol also caused the hair loss, but hey, it’ll grow back! 

The twelve weekly treatments consisted of a drive to the Cancer Center about 8:30 a.m………inserting the IV line into the “port” in the upper right section of Leslie’s chest….near the breast bone……in goes a bag of anti-nausea medicine, followed by a bag of benedryl to help ward off any allergies, followed by yet another bag containing herceptin (some type of blocker) and finally concluding with the taxol.

This weekly procedures would take almost four hours every Monday morning.  Monday afternoon Les had no choice, but to sleep and rest……….then Tuesday and Wednesday she could only rest and let the “chemicals” do whatever they were designed to do…….by Thursday she would be stronger and able to be up and move around.

Now, picture this young lady as a young mother of two…………Riley, age 7 and Avery, age 11 months.  Think about what is needed to care for these little girls……..meals, homework, baths…….and the special mother/daughter times.  Leslie has mentioned several times that she feels this cancer has taken so much from her and from her family.  She is saddened that she lacks the strength to do all that she wants to for her family.

And then there is Leslie’s husband, Jim.  Jim is amazing……..works fulltime, cooks, maintains a beautiful, spacious lawn……plants and waters flowers………shops, cleans……makes sure the dog is fed and exercised…….spends time with the girls………provides love and emotional support for his wife…..he does so much and never complains.  Plus, Avery has decided that Daddy hung the moon!  Go figure!  When her Daddy walks in the room, he has her full attention and she kicks her crawling into high gear to greet him!

With the twelve weekly taxol treatments finished, Les began what the nurses call the “nasty chemo”……..can you imagine anything nastier that what I’ve just described?    Try these letters…..F – E – C …………nurses call it feck! 

Three chemo drugs……(1) 5-Fluorourocil, (2) Epirubicin, (3) Cytoxan…
FEC........following the FEC, an injection of something is required within 24 hours……so Tuesday morning they drive back to The Cancer Center for yet another injection.

The day after Memorial Day began the FEC.  Even though the taxol should be out of her system and hence the puffiness in her face and the redness and acne-like blemishes have subsided, now with the nasty FEC comes queasiness, heavy limbs, extreme exhaustion………..Leslie was literally down for three days……….she said, “Mom, I feel like I have the worst case of the flu…….ever!  Combine it with some kind of horrible horrible hangover………

As a mother, it was so hard to watch my daughter and feel so helpless to do anything…… Fortunately, I was able to be there for Avery and Riley and care for them, play with them and love them.  They are such sweet little girls.  Avery now has two little teeth and Riley lost another one!  Jim and the girls suited up for their first dip in the pool for the summer.  We insisted Les come out and sit for a while and although she was struggling just to sit up……she did her best.  I’m in awe of her determination and how she is fighting to get through this nightmare and get back to her wonderful life!  She has mentioned on numerous occasions how this cancer has taken so much away from her and how it is cheating her little girls out of the healthy, attentive mother they deserve………….not long after that comment, little Riley noticed two band-aids on her mother and asked, “Mama, why do you have that?”  Leslie explained the injections as part of the treatment.  Riley responded by giving her Mother a hug and saying, “Oh Mama, I’m so sorry you have to go through this.”  Little Riley doesn’t for one minute feel like her mother is letting her down or neglecting her……….her concern is only for what her mother is enduring.  What a special little sweetheart.

So, as I type this blog and recall the first week of FEC, with tears once again streaming down my cheeks, I’m reminded of all the ways that God has used this cancer for the good.  I think of all the wonderful people who are praying for our family………I think of Stacy Herlocker Morgan and her selfless contributions to “whatever is needed”………..Stacy never complains……..she is always available for “whatever is needed”……….I sat on the front porch swing late one night last week……it was one of those scary nights after some difficult days of feeling so helpless……after a couple of days watching my daughter suffer.  Stacy shared with me over the phone and we cried……..together.  Although we could not solve anything, I was so comforted just by sharing with Stacy and by the reminder that we are not alone……..Leslie is not alone……….we are a family and we are a strong family…….yes, God has and is using this bad for the good and we are getting stronger and stronger every single day!

1 comment:

  1. Mom just told me this...heavy hard for Leslie..I will commit to praying for her...I can't imagine this trial.

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