The Party Has Started

Christmas has come and gone, and we had a wonderful time spending the time with our family and friends! Our kids had a magical time and our currently enjoying Christmas break! After having good results last week about my tests I was able to relax knowing that the cancer has not spread outside my breast and armpit lymph nodes. Also a more relaxed mind knowing the game plan and not having the I don't know worry.

Monday we met again with my oncologist and reviewed all test results. The biggest concern other than my breast cancer were the 3 nodules on my thyroid which they biopsied last week. The results came back benign (not cancer), and I learned that they are a super common finding and they are not concerned. Also, ct scan, bone scan, and echo test all normal!! Mind still at ease. They tell me I'm young and healthy and that I can do this! I pray daily that they are right!

Tuesday my girlfriends and I decided to celebrate my birthday a little early (since I don't foresee NYE and NYD to be too eventful this year). We went out for lunch and headed to the wig shop! I have been dreading facing the fact that I have to lose my hair, but having my girlfriends their with me turned out to be a lot more fun than I thought! I picked out a very natural looking wig that looks very much like my current hairstyle. The wigs they make these days are so gorgeous! The hair feels exactly like real hair, and you can trim them, straighten them, and curl them! I was really impressed. So here is a pic of my new do (except I didn't get this color although I was tempted). I went with my blonde since I've always been a blonde and that's who I am. 

So that brings us to the present... Here I am sitting in my new recliner getting my first chemo treatment. I'm almost done. I got here at 9:15 and should be done in the next 20-30 minutes. So a 6 hour day of chemo! Yikes. Good thing I have Ryan here and even got some surprise visitors from Nicole, Jill, and Krissy :) My girl friends are ALL the BEST! I know I have 150% support from them all! Krissy even got 500 hot pink "Angie Strong" bracelets, so if you want one let me know! 

Each chemo will not be this long (so they tell me) should be more like 4 hours. I will come here and do chemo once every 3 weeks. The plan is to do 3 chemo cycles (each cycle is 21 days). I get 4 drugs at each chemo (they are called Perjecta, Herceptin, Taxotere, and Carboplatin). After my 3 cycles they will rescan me and if it has worked well I will move on to surgery next. My plan is to do a double mastectomy and reconstructive surgery all at once if possible. I have appointments here in Waterloo and with the surgeons in Iowa City this month. So, I have not made up my mind as to where I will have the surgery done yet. After surgery I will follow up with 3 more chemo cycles. That's the plan! 

At this point as I sit here in the chemo chair and I feel fine! Not feeling anything at this point. We shall see how the next 72 hours go, so pray for positive side effects (well I'm not sure the side effects are positive so let's go with minimal side effects). Thanks again to everyone for following my story and for ALL your support! It means the world!

Until next time,

Angie

A New Full Time Job

This week I have not been busy managing 2 bank locations and 6 employees (I haven't had time to)! This week my new full time job has been being a cancer patient, and trust me it's been an all.day.long. Full Time Job! So here is what my last couple of days have looked like.

Monday morning started off at 8:30am at the oncologist office. There, Ryan and I met Dr. Masri, my oncologist. We finally found out that my HER2 lab came back positive. So, I am an Estrogen and Progesterone negative patient with an HER2 positive hormone receptor. They tell me that this is the better option than being what they call a "triple negative" breast cancer patient. I am still a Grade 3 which means the breast cancer is growing aggressively. Dr. Masri suggested that due to this, we need to get chemotherapy started very soon to make sure this does not spread, and we know it had already spread to my lymph nodes in my arm pit. So, next Wednesday, Dec. 30th will be my first chemotherapy treatment. He picked a chemo regimen that is very aggressive but he feels with me being young and healthy I should be able to handle the chemo. We talked about the side effects of chemo and what to expect. Yes, I will lose my hair and yes it bothers me. I know it is a side effect I should not care about but let's face it girls.... No girl wants to be bald. Ryan and I left the clinic and went to breakfast. I cried the whole time, the shock was wearing off and this is becoming real. This is going to happen. I have to do chemo (which terrifies me more than anything), I have to tell my children what's going to happen to mommy (which I still have not done), and I have to have a test that is going to tell me if this cancer has spread to other areas of my body (which I wasn't sure I even wanted to know). 

So, let's talk about today Tuesday...

Well my insurance company denied the authorization for a pet scan, but they would pay for a ct scan and a bone scan. Seems silly to me, but ok.. I went with it. I was at the hospital at 6:45am for a 7am ct scan and a 11:00am bone scan. Ryan and I then met the breast surgeon Dr. Savereide at 1:45. We loved him! Even though surgery will not come for a few months, it was great to meet him and talk over my case. I asked about results of my ct and bone scan and he was able to look them over (along with the radiologist) and give me some very good news! They did not see any areas of concern on the ct or bone scan. Finally some good news!!! And a piece of mind going into the holiday weekend. I still have breast cancer but they don't see any concern in the other areas of my body.... PRAISE GOD AND YOUR PRAYERS!!

SO, tomorrow brings on another full day at the hospital. I'm starting at the hospital at 8am to have an echo cardio test. This is just to check my heart to make sure it is healthy enough for the chemo I am starting on Wednesday next week. Then in the afternoon I am having a procedure to insert a port in my chest where my chemo will go into. 

How ironic is it that today my mother had a chemo port installed in her chest and tomorrow I am having one installed. Same exact thing. My mom as many of you know was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in August. She had already done one round of chemo (pill form) and had surgery the day before Thanksgiving. She has been doing wonderful since surgery and is currently disease free, however she will be doing a follow up chemo round to make sure all cancer cells are out of her. She starts on Monday next week, and I start chemo 2 days later. We are in this together! I don't know why we both had to get cancer, but we have each other and she has been so strong! She is going to see me thru this and I am going to see her thru. I love you Mom and I am so proud of you! I'm going to make you proud too ❤️.

I should also shout out to the best husband ever! It can't be easy being the spouse of a cancer patient, but Ryan has been by my side thru it all the last 2 weeks. It's been a full time job for him as well. Thank goodness we have supportive employers who are allowing us to focus on me right now. It's not easy for either one of us to not be in control at work, so thank you to all of our coworkers and employers for being supportive to us both.

That's all I got for tonight! Merry Christmas to you all! Enjoy the holiday this week and most importantly Count Your Blessings!!

MRI Day

This morning I had an MRI. I wasn't a fan. It was more nerve racking than I thought, but I survived and I could do it again if I had to, but hopefully not!!

The radiologist called me with the MRI results. The good news is my right breast showed no signs of cancer... Yay! My left breast, she did find a few more "very small" masses that were not seen on the Mammogram or ultrasound. What the radiologist said to me was "I don't recommend you try and save your breast. A mastectomy is necessary." This is the plan I have been planning on so, I'm ok with that. I have an aggressive fast growing cancer and sounds like we need to start something as soon as possible, and I plan to do that! The other major piece to the puzzle is the result to the HER2 receptor which is still not back yet. If that test comes back positive, the way it sounds I would likely have chemo before surgery. If it is negative, she thought I would need surgery as soon as possible... Maybe even before the 1st of the year! That's just crazy to me that this could happen so quickly.I should have this result back tomorrow and my appointments are already scheduled with oncology and surgeon Monday and Tuesday next week. 

So wow!! A lot of information yet again, and I'm still overwhelmed, but I'm focusing on so many other things right now other than my cancer. I am much better when I am busy with my kids, housework, and work during the day. I'm ready to spend the next 2 weekends with my family for Christmas and we are going to do that! I am not dwelling on my diagnosis. I am living my life as usual. I am trusting in the doctors and medical professionals and most of all God to take care of me!! 

In summary for today; we wait for my HER2 result to come back, and we meet with the doctors next week. From there, Ryan and I will decide on looking at a second opinion as far as surgery. I will probably wait to blog again after my appointments next week. Until then, please keep your prayers coming!!

❤️❤️ Angie

I Have Breast Cancer

I am starting this blog to keep my family, friends, and those near and dear to me updated on the new challenge in my life. It has taken me 5 long days to even face the reality of what is happening to me, and it is very hard for me to talk about. Deep down I know I have hundreds of people who love, care, and deserve to know this news, so here it goes.. "Hi. I'm Angie. I'm 33 years old, and I have Breast Cancer."

Sounds shocking right? Trust me, I am as shocked as you are. I know everyone has questions as to how this came about and what is going to happen. So here is where it starts. Last Monday December 7, 2015 I had a normal appointment scheduled with my gynocologist for a pap smear and physical. I went in as normal hoping to walk out with a new prescription for birth control and the ok to come back in 3 years. During that exam my doctor found a lump in my breast. She didn't like how it felt. I personally never noticed it before hand, and even if I did I would have passed it off as tissue under my nipple. She referred me to the Breast Clinic to have a mammogram and ultrasound take a look. I had to wait until Thursday December 10th to be seen by the Breast Clinic here in Waterloo. I was a little concerned, but tried not to panic. I woke up Thursday morning a bit uneasy about the whole thing and the panic began to sink in. I asked Ryan if he would come with me, because I was scared. He of course said absolutely so he went in with me. Thank God he was there because that appointment quickly became the worst 4 hour appointment of my life.

I had a mammogram, followed by an ultrasound. I saw the tumor on the screen and another spot they were focusing on and I think at that point my body went into shock. The radiologist came in and reviewed the ultrasound himself. He then looked Ryan and I and said "I am really sorry to tell you this, but I just tell it how it is. This looks very much like a breast cancer to me, and I am very concerned about it." At that point I KNOW my body went into shock. I walked around for 2 days after that like I was in an out of body experience. They biopsied my lump and lymph node in my armpit. The next day they called to confirm both had tested positive for cancer.

Here is what I know at this point about my labs. What I have is Invasive Ductal Carcinoma. This is the most common form of Breast Cancer (80% of breast cancers). There are 3 Grades to this cancer (I, II, and III). Mine is a Grade III, which unfortunately is the most aggressive and fast growing. Yesterday, my nurse navigator called and my labs also tested negative to Estrogen and Progesterone receptors. What does that mean? Well it means that my cancer is not feeding off of these hormones. There is 1 other hormone called HER2 which is some kind of protein receptor that is being tested, however they do not have that "stain" back to see if that is fueling the cancer. I will not know that til later this week. How these results come back will of course tell us how we are going to treat it.

I have a lot of unknowns at this point. I am having an MRI on Thursday, and will meet with an oncologist and breast surgeon next Monday and Tuesday. Getting thru these next 2 weeks will be very difficult. Not knowing and waiting is absolutely awful. I also plan on looking at a second opinion (just for a piece of mind to make sure I am doing and making the right decisions for me).

I hope many of you will find this blog helpful on keeping up with where I am at. The wonderful thing is I have so many friends, a loving family, and I already know you are all here for me. I am terrified to die, and I am not ready to die, so I am going to fight hard! I owe that to Ryan, Kyla, and Cruze. They need me in their lives and I want more than anything to be in their lives. This will be my longest blog I am sure, but its a lot of information to talk about with everyone. I believe in myself, I am a positive person, and I know I can do this! I ask you all to have faith in me, pray for me, and continue to love me (even when I don't have boobs, hair, and look like an alien from chemo). That's all I can ask!