Kelly's Journey

no better woman for the job

7032 Leicester Road
Toledo, OH 43617
ph: 419-830-0452
kelly@nobetterwomanforthejob.com

History & Diagnosis

May 22nd 2008

Well, here we go again.

I finally found out why I have been feeling so poorly since February. The doctors kept saying that I was being too hard on myself and I was not giving myselft enough time to recover. But I knew in my heart that it was more than that.

Yesterday we were told that the Breast Cancer is back.

Where is it?

I had a CT Scan 2 weeks ago that showed multiple nodules in my lungs, inflamed lymph nodes on the left side of my neck and down the center of my chest, and suspicous spots on my liver and a fractured vertebrae at the base of my neck. A biopsy of one of my lymph nodes on the left side of my neck confirmed that it is cancer, and it is of the same breast cancer pathology that was removed from me 1.5 years ago.

How did this happen?

My original cancer was a small cell cancer that breached my lymph nodes. This means that the cancer traveled around my body. While we removed everything that we could see I received Chemotherapy for all that we could not see. My cancer tested positive for the Her 2 Neu gene. This means that my body over-expresses a protein which helps to excelerate the growth of the cancer while helping to break down my cells. I took Hercepton every 3 weeks for one year. This was supposed to teach my body how to stop this over-expression. However, that did not happen. Cancer cells were deposited around my body. The Chemotherapy did not kill all of them. The Hercepton kept them in check and when I finished my Hercepton in December 2007 it only took them a month to start back up.

What is the current course of treatment?

I will begin Chemotherapy today (Thursday, May 22) I will do this once a week for 8 weeks. I am having a bone scan tomorrow to establish whether or not it has spread to my bones. I am also having various x-rays and a PET Scan. These tests will be repeated later to proof that the treatment is working.

Thank you to everyone for your care and support,

Much Love

Kelly

May 23rd 2008

Kelly had her first chemo yesterday, it went OK. Apparently this drug is extremely strong but so far there seems to be less side effects than before. We do need to watch that her blood count doesn't get too low, so it is very important that she eats well. Last night she ate a good dinner and even had seconds!!! We spent most of this morning (Friday) at the hospital having her bone scan and chest x-ray, we won't get these results until next week. Kelly continues to be in good spirits (and I don't mean the alcohol) we know laughter is the best medicine, so we do find things to laugh about, even in this awful situation. Of course there's always Riley, a constant source of amusement. Many thanks to all of you for your continued support.

Love, Flo...

May 26th 2008

Hello everyone….

Well Kelly had quite a rough weekend. It looks like the chemo drug Navelbine has a rather serious side effect. On Saturday morning Kelly started feeling a lot of nerve pain / sensitivity in her mouth – so bad that she couldn’t eat or drink anything all day. I phoned the Clinic and spoke with the oncologist on-call to ask what prescription she should take to relieve her pain; unfortunately he was not helpful and suggested to take her to the ER at the local hospital to have Kelly examined. At about 4pm we went to the ER, registered, and after a very long wait we had blood-work done and an examination. Disappointedly, the ER doctor couldn’t recommend anything other a prescription pain killer that we already had in the house. We went home around 9pm and then decided to phone Kelly’s oncologist at home (he had given us his number a year earlier). Kelly’s oncologist gave us a prescription for Lyrica, a drug specific for nerve pain. Kelly has now been taking it since Sunday morning, and slowly the pain seems to be subsiding and be more bearable. Kelly has been drinking a lot of nutrition shakes and swallowing a lot of Jello.

Many thanks to Laura and Rod for being there for us this weekend – I know Riley is having a awesome time with Mitchell. We also could not get through this without Flo, who has been right beside Kelly making sure she rests and eats as best as she can.

Also thanks so much to Shannon & Todd for taking Riley to her first garage sale and to the Rock Quarry to dig for fossils. I cannot tell you how much fun she had, only that she really didn't want to come home.

And thanks to everyone for their calls, emails, and supportive words – we all appreciate it and I know Kelly looks forward to reading the guestbook everyday.

Kelly, I love you, you are an inspiration and we will definitely beat this.

Love Paul

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7032 Leicester Road
Toledo, OH 43617
ph: 419-830-0452
kelly@nobetterwomanforthejob.com