An update on Jodi's surgery

First, thank you so much for the well wishes over the last week or so. We apologize if we haven't gotten back to you, but we have read and cherish every bit of encouragement that you have passed along....please keep it coming!!

Today has been a long one. We arrived at the hospital at 6:00 this morning for Jodi's surgery and Jodi just got out of the recovery room and to her hospital room about two hours ago. The surgery went well according to both the surgeon and the plastic surgeon. Although we were hoping for better news, we weren't surprised to find out that Jodi's sentinal lymph node tested positive for cancer. As a result, the surgeon removed a lump of tissue from under Jodi's armpit, which likely contains all Jodi's lymph nodes in that particular location. We will receive the pathology report on Monday, which will detail the number of lymph nodes removed and also give us further information on whether all tested positive for cancer. The surgeon indicated that Jodi will definitely need chemo, and that radiation is fairly likely given the positive node and Jodi's age.

With all that said, I am sitting here next to Jodi and she and I are both very glad that this step in the treatment process is behind us. She is remarkably upbeat and has even gotten up to use the restroom by herself:) She is in very good hands here and we are not exactly roughing it in our new digs....given the view of Lake Michigan, our 500 square foot hospital room would probably sell for $1 million plus (according to Jodi :). We will likely be in the hospital two nights so they can continue to monitor her progress. I will keep you updated.

Love you all and thanks again for all your thoughts and prayers.

"One way to get the most out of life is to look upon every experience as an adventure" - Jodi Faulkner

We are on a roll!

Not even a cold and rainy day in Chicago could keep us down today as we found out that Jodi has no cancer in her bones! Apparently there are two types of bone scans, one that is extremely painful and one that borders on relaxing. Jodi was fortunate enough to have the latter. We had to be at the hospital bright and early yesterday morning so that Jodi could get injected with a radioactive dye. After sitting in the waiting room for 10 minutes, Jodi reappeared and said we needed to be back in two hours, which was the estimated period of time it would take for the dye to spread throughout Jodi's bones. Upon our return from breakfast, she went back and apparently fell sound asleep on the hospital bed as they took pictures of her to determine whether the dye was flowing freely through her bones...this procedure was definitely a step up from her last biopsy on the comfort scale. More importantly, the test results indicated that Jodi has.....degenerative arthritis. What a relief! I don't know much about degenerative arthritis, but I do know it is a much better diagnosis than bone cancer. Isn't it funny how one can become desensitized to the immaterial (to put it in audit terms) things...three weeks ago the degenerative arthritis thing might have tripped us up, but now it doesn't matter.

"Optimism is the foundation of courage"

Finally, some good news!!

Hopefully all of you had a good weekend. We had a very good weekend. Aside from enjoying a 70 degree day in Chicago on Saturday, we were able to celebrate the fact that the lump in Jodi's right breast is NOT cancerous!! The MRI originally indicated that the tumor had "benign characteristics", but after the last couple weeks it was difficult to assume we might be let off the hook with a cancer-free diagnosis. The positive news has both Jodi and I re-charged and believing that we will get far more positive news than negative news by the time Jodi's treatment is complete. The non-cancer diagnosis also helped Jodi forget about the fact that it took the lady who was performing the biopsy about 10 stabs before she finally hit a vein in Jodi's arm. I don't know which bruise is worse - the one on Jodi's breast as a result of having part of a tumor removed, or the one on her arm as a result of having an inaccurate MRI technician. Tomorrow morning we have a bone scan to determine whether any of the cancer has moved into Jodi's bones. Our surgeon is optimistic that the cancer has not moved into the bones, but this will give us peace of mind. Wish us luck. Love you all.

"We cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails" - Anonymous

Appointments, Appointments, and more Appointments

We learned of Jodi's breast cancer a little more than a week ago and I feel like I have nearly earned an MD during that time. As mentioned in the previous post, we have met with the surgeon, but we have also either met with or are scheduled to meet with a plastic surgeon, a fertility doctor, and a geneticist. Additionally, Jodi has had a mammogram, an ultrasound, an ultrasound driven biopsy on her left breast, and an MRI. Tomorrow Jodi is scheduled for an MRI driven biopsy on her right breast, and on Monday she is scheduled for a bone scan. All of this will culminate in a surgery on April 29 to remove both of Jodi's breasts and at least one of her lymph nodes. Needless to say there is a lot to keep track of and we are doing our best to make sure we have a full understanding of all available treatment options prior to making any major treatment decisions.

Here are some of the interesting things we have learned about Jodi's cancer and breast cancer in general during the last week:

• No one knows exactly what causes breast cancer, but genetics, environmental carcinogens, viruses, and radiation are all thought to be contributing factors.
  
• Cancer begins when a normal cell in the breast is damaged and converts into a cell that has an uncontrolled growth pattern.





• On average, breast cancer cells double every 100 days. For example, a tumor that measures a centimeter in size (about the size of the tip of your pinky finger) carries about 100 billion cancer cells. If you do the math that should indicate that the original abnormal cell formed about 8-10 years prior to the cell measuring one centimeter.

• Jodi's cancer effects the milk ducts of the breast rather than the lobes (ductal cancer is more common).








• Her tumors are "invasive", meaning that the cancer cells in the tumor have multiplied to the point that they have moved outside the larger cell wall that houses them. Obviously, we hope that this has occurred recently and that the cancer cells have not had time to effect other parts of Jodi's body. See the "invasive" picture above.


• She has two tumors in her left breast that are cancerous and one tumor that has "benign characteristics" in her right breast (we get the right breast biopsied tomorrow to determine if the tumor is benign or cancerous)


• We won't know the exact size of Jodi's tumors until her surgery, but the area containing the two tumors measures about 6 centimeters (this isn't the size of the tumors themselves, but rather the size of the area between the two tumors, or the effected area)


• Jodi is having both her breasts removed for a couple reasons. First and foremost, there is a 15-20% chance of getting breast cancer again someday if she only has one breast removed. Second, it is much easier for the plastic surgeon to create two symmetric implants than it is for him to create an implant to match the remaining breast.


• Jodi's surgery on April 29 will not only include the removal of her breasts, but will also include the first stage of breast reconstruction.


• Breast reconstruction is done in three stages. First, the plastic surgeon will insert "expanders" into Jodi's chest to stretch her skin and muscular tissue so that the implants fit into her chest. Second, over time the plastic surgeon will insert saline water into the implants until they reach our desired size...I have had some fun joking around with that part of the process:). Third, a tattoo artist will actually tattoo Jodi's nipples back on...this caught us off guard at first, but we were assured that it is very difficult to tell the difference between a real and fake nipple.


• We will not know the type or extent of Jodi's follow up treatment (chemotherapy, radiation, etc.) until we get her pathology report and meet with an onchologist after her surgery.


• Lymph nodes are the body's means of processing/removing cellular waste, which is why the lymph nodes are a common secondary target of breast cancer.


• Women generally have between 20-40 lymph nodes near their armpit, and lymph nodes are arranged similar to a row of dominos. If the lymph node closest to Jodi's left breast is not effected, then none of the lymph nodes further away from her breast will be effected....similarly, if the first domino in the row doesn't fall neither will the rest.


• In addition to removing Jodi's breasts, the surgeon will take out the first line of lymph nodes and send them to the lab for testing. We will get the testing results during the surgery and if necessary, the surgeon will remove the rest of Jodi's lymph nodes before Jodi wakes up from her anesthetic.
  

That is a very high level review of all the information we have absorbed over the past week or so. The surgery is really the first real glimpse we will get into the extent of Jodi's cancer and will also play a key role in determining next steps in her treatment process. Please keep Jodi in your thoughts and prayers over the next couple of weeks. Also, feel free to click on the "comments" tab at the end of each post to pass along well wishes, etc. Thank you all for your continued support!!

"You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face" - Eleanor Roosevelt

A recap of the last few weeks

Occasionally, something happens that causes you to take a step back from the daily grind and realize how precious life is. The resulting perception/understanding of the truly important things is one that I wish I could experience all the time.

Jodi and I have been in that moment for about a week as she was diagnosed with breast cancer last Monday. Our journey with breast cancer really began three weeks ago when Jodi noticed a lump on her left breast. Fortunately, she was quick to get checked out by her gynecologist, who in turn was diligent in getting Jodi scheduled for a mammogram and ultrasound. The mammogram and ultrasound indicated that there were indeed two lumps in Jodi's breast and that there were calcifications around the lumps. A biopsy confirmed that both lumps contain cancer - the official diagnosis is "invasive ductal carcinoma". Ductal cancer, which effects the milk ducts in the breast, is the most common variety of breast cancer. The fact that the cancer is "invasive" means that the cancer cells have broken out of the larger cell walls and have potentially effected other areas. Obviously, all of this hit us like a ton of bricks and in our initial visit with the surgeon we were trying to find something, anything, positive to focus on. A couple positives came out of our visit with the surgeon. First, we found out that Jodi has what they call a "garden variety" of breast cancer, which is much less progressive than breast cancer normally is when it strikes women at such a young age. Second, and perhaps more important, we felt very comfortable with the surgeon. All of Jodi's treatment will take place at Northwestern, so we are confident we are working with very capable physicians, but Dr. Hansen also showed a level of compassion that doctors are not always capable of showing. Dr. Hansen did not seem alarmed when discussing Jodi's diagnosis and potential treatment options, and spoke as though she had been through this with patients many times before...all of which gave us a sense of reassurance that we can make it through this.

Jodi and I are generally very positive people, which should help us both cope with the physical, mental, and emotional roller coaster that we will be dealing with for the next 9-12 months. We are confident that we will get through it and that we will come out of it stronger than we entered it. I will keep this blog up to date with Jodi's appointments, treatments, progress, and anything else that may be interesting to those who want to keep up on what's going on. I am also going to include a quote at the end of every update...I have always been a fan of quotes and think they will be very helpful in our quest to beat Jodi's breast cancer.

"Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference" - Winston Churchill