Chemo Again...

I just wanted to let everyone know that I started chemo again on Thurs, 18 February. I haven't felt very motivated to update my blog. I guess if I don't talk about it, it didn't or won't happen. Wouldn't that be nice!

Having a recurrence of my cancer is something that we knew was a likely possibility, but something we neither expected nor planned for. (Denial has been one of our strong suits.) We had never researched what would come next if the cancer returned. Since surgery, we have gotten opinions from 3 doctors.

The first opinion was from my doctor in Seattle with whom we have been doing the study vaccine. We then got an opinion from my oncologist here in Ogden, and then another one from my breast oncologist at the Huntsman Cancer Institute. All three of the doctors are on the same page, relatively speaking. Which is to say, that no one has the answer. No one knows how successful the treatments will be. At least they all mentioned the same chemotherapy drugs....

So, the plan is to do weekly chemotherapy treatments for 4-6 months. I've never done chemo consecutively for that long, but we will see how it goes. I will get another PET scan in 2-3 months to see if the chemo is effective.

This has definitely knocked us for a loop. I'm not sure which has been harder, this or the initial diagnosis. That may sound odd, but we really do well living in denial.

We are recovering from our shell shock and are so grateful for all of the faith, prayers, service, cards, flowers, and meals.

Much love from grateful hearts,

The Stanleys