Lori's recovery is going so well! We are so overwhelmed with the tremendous outpouring of love and help we are getting - transportation for the kids to and from school, lunches and dinners and just overall spoiling! How do we even BEGIN to thank everyone?!?!
My mom has been amazing keeping the house running smoothly and spoiling the kids - chocolate for breakfast, sure! Ha! Ha! And my wonderful, amazing, supportive husband who just loves on me and wants to take all of this away. Even the kids are amazing. Madison helps me to the bathroom, takes showers with me and holds all of my "goodies" (OnQ lidocaine bag and drainage tubes) and just loves to be my helper. She is such a caring, empathetic soul. We admire her so much for this! JJ is also helping in his own ways asking how I feel, if it hurts or if I need medicine. He definitely internalized his thoughts but his face shows his great love.
We continue to laugh at those crazy things - taking a shower, brushing teeth, even going #2 has been a hilarious celebration at our house! Those silly things you take for granted right? Heading off for a doctor appointment to plan for the next steps - port insertion, then the chemotherapy...time for HAT SHOPPING - woohoo!
Monday, March 19, 2012
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Surgery - Recovery - Back Home - Hooray!
So, consultation with the surgeons occurred on Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday at 5am we entered John C. Lincoln Hospital and the surgery began right at 7am. Just over an hour later the assisting O.R. nurse shared the fantastic news that Lori's lymph node test came back negative - no cancer cells present in the node. This was obviously great news and confirmed the findings from the earlier MRI.
Dr. O'Neill, the masectomy surgeon's work was complete around 9:30 and came out to report that her procedure went great - "textbook" were her words. Dr. O'Neill repeated the great news about the nodes being clear and the skin tissue near the removed tumor also was clear - confirming that the cancer was confined to the tumor itself.
The second surgeon began his work on reconstruction and completed his work shortly after Noon. His post-op visit with James in the waiting room provided additional great news - that his work went just as expected too! Dr. Andres was able to do his reconstruction during this surgery - which was a blessing so that Lori shouldn't need a second surgery.
Her recovery on Wednesday and Thursday went very well. Lori had some pain initially (obviously), but quickly grew to very manageable with the pain medications.
Lori was released on Thursday afternoon and is in GREAT spirits! The kids are excited to have Mom home....and Dad is too (obviously). We are all buoyed by the great news of the successful surgery and that the cancer was contained to the tumor. Details of Lori's continued treatment will be known in a few weeks, but chemotherapy will be necessary to ensure we catch any stray cancer cells that may be present and that will begin in about 4 to 6 weeks.
Lori and James thank everyone so far for the tremendous outpouring of positive thoughts, love and genuine affection for Lori and our entire family. Lori's fight ahead will be a year long plus, but we can all rejoice at the fact that although the initial findings of cancer were obviously negative, all news since then have been very positive. Let's all hope the positive news keeps rolling in!
Dr. O'Neill, the masectomy surgeon's work was complete around 9:30 and came out to report that her procedure went great - "textbook" were her words. Dr. O'Neill repeated the great news about the nodes being clear and the skin tissue near the removed tumor also was clear - confirming that the cancer was confined to the tumor itself.
The second surgeon began his work on reconstruction and completed his work shortly after Noon. His post-op visit with James in the waiting room provided additional great news - that his work went just as expected too! Dr. Andres was able to do his reconstruction during this surgery - which was a blessing so that Lori shouldn't need a second surgery.
Her recovery on Wednesday and Thursday went very well. Lori had some pain initially (obviously), but quickly grew to very manageable with the pain medications.
Lori was released on Thursday afternoon and is in GREAT spirits! The kids are excited to have Mom home....and Dad is too (obviously). We are all buoyed by the great news of the successful surgery and that the cancer was contained to the tumor. Details of Lori's continued treatment will be known in a few weeks, but chemotherapy will be necessary to ensure we catch any stray cancer cells that may be present and that will begin in about 4 to 6 weeks.
Lori and James thank everyone so far for the tremendous outpouring of positive thoughts, love and genuine affection for Lori and our entire family. Lori's fight ahead will be a year long plus, but we can all rejoice at the fact that although the initial findings of cancer were obviously negative, all news since then have been very positive. Let's all hope the positive news keeps rolling in!
Monday, March 12, 2012
Bye-Bye Boobies!
And so it begins...Lori will be going into surgery on Wednesday, March 14. The doctors will be doing a double mastectomy and preparing things for reconstruction. The surgery will last about 7 hours - yikes! We are confident things will go well, and know we are in very good hands.
We also found out that given the double mastectomy, it is now highly unlikely that Lori will have to undergo radiation. Yeah! However, chemotherapy will begin 4-6 weeks after the surgery to kill any stray cells that may have traveled elsewhere.
We also found out that given the double mastectomy, it is now highly unlikely that Lori will have to undergo radiation. Yeah! However, chemotherapy will begin 4-6 weeks after the surgery to kill any stray cells that may have traveled elsewhere.
Friday, March 9, 2012
REALLY ?!?!?
Almost exactly one month after Marissa was born, Lori found a lump in her left breast. After further testing and a biopsy we have sadly discovered that Lori has Invasive Ductal Carcinoma. We are completely shocked, but we've kicked cancer's ass once (Madison was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia "ALL" in 2004 and completed her treatment in 2006), and we plan to do it again!
After several tests and doctor visits, today we met with a surgeon and received some good news and some frightening news. The good news... the cancer appears to be localized at this point in the one tumor and does not appear to have spread to the lymphatic system or other areas. The frightening news is... the cancer cells tested positive for HER-2 protein and are not estrogen and progesterone fed. This type of cancer cell is more aggressive and resistant to one of the drugs that is commonly used to defeat the cancer. Having fewer options for successful treatment is disappointing and frightening, but survivability can still be very high based on what we know at this point. Like we've all heard a billion times, catching it early is key to long-term success.
Next step is surgery and more testing before a complete treatment plan can be devised. After surgery and radiation, chemotherapy may be necessary. We're taking one step at a time, but we're ready for the fight.
Hmmmm... is this payback for all the times I teased James about going bald? Forgive me!!!!
After several tests and doctor visits, today we met with a surgeon and received some good news and some frightening news. The good news... the cancer appears to be localized at this point in the one tumor and does not appear to have spread to the lymphatic system or other areas. The frightening news is... the cancer cells tested positive for HER-2 protein and are not estrogen and progesterone fed. This type of cancer cell is more aggressive and resistant to one of the drugs that is commonly used to defeat the cancer. Having fewer options for successful treatment is disappointing and frightening, but survivability can still be very high based on what we know at this point. Like we've all heard a billion times, catching it early is key to long-term success.
Next step is surgery and more testing before a complete treatment plan can be devised. After surgery and radiation, chemotherapy may be necessary. We're taking one step at a time, but we're ready for the fight.
Hmmmm... is this payback for all the times I teased James about going bald? Forgive me!!!!
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Commercial plug - Check our our Video Channel on YouTube!
The Little Nordicans have been busy this winter (is it really still called winter in Arizona?) making YouTube videos. So far the videos are predominately product reviews and stop action videos featuring Legos. Be sure to swing by YouTube and check them out.
Search "capcyclone" - which is our YouTube handle or click the link below to go directly to our "channel" on YouTube. We hope you enjoy watching the videos as much as we enjoyed making them. Check back often as more will be added along the way.
http://www.youtube.com/user/capcyclone/videos
Search "capcyclone" - which is our YouTube handle or click the link below to go directly to our "channel" on YouTube. We hope you enjoy watching the videos as much as we enjoyed making them. Check back often as more will be added along the way.
http://www.youtube.com/user/capcyclone/videos
Monday, February 20, 2012
Stop and Smell the Flowers
Absolutely beautiful! Our neighbors across the street encourage wild flowers to grow for about 2 months each year in the spring. It is the most beautiful sight! Every morning we open the front blinds and this is the view we get! This year we took Madison, JJ and Morgan over to capture a great photo opportunity!
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Morgan Shea Turns 2!
Madison is always full of great ideas. An idea to celebrate Morgan's second birthday was one of them - The Phoenix Zoo - Morgan loves animals - perfect! What a beautiful day it was! The sun was shining, the weather was perfect, after all it is Phoenix... even Grandma Paula and Grandpa Marc were there to help celebrate. Morgan loved the animals - she pointed them all out to her sister and brother and waved bye-bye as we left each exhibit. We topped the afternoon off with cake and ice cream, of course. It didn't take Morgan long to figure out the best part - blowing out the candles...over and over and over again.
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