31/08/2022
Sorry it has been some time since we have last updated. Niki here. It has been a long couple of months. We made it through 2 rounds of the second type of chemo before Sue had sudden onset of burning pain at the site of her mass. It then tripled in size and felt swollen. We met emergently with her surgeon who did US showing her initial mass had a “baby” and had grown; there was also a suspicious spot in her right breast. We then had CT chest/abd/pelvis to be sure no distant spread; this showed no distal disease which was a great blessing and answered prayers! It is unsure what caused this: whether it was the lack of chemo for 6 weeks due to her effects from the first chemo or if her cancer was resistant to the second type of chemo. Nonetheless, we had hit another bump in the road.
After great discussion with her oncologist and him checking with many of his peers, we opted to go back to the initial chemo for 2 cycles (6 weeks) as she had a great response to that initially, at one point not even feeling the mass anymore. We just finished that one dose shy due to abnormal labs, dizziness, and rash. We had a CT chest/abd/pelvis yesterday with great news! No further spread and initial mass had shrunk at least a centimeter. (The “baby” was only seen on US.) Her oncologist called giving the good news this morning and his green light for surgery. We had an appointment with her surgeon this afternoon who was very excited to see the changes on exam today and is also agreeable to surgery.
We now have a surgery date! Next Wednesday, 9/7, Sue will have a bilateral mastectomy and lymph node removal. We are more than thrilled to reach this point in her cancer journey! It has been a long road but we are so blessed to make it here. We are unsure what the plan will be after surgery (radiation, chemo, or immunotherapy). That will be decided on the pathology from the tissue removed.
We appreciate all of the calls, texts, messages, and most of all prayers during this journey. We are so thankful for each and every one of you. Many have reached out to us numerous times as to how you can help. We welcome any who are willing to donate meals during Sue’s recovery from surgery. She will be pretty limited in terms of mobility and will be relying on her children and their spouses for most things during this time but we all have full time jobs unfortunately! It would be a great help to fill her fridge whether it is home cooked, store bought, or delivered to make things easier for her and her family during this stressful time. Please send myself, Niki Rogers, a message or the Sue’s Ho***rs page and we will start a sign up. However, most of all we ask for your prayers and good vibes to get us through this next hurdle of surgery. Pray for clear margins and good pathology results so we can soon make the “CANCER FREE” announcement.
Again, thank you all. Much love from Sue and her family!
