Mom Update: August 21

Mom's tests last week were encouraging but we did discover after she wore a heart monitor for 24 hours that she would need a pace maker. She is a very high risk patient. She was admitted to Bronson Hospital in Kalamazoo last Thursday and the pacemaker was installed with no problems. She remained there overnight and came home Friday evening.

She was feeling tired, but pretty good. It is a new incision for her to worry about and to heal, but she was feeling better on Sunday and seemed to be enjoying her day.

Today she had multiple blood tests run again. She also had appointments with her surgeon and her family doctor. They both said she was doing very well. Dr. Warnsby (the surgeon) discussed Mom's upcoming surgery and stated that she would need to go in to remove a very large blood clot from her breast which formed from the biopsy and all the bleeding. At that time she would also remove the remaining effected areas as needed. If things went well it would NOT be necessary for her to have a mastectomy after all.

Mom is a little upset about this news. She would rather they just go in and do the mastectomy, if it would guarantee that she would not need to have an additional surgery. She says they have already done one surgery on her breast now they want to do 2 more. She feels like this is just an indication that they are really unsure of themselves. I think she has lost confidence in her surgeon. She just wants to have it over with.

She has a CT scan tomorrow which will tell them more about whether or not the cancer has progressed beyond where it was at the time of surgery. Then she meets on Friday with a radiation specialist. He will give his opinion as to whether or not she is a candidate for radiation therapy as opposed to the meastectomy.

She meets with Dr. Shen (the blood specialist/cancer doctor) next Tuesday. Ultimaltely he is the doctor who makes the decisions as to what is the best way to proceed. I will let you know his opinion once we have it.

She has an appointment with a nuerologist regarding the numbness in her right knee and leg. Until he approves she will be unable to drive. Not that she is planning on taking any road trips in the meantime.

Keep Mom in your thoughts and prayers. Give her a call or send a card. She has really been blessed by all those who have contacted her. It really does make a difference.

Thanks for everything.