High Risk but Not Complicated

Good day good people...

We are up at Stanford right now waiting to have some fluid drained. Yesterday we met with Oncologist, Dr. Yen, to discuss Deb's pathology and his proposed treatment.

Due to the size and rapid growth of Deb's tumor and the fact that lymph nodes are involved, the treatment, according to Dr. Yen, will be "tough, but tolerable". He wants to attack it aggressively and quickly. It looks like chemotherapy treatments will begin next Thursday. Deb will receive chemo treatments in 2 phases; every 3 weeks for 4 times for the first round and then another type of chemo 4 times every 3 weeks to be followed by hormone treatments. After chemo treatments will be Radiation. Needless to say, the treatments will likely last between 8 months and a year.

So, before treatment begins, we need to:
1. Take care of this ceroma (fluid build up). That'll get done today and is the reason I'm typing this at Stanford. After that, today we'll also be measured by "Vic" for a clinical study on Lymphodema, for which she's been measured once before. This is just arm measurements to detect potential Lymphodema early.
2. Install a port for the chemo treatment. We got a call this morning from a Dr. David Rose in Santa Cruz and we'll go meet him tomorrow afternoon at 4pm.
3. Haircut - so as to avoid large clumps of long hair falling out and for a (hopefully) easier visual transition for Ryan; who will go with Deb to see the hair being cut.
4. Manicure/Pedicure -- a girl's gotta pamper herself, right? No, seriously, it's a good idea to take care of this before treatments begin to avoid potential infection.
5. Dentist - again, due to the bacteria that's released during regular teeth cleanings, it's advised to do this prior to treatment.

Staring towards the future, knowing that there's a long, tough fight ahead of us is daunting, but we're anxious to begin if only to move past this and get back to the life we know and love. Dr. Yen makes no promises or guarantees, but is reassuring in his acknowledgement of Deb's determination and attitude. When he said that people like her are the reason he went into Oncology it made both of us a little more comfortable with a situation that is so far from comforting.

So that's the news that's fit to print right now. The way things are progressing and developing I'm sure there'll be more to tell soon, but for now, I think that's about it.

Grandma and Papa K should be "Working on a T-bone steak a la carte, Flying over to the golden state" (well, except for the T-bone steak part). We're hoping that we'll be able to make it home before they do, but with the length of our wait here (so far), they might beat us back there. Either way, it'll be really nice to spend some time with them and get to watch them discover their grand-daughter's personality more in person.

Nothing like "waiting" in a "waiting room". Good thing for wi-fi, cell phones, trashy magazines and coffee :)

Thanks again to you all for the tremendous amount of support and food and good vibes - it all contributes to this palpable amount of love that we're feeling and soaking up. You are all incredible people and we value you so much more than words in a blog can communicate.

~Howie