Update about diagnosis

Update about diagnosis - May 18, 2012

Family & Friends

As you may have heard, Rachel found out about two weeks ago that she has breast cancer. (For more medical info about this, see the end of the e-mail.)

Bad news

-She has “Triple Negative” invasive ductal breast cancer with infiltration.

Good news

-The medicines for this cancer are very advanced now and there is a good likelihood that she will survive.

The Plan

The plan is that she has chemotherapy every three weeks for four to six sessions and reevaluates the size of the tumor at the three-month mark to see if it has decreased in size. After this point, she will have the tumor removed and sent to pathology. The advantage of chemotherapy first, is that her body is strong right now and would be more vulnerable after chemo and not heal as well. The second benefit to surgery after chemo is that the surgeon can examine the healthy tissue and look for any evidence of remaining cancer growth. There is no plan for radiation at this time.

How You Can Help

The reason I went into such great or boring detail is that there are areas of opportunity for your help. Rachel has a $45.00 copay for every doctor visit. We have been to the doctor six times in the last eight days. *She has applied for a special fund for women with breast cancer to help with the co-pays and meds.* (We'll find out if she will receive the funds soon.) Her medications are $5.00-$100.00 copay to CVS.

Opportunities to help include:

1. Prayer that God would do His will in her cancer.

2. Being available for phone or email support to Rachel.

3. Being available to drive Rachel to some of her appointments. (We're working out a schedule for this. You can look at the blog that we created for this at www.rachelroadtorecovery.blogspot.com)

4. Giving Rachel CVS gift cards for medications (any amount would be appreciated.)

5. Dropping off meals for Tasha or Trevor. Rachel will be on a very special cancer diet and may not be able to eat normal food. (Schedule for food drop off on blog, too.)

6. Prayer that God would do His will in her cancer. (Yes, lots of prayer!!)

--Medical Info--

It is “Triple Negative” invasive ductal breast cancer with infiltration. This means that the markers associated with this specific type of breast cancer are missing and it isn’t receptive to the usual chemotherapy that has been used in the past for this type of cancer. The good news is that she didn’t have this cancer five years ago when they were treating it somewhat generically with average chemotherapy drugs. She will receive Adriamycin, Cytoxan, and Taxol (ACT) and that the war against cancer in the past two years for this type of cancer has been won. She will find out this week if there is there is lymph node involvement; which will determine the stage of cancer. The doctor is hoping for stage I or stage II based on the MRI of last week.

Thanks for your support,

Mary

(Rachel’s sister)

Link to Rachel’s blog:

http://www.rachelroadtorecovery.blogspot.com/