Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Cancer Update: Oncologist meet up

Today was a big day.

I had a PET/CT scan last week and was waiting to hear results. And today I was meeting with my oncologist and I had a talk with my surgeon.

First, PRAISE GOD the scan was clean. I don't have any recognizable cancer in my body. This is huge people especially since they had found cancer in my lymph nodes.

So what's next???

A LOT actually!

Sometime in the next two weeks I have another surgery. The surgeon will be taking 2 more lymph nodes out of my groin. We still don't know if there is cancer in them. The CT/PET scan can't detect individual cancer cells, just large groups of them. If they find more cancer cells, we go in again to take more and so on. We do this until we get clean lymph nodes.

Then after a good recovery period I will start my treatment. This will be a YEAR LONG journey. It is like a chemo treatment, but melanoma cancer does not respond well to the drugs in Chemo. So I will be taking a different type of drug. But it has the same affects as Chemo. I will be sick, tired, sore, my immune system will be gone, I might lose my hair, I might get sores, I might just feel like death warmed over. It's going to be a LONG and HARD 12 months. But I feel good about it. (I'll do another post about this, but God is stronger)

Prayer Requests:

First EVERYONE let's PRAISE GOD for a clean scan. Battling melanoma somewhere else in my body would have been the worst case at this point. And since I was a stage 3 cancer patient, it would have bumped me into stage 4.

Pray for my upcoming surgery. Pray for the surgeon. Pray that there is no more cancer in my lymph node system. And pray against some of the risks that we have now. Because the surgeon is taking more of my lymph nodes there are some big ones. We need my healthy lymph nodes to step up to the plate so to say. They need to take over the job of the now gone lymph nodes. There is a risk that I could lose some circulation in my left leg or develop chronic swelling (not good).

Begin praying for this next year and what it is going to look like for our family.

8 comments:

Cynthia said...

Please, please let me know how we can help out your sweet family throughout this next year. We love you guys so much and are so close. We can help with ANYTHING!!

Beth said...

I'm keeping up with your updates. I'm praying for you and your family! Keep you eyes lifted up! He's your rock! Your strong place!

Anonymous said...

PRAISE GOD for a clean scan. That is awesome. This year will be over before you know. We are praying for all the doctors, nurses, fellow patient and everyone else you will meet on this journey. God is leading you on this long way around to healing to bring hope ans blessings to others. God will carry you.p

Beth said...

Jen,

I've been thinking about you ever since you posted your lymph node test results. You're a strong woman and I know you'll make it through this and be even stronger.

I will keep you in my prayers!

Beth

amanda sadler said...

Praise the Lord! We continue to pray for God's healing hand and that His nearness is evident day to day.
Thank you, Jesus, for a clean scan and for Jen's health. Please keep us informed about the upcoming lymph node removal.

Amy said...

Praying for you and your family!

Anonymous said...

OH Jen--We will keep praying for you. So proud of your faith…God will be there with you each step of the way.
Looking forward to hearing great praise reports…
XO
Monica
PS If you haven't started on Juice Plus, this would be a great time to improve your immune system! Let me know if I can help. It is PROVEN to improve your immune system….Many great testimonials on that.

Tigard Nana said...

We are praying.... Bert & Judy

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