This is going to be a long one.
Yes folks - the rumors are true. If you haven't heard yet (I think many of you have) - Jana is pregnant.
Believe me, we were more shocked than you are now.
Hopefully, I can answer some of the questions I know you will have:
She is 23 weeks tomorrow. She will deliver around weeks 34-36.
We found out about three weeks after she was diagnosed, when she literally was about to start chemo. Fortunately, one of the doctors we interviewed asked her about her cycle and then realized she was a bit late. We thought there was no way she was prego, but decided to take a pee test anyway. Well, that pee test turned into about 30 of them and here we are.
What to do now? We had no idea, and there is zero information out there for pregnant women dealing with cancer. Jana's OB was no help whatsoever either. The first words out of her mouth were "you need to terminate." Thankfully, Jana's response was "that's not going to happen, what can we do?" Her OB said she could/would not help us as she thought - incorrectly I should add - that the fetus can't survive the treatments and it would put Jana's life in danger. Suffice it to say, she is no longer Jana's OB.
As a side note, we have come to learn there are no numbers about the incidence of pregnant women with cancer. It really made us think about how many women might be out there as uninformed as we were and are actually listening to the first opinion they get and terminating their pregnancies. We can't stress enough the importance of getting 2nd, 3rd and even 4th opinions when dealing with issues like this.
(She did do two things right though, and I have to give credit where it is due: she suggested Jana get her annual mammogram starting at age 38, which probably saved her life; and she referred us to the high-risk maternity group at Evanston North Shore Hospital - a group of doctors who are as caring as they are brilliant.)
Fortunately, a close friend of ours - who is a breast cancer survivor - consulted with her doctor at MD Anderson in Houston. He told her that we needed to meet with one of the doctors there - Dr. Richard Theriault - who is one of, if not the, leading doctor in dealing with pregnant women with cancer.
Now you all know the reason we put our treatments on hold a bit to fly down there and meet with him.
He was a godsend and immediately put us at ease. He determined our course of action and called our oncologist to consult on the schedule of treatment.
We had to wait until after week 10 to have the surgery; and then wait until after the first trimester to begin chemo.
It all gets a bit sciencey here, so bear with me. You shouldn't do anything during weeks 6-10 because that is the biggest developmental leap for the baby. Once the first trimester has passed, the placenta has reached a stage where it is really in a position to help the fetus. In a nutshell, the chemo drugs do not penetrate the placenta. Unlike narcotics and alcohol (which are small molecule drugs), chemo drugs are large molecule and the placenta keeps them out.
Pretty cool stuff.
How has this affected Jana? Well, she looks fantastic - of course - but she is really tired. Still trying to rein her in - to no avail. But she is getting better at listening to her body and sleeping when needed.
Georgia is really excited about being a big sister and is already helping with potential names.
Hopefully, that will be enough for you to digest over the holiday weekend ;).
And I hope you all have a great 4th of July.
Best,
P.J.
Showing posts with label breast cancer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label breast cancer. Show all posts
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Monday, June 22, 2009
No More Bad Hair Days
It's finally happening. The hair is falling out in droves. We were trying to have some fun with the whole thing - competitions every morning to see whose pillow had the most hair on it. When Jana started winning, the novelty began to wear off. When she tried to wash her hair and found a dead wombat in the shower, well, game over.
We are now on to hats and scarves. Jana has always been gorgeous, but who knew she'd look so good as a pirate?
Hair issues aside, Jana is doing great. She's feeling well and still has a lot of energy. It's a constant battle for me to get her to slow down and rest - but I'll take that over bed-ridden any day.
Thanks for all of the good thoughts and prayers - keep 'em coming.
P.J.
We are now on to hats and scarves. Jana has always been gorgeous, but who knew she'd look so good as a pirate?
Hair issues aside, Jana is doing great. She's feeling well and still has a lot of energy. It's a constant battle for me to get her to slow down and rest - but I'll take that over bed-ridden any day.
Thanks for all of the good thoughts and prayers - keep 'em coming.
P.J.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Bye Bye Boobs
It's official - the girls are gone. I just met with the surgeon who said everything went well. Right now, Jana is still in surgery with the plastic surgeon. She will be there for about an hour or so and then into recovery for another hour. I'll get to see her after they move her to her room.
So far, so good.
So far, so good.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Here we go
Alright folks, as you can see, the blog is finally up. Sorry it took so long, but we've had a few other things on our minds in the past few weeks.
We are setting this up to keep you - our friends and family (and anyone we don't know who might have a morbid fascination with things like this) - updated as to Jana's condition and generally, how things are going. Jana will probably be doing most of the writing, but I will likely chime in fairly often as well. We probably won't be updating every day, but work is slow, so you never know. We'll also be making it a bit more pretty with pictures, a different background and numerous other enhancements (as we figure them out).
Please feel free to leave any comments/questions for either of us here as well. We want to hear from all of you, and talk to you about what is going on, but I am afraid we might not have the time to get back to each of you individually.
First, let me say thank you to everyone for your heartfelt wishes, prayers and offers of assistance. They really help more than you know. Since the diagnosis, we have been on a roller coaster trying to process everything that's happening and your words of encouragement have helped both of us deal with this. As for the assistance, while we haven't imposed on you too much yet, get ready. I am quite sure we will need as much help as we can get in the coming weeks and months. So enjoy your Spring Breaks - we're putting you to work when you get back.
Second, for those of you who don't know the specifics yet, Jana has been diagnosed with Type 2, Stage 2 Breast Cancer in her right breast. She also has a tumor in her Lymph Nodes. After consulting with a vast array of fantastic doctors and surgeons (both locally and in Houston at MD Anderson) - we finally have a treatment plan in place and will move forward in the next few weeks implementing that plan. We have been told by every one of our doctor's that the type of cancer she has is the most common and the treatment standards in place will help ensure that she will be healthy and cancer free in a little less than a year.
As of now, Jana is scheduled for surgery in mid-April. One question we have been hearing a lot is "Why surgery before chemo?" We have been assured that no matter which you do first, it doesn't impact the outcome. Most issues arise when people delay treatment too long because they can't make a decision on which to do first. We simply chose this option.
Third, we have told Georgia what is going on. She is understandably scared for her mom, but she also knows mommy will get better and will be healthy.
As a side note: Thank you to the parents of one of Georgia's school mates for telling your child that Jana had breast cancer. You really helped push up our time frame for how WE wanted to tell our child. I guess you didn't understand that kids that age try to one up eachother at every turn and brag about what they know. I am sure it helped soften the blow coming from someone she knows at school instead of her parents. I bet you are the parents who already told your child about Santa and the Easter Bunny too. Perhaps next time you should just say - "Oh that's too bad - we need to make sure Georgia is OK and really be her friend right now." Your child does not need to get their medical degree this early.
Finally, we really want to be back in our house when the treatments start and it's starting to look like that may happen. Again, for those of you who don't know, we decided to enact our own local stimulus plan and put an addition on our house. Since our plan actually puts people to work, we feel really good about it, but it has taken much longer than anticipated. The timing thing really didn't matter before - but now we are in hurry up mode get the sucker done.
That's it for now, but keep checking for updates.
Again, thank you all for helping us out. It means so much to us both.
P.J.
We are setting this up to keep you - our friends and family (and anyone we don't know who might have a morbid fascination with things like this) - updated as to Jana's condition and generally, how things are going. Jana will probably be doing most of the writing, but I will likely chime in fairly often as well. We probably won't be updating every day, but work is slow, so you never know. We'll also be making it a bit more pretty with pictures, a different background and numerous other enhancements (as we figure them out).
Please feel free to leave any comments/questions for either of us here as well. We want to hear from all of you, and talk to you about what is going on, but I am afraid we might not have the time to get back to each of you individually.
First, let me say thank you to everyone for your heartfelt wishes, prayers and offers of assistance. They really help more than you know. Since the diagnosis, we have been on a roller coaster trying to process everything that's happening and your words of encouragement have helped both of us deal with this. As for the assistance, while we haven't imposed on you too much yet, get ready. I am quite sure we will need as much help as we can get in the coming weeks and months. So enjoy your Spring Breaks - we're putting you to work when you get back.
Second, for those of you who don't know the specifics yet, Jana has been diagnosed with Type 2, Stage 2 Breast Cancer in her right breast. She also has a tumor in her Lymph Nodes. After consulting with a vast array of fantastic doctors and surgeons (both locally and in Houston at MD Anderson) - we finally have a treatment plan in place and will move forward in the next few weeks implementing that plan. We have been told by every one of our doctor's that the type of cancer she has is the most common and the treatment standards in place will help ensure that she will be healthy and cancer free in a little less than a year.
As of now, Jana is scheduled for surgery in mid-April. One question we have been hearing a lot is "Why surgery before chemo?" We have been assured that no matter which you do first, it doesn't impact the outcome. Most issues arise when people delay treatment too long because they can't make a decision on which to do first. We simply chose this option.
Third, we have told Georgia what is going on. She is understandably scared for her mom, but she also knows mommy will get better and will be healthy.
As a side note: Thank you to the parents of one of Georgia's school mates for telling your child that Jana had breast cancer. You really helped push up our time frame for how WE wanted to tell our child. I guess you didn't understand that kids that age try to one up eachother at every turn and brag about what they know. I am sure it helped soften the blow coming from someone she knows at school instead of her parents. I bet you are the parents who already told your child about Santa and the Easter Bunny too. Perhaps next time you should just say - "Oh that's too bad - we need to make sure Georgia is OK and really be her friend right now." Your child does not need to get their medical degree this early.
Finally, we really want to be back in our house when the treatments start and it's starting to look like that may happen. Again, for those of you who don't know, we decided to enact our own local stimulus plan and put an addition on our house. Since our plan actually puts people to work, we feel really good about it, but it has taken much longer than anticipated. The timing thing really didn't matter before - but now we are in hurry up mode get the sucker done.
That's it for now, but keep checking for updates.
Again, thank you all for helping us out. It means so much to us both.
P.J.
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