My dear friend

I can imagine these words being carried to you through cyberspace on the back of a friendly dragon.  I'm dictating the words into a voice recognition system, called Dragon Naturally Speaking, and I'm delighted to be able to rest my sore arm, yet still be able to communicate with you! Thanks, too, to Val Hodgkin who typed many of the details for me and sent that on from UK for me to incorporate in this memo.

Wednesday was an exhausting day.  My friend Becky Leverington took me to my doctors' appointments, and encouraged me through every moment of the long day.  Becky listened to all that was said, and even made notes so that we could remember the details later.

Dr Maria Juarez is my medical oncologist. I am very thankful to have such a good communicator as a doctor. I like her a lot, and indeed appreciated all the staff I met yesterday in every doctor’s office. It really helped me during a tough day.  

So here's the latest.

The CAT scan showed several fairly small spots that gave concern, but that news sounded far better than I had dared to hope. And today I had a different kind of scan, a PET scan, to try and clarify whether these areas are spread from the tumor in my arm. We should have the results by Monday.

The tumor appears to have grown even in the ten days since the MRI scan. The doctor would like to treat it as aggressively as possible. The ideal regimen would be to begin chemotherapy on Monday (12th November). This would be administered as a continuous infusion from Monday to Friday through a port in the vein near my collarbone. That still has to be put in tomorrow morning.

On Monday I will go into the hospital just to have the infusion started and then go home with the pump and be able to be at home. I will have to carry that pump with me day and night for five days, but will have weekends off. Please pray that my insurance company will agree to cover the best anti nausea drugs possible. The next dose of chemo will then be Monday to Friday the following week and so on for maybe up to six or seven weeks!

While I am receiving chemo the doctors would like to do radiation therapy for ten minutes a day onto the site of the tumor. With positioning, the appointment will take about 30 minutes.

This is a very aggressive approach, for which I am thankful, and by which they hope to save my arm, as well as deal with any spread. There are a few concerns. Firstly I need to have a sophisticated test on my heart to make sure that the baseline heart function is good enough to undergo the Adriamycin chemotherapy proposed at the moment.  The doctor administering radiation therapy is concerned that she has to find a clear channel for lymph drainage that extends from the wrist up to the underarm before she can begin radiation therapy. There is also concern that running both treatments together might lead to other problems including skin irritation. Please pray about these things.
 
I was very impressed by Dr Kesha Henderson, the radiation oncologist. She is so careful and considerate and loving. In fact, God has given me three fine women doctors who are happy to cooperate with each other to try to help me. God is good! He is also giving me good relationships with doctors and technicians and nurses. I am very glad of that. Smiles and hugs help a lot.

After having the PET scan today I returned to the radiation therapy department.  A "mould" needed to be made to support my body in the correct position for radiation. It was attempted yesterday and failed because of some faulty materials. The process was very painful because of having to hold the arm still for so long. God gave me endurance for that procedure today.

As you can see my days are filled with appointments and procedures.  I am so grateful to friends who are rallying round and taking me to these. The last two days I have been "rewarded" by a caramel latte from Starbucks. Thoughtful friends, right? Yes! People are spoiling me right, left and center. Next week Karen's sister Sue comes from Oregon to be with me. Val will get here as Sue leaves, late afternoon on Monday 19th, just as I am beginning the second week of chemo and radiation.

My blood counts will be checked weekly. A major concern will be protection from infection while I’m on the medication.

So, there you have it. Thank you for lifting me up to God in your prayers. I really need you. I am sometimes frightened as I watch, quite literally, the cancer filling my arm. I am trying to learn Scripture for the moments when I lie on the table in the radiation room, verses that remind me to rest in God and trust Him for the future. He and you don’t let me down. Thank you for your love and prayers and support.

I’ve been having trouble with email, so some people missed bulletins. I’m sorry if that happened to you. Thankfully, the problem seems to be fixed now. I do hope so. May this wing its way to you!

With much love, and huge appreciation,

June