Dr. Visit, Treatment Today

Well we were bound to get good at this if we kept trying.  K had her pre-treatment visit with Dr. Shah and all went well.  Dr. Shah feels the lump(s) are getting smaller and are soft.  Most importantly, the "pinkness" (IBC symptom) is minimal.  Just like last visit, the news is as good as it can be.  Everything checked out so we went for the 3rd Chemo treatment.  We got home mid afternoon, had a snack and Kimmy took a little nap.  She is out riding her bike as I type.  The crappiness seems to set in over the coming days but overall she is tolerating the treatments very well.  I'm convinced it is due in part to her excellent overall physical condition.  ;)  Ok, not that!  I mean her fitness!  But she looks so damn fine, too.  And, I have to give God the big nod as well.  So far we have been blessed in this process.

Add to the list of things I never thought I would do:  shave my wife's head!  I talked her out of the mohawk.

My wife is so very brave.  She goes about all of this with her chin up.  We have our ups and downs, but she keeps on going and rarely complains, even though she has earned the right.

Once she is past the worst of the side effects, we will be looking at the 4th and final of these "3 week treatments".  I think we both feel finishing the 4th will be a milestone.  Late November she starts 12 weeks of weekly treatments and Dr. Shah says there is less nausea resulting from those.  Also, we will be half way through the planned 6 months of chemo.  The "chemo first" type of treatment plan is a newer method of treatment for IBC.  The idea is to shrink the cancer in order to get a better shot at removing all of it with surgery.

My cousin Patty from Boston tells us Tufts has an IBC Center.  We are very happy with MD Anderson but we will explore our options just to have all the bases covered.  I'll post an update in a few days about how Kimberly is feeling.  Love and thanks to all!