Renewed Hope

First and foremost - I have to begin this post by saying THANK YOU.  The outpouring support we have received has been absolutely amazing and very much appreciated.   It has been in the last few days that I have truly realized the "army" that we have on this journey with us!  From the gifts, cards, supplies, notes, visits from friends and family, and care packages, it is overwhelming the amount of love and support that surround us and we are extremely grateful!  Most especially thank you to Grandma Alice for watching the kids the past 24 hours and for my parents who joined us on our journey north for another set of ears.

So, let's get to today.  We have spent the last 12+ hours in Rochester, MN at the Mayo Clinic; what an amazing place!  Although the day began at 8:00 AM and concluded after 5:00 PM, it was an informative day that allowed us to have a plan moving forward!  

The Short Version: Dr. Goetz feels like he can treat this.  Although not curable, manageable for many years to come!

The Long Version:  We got to spend almost 90 minutes with Dr. Goetz who provided the hope that we have all been needing.   I have never met someone who has as much knowledge and understanding of a topic, yet who is able to speak to you with a level of respect, compassion, and understanding.  He made me feel like he had known me forever and was confident in the road ahead. Dr. Goetz definitely did his homework!  The initial treatment plan called for a CT scan/bone biopsy to ensure that the cancer had truly spread to the bones, but that has since been changed as Dr. Goetz does not believe the locations of the cells would allow for an easy biopsy and cause the potential of a inaccurate result.  As much as I have been praying that the cancer is not in my bones, I completely understand his assessment and ultimately, this will really not affect the current treatment plan. 

So......here is the treatment plan that I began TODAY!  Round 1 is a treatment to stop the production of estrogen through the ovaries, the estrogen that we can control.  This resulted in a shot to shut off my ovaries; next visit we will have surgery to remove my ovaries and eliminate the shot all together.  Round 2 begins in 2 weeks with the introduction of a medicine to block the remaining estrogen, thankfully this is in pill form and can be done without any hospitals!

Our next visit to Mayo will be in a little over a month where we will introduce Round 3 which is a newly approved medicine to reduce the cells from "working around the anti-hormone."  This is a exciting new development in my situation!  Thankfully this is also a pill that requires no visits!

The good news is that this treatment plan does not call for any chemotherapy and the side affects of these medicines are minimal!  We will recheck the PET scan in 3 months and pray that all of these  processes are working as they should.....if that were the case, we would see the cells shrinking with the ultimate goal of them being undetectable!

We are finally on the last leg of our journey home and ironically, the song playing through the speakers is Forever Young.  I am one to sing along to various songs without paying much attention to the words; however, Eric told me to pause and listen to what Rod Stewart is saying in these words.  Pretty powerful after a day like today......I will remain optimistic and "forever young!"

Thank you for following our journey and joining us in prayer!  I will be sure to update before our next appointment to share how things are going with the treatment plan.  For now, enjoy your week and please do me a favor and love those around you and continue the prayers, not only for myself, but for a dear high school friend whose family lost their husband and father this week.

Love to you all!