The Servant's Quarters

I just returned from taking Isaac, Olivia, and Philip to see Grandma and Grandpa. Mom seems to be doing better than yesterday. Despite the fact that her pain medication is working for her, she's still uncomfortable. Also, I believe that she's over the initial shock of seeing the site of the mastectomy and seems to have taken the first steps towards adjusting to her loss.

We had a little review of where we go from here this evening. Mom has about 3 or 4 weeks of down time before she's due to start her chemotherapy. Sometime this week (she'll find out the appointment time tomorrow), she's going to see Dr. Israel to learn the results of the biopsies that were taken during the mastectomy. (Everyone, pray that these are free of cancer!) When she saw Dr. Signori, her oncologist, last Friday after the surgery, he revealed a couple of things that we didn't know. First of all (unfortunately), it appears that the cancer did move out of one of her lymph nodes into the surrounding tissue under her right arm. So, while we had hoped that she would be spared having to go through radiation by having her breast removed, that is probably not going to be the case. She'll need the site of this infiltration irradiated after the chemo is concluded. Also, (and this is GREAT news), Mom's cancer is Stage II, not Stage IIIA as we had been told. This is EXCELLENT news, as the chances of treatment and ultimate survival are much better.

Tomorrow, Aunt Fran returns, and we should be starting a week that sees us holding position and healing instead of having surgeries. Thanks God!