Good news, and no news…

The good news is that we got the results from the PET scan.  All the cancer is still believed to be in the breast and has not spread anywhere else.  So the cancer is definitely treatable.  The scan also showed up with black spots in her neck and upper spine showing that Britteny was tense and possibly nervous.  Not sure what that’s all about.  What’s she got going that could be so stressful?  Lol!  There will be another scan sometime after all the chemo is complete.  The doctor said that this time he will give her some stuff to basically get her to sleep through the scan so no muscle activity will be going on.  The scan also showed a large black mass up in her head which indicated that she is not brain dead.  Whew!

The no news is that we thought that we’d get some kind of results of her DNA to see if she is a carrier for a mutated breast cancer gene.  Turns out we have to request the test be done.  So there has not been any kind of DNA testing.  We do plan to have Britteny tested for the mutated gene which only involves getting some blood drawn.  Pretty simple.

We met the doctor who will be doing the radiation.  We both like him pretty well.  Talked with him for about an hour going over the game plan for when the time comes. 

Seems like the prayers are working thanks to our faith community!  Thank you all!!

Andy

The weekend is over

We were told by the nurses that this last weekend was going to be the worst time for Britteny after her chemo treatment.  As it turned out, Britteny was tired all day Friday and tired most of the day Saturday.  By Sunday Britteny was back to her old self like nothing has changed.  Currently she is doing great, no nausea, headaches, fevers or fatigue.  Praise God! 

Today we were informed that our appointment to get the results for the PET scan has been moved up by one day to Wednesday afternoon.  But that won’t be all, we will also find out if Britteny carries the breast cancer gene and we will meet the radiation doctor that will treat Britteny. 

Not really much else to report.  Everything is going pretty well, the kids are doing great; we’re just waiting for Wednesday to come around.  Thank you again for your continuous prayers.

Scan of the PET variety

Today we went to have the PET scan.  It took about an hour and a half and seemed to go pretty well, at least that I know of since I had to wait in the waiting room.  The waiting room at Texas Oncology is nice.  There is a piano in the room that people play, today a girl played "Moonlight Sonata" which is one of my favorites.  Anywho, we were told the chemo that Britteny started yesterday knocks down the white blood cells and usually doesn't return to normal for 3 weeks.  After the PET scan Britteny recieved a shot to help boost her white blood cell count so that she will be ready again for chemo in 2 weeks.

After the PET scan Britteny was told that she could be around the kids but could not hold them until tomorrow for fear of radiation transfering to them.  Last night and for the appointment Franklin stayed with Britteny's sister Amanda and Abigail stayed with my mom.  We went to pick up Franklin and she said it was very hard not to get out and pick him up as he ran out to the car to see her.  Franklin sure missed his mommy.  We got back home today and Britteny felt tired and took a good nap.  She hasn't had any headache or nausea since yesterday afternoon. 

Britteny's mom is staying with us tonight to help out with the kiddos Friday.  What a great lady.  Thank you very much, Meleney!

We have an appointment next week, Thursday, to go over the results of the PET scan.  Thanks again for your continued prayers!

A couple pics, why not.

Britteny with our little ones who will definitely help get us through this.

A picture of the whole family.  Thank you Gamblin family for the backdrop! :)

Everything so far...

This blog is to inform the masses of the events that occur around my beautiful wife, Britteny and her breast cancer. 

A question that is asked a LOT is "how did you find out?"  Well, without further adieu, here is how it all started.  When Britteny was breast feeding Franklin, she developed mastitis.  The doctor treated her and all was well. Then about 2 months before Abigail was born, Britteny started showing signs of enlargement without pain which was passed off as no infection or anything to worry about.  After Abigail's birth there were signs of infection and antibiotics were given to Britteny.  After the antibiotics were finished, there was no change so the family physician ordered a mammogram for further analysis with a breast specialist which was on June 7th.  That same day they took a small biopsy of some cells for some initial testing.  June 12th we were back at the breast specialist and we were informed that it was "very likely" that Britteny had cancer.  Also on that day they did another biopsy and actually took tissue to get a better read on the possible cancer.  June 13th we were back at the doctor's office and Britteny was diagnosed with Inflammatory Breast Cancer (IBC).  The cancer is fast growing (grade 3) and is currently considered to be stage 3.  We were told that IBC is only 1% of all breast cancers and is typically found the way we found it.  Also on June 13th we meet the oncologist who will be taking care of Britteny's treatment at Texas Oncology.  The next day Britteny had surgery to put in a port to receive chemo treatment.

Britteny's oncologist said that she will be treated 4 ways.  First there will be 20 weeks of chemotherapy to reduce inflammation.  Next will be surgery, a mastectomy to be exact.  Following surgery will be radiation and some kind of pill regimen which we will find out more about down the road.

After a heart echo (echocardiogram) last week we found out that Britteny's heart is good to go for chemotherapy.  So, today was the first day of chemo.  She took it pretty well after a little bit of nervousness.  I was so proud!  Sitting in the waiting room reinforced what everybody has been telling us, "y'all are so young!"  We were definitely the youngest in the office today.  A couple hours after she completed her chemo she began to feel nauseous.  I think it was because we were at Heather and Ryan's house where her and Heather talked solid for a couple hours wearing out Britteny.  We got home and after some rest Britteny is back up and around as usual.

Tomorrow she has a PET scan to see if the cancer has spread anywhere else.  Please be praying for her!

Also, thank you everyone so much for the prayers so far.  We can definitely tell they are working; spirits are high and things seem to be flowing pretty smoothly with appointments.  This is just something we have to go through right now and we really appreciate the support.

Sorry for the novel, but so much has happened in the last couple weeks that it takes a lot to get caught up on everything.  I promise they won't all be this long.  Again thank you for everything!