Hillman Cancer Center

New Castle, PA

September 12 9:30 a.m.

Our appointment with Dr. L. on September 12 that I promised to tell you about in my blog last week was also a blessing. She was so genuinely happy that I had done so well through my chemo—no nausea, no throwing up, no neuropathy.

I reminded Dr. L that it had been her idea for me to have surgery first because if we did chemo first, she would have to do the “worst kind of chemo” because she didn’t know what they’d find when they did surgery. Prior to surgery, she said I was on track not to need the worst kind of chemo. It had turned out she was right, and because of her insight, I didn’t have the worst kind of chemo which was probably why I did so well. I thanked her.

Dr. L also outlined the next step in my treatment. She had explained before that my cancer was all early stage and no lymph node involvement and that they believed they got it all during surgery. But because of one kind of cancer I had (HER2+), it was necessary for me to have twelve weeks of chemo and many months of targeted treatment to lessen the chances of recurrence. Targeted treatment would begin on September 19 and take place every three weeks until May or June.

Our oncologist doesn’t want the plastic surgeon or his PA to do any kind of treatment until it least four weeks after chemo to give my lab numbers time to return to normal. What a blessing to have someone we trust to guide the direction we are taking.

After our appointment with Dr. L, we went on to Annie’s POD where we were blessed to have Eileen ( the Christian friend we made earlier) stop in to see us again and later, her sister came to talk more about how much she enjoyed the Sarah’s Legacy series. Eileen and I agreed to keep in touch.

A little later an older couple came in to whom we introduced ourselves, although today I can’t remember their names! The husband was the one in the chemo chair but as we talked, we learned that his wife had been plagued with many illnesses. She is the only person I’ve ever met who also had Trigeminal Neuralgia Type II—called the suicide disease because of the terrible pain it causes—which I had twice in Japan. We shared our mutual experiences with the disease.

I was concerned when her husband said he doesn’t eat at all so they told me he is on a feeding tube because he has esophageal cancer. He is at HCC to have chemo in hopes that he will be able to have surgery eventually. I shared my brother’s story of esophageal cancer and our conversation when he told me that he knew God still had things for him to do.

As the couple left, the wife stopped to tell me she also had breast cancer years ago but she said, “You were a missionary so I guess you’d understand, I’m the church organist,” meaning God still had things for her to do. Then she added, “He’s just getting started on my husband.” Praying that her husband will also hear God speaking to him.

A little later, a younger woman and her son came in and sat down across from us, the mother in the chemo chair. After they were settled, I introduced us and said, “We think we may as well be one big happy family here—we’re all in the same club!”

They agreed and introduced themselves as Linda and Kyle. Linda said this was her first time at HCC and she was very nervous. After Annie came in to talk to them, it became clear that Linda was very scared to have blood drawn from her port. (Annie had told me before that people were often afraid of getting a port. When she learned what a positive attitude I had about my port, she said she was going to have me be the poster child to help people get over their fear!)

As Annie and Linda continued to talk about using the port, I said, “Linda, for what it’s worth, I have a port and have had no problems with it at all. I’ve been so thankful that my surgeon just was very matter of fact about me getting one.  I’ve heard of so many people who had so many problems with their veins because they didn’t have a port.”

Linda listened and began to calm down, thanking me for sharing. I sat and prayed silently while Annie drew blood from her port, and she did fine. Annie thanked me later for encouraging Linda, and I couldn’t help but feel that God had me there at just the right time for Linda’s sake.

I was also able to tell Kyle how pleased I was to see a young man there with his mother. He sat a bit taller, smiled at her and said, “I wouldn’t have missed it.” He did a great job of encouraging his mom.

Earlier that week, I bought a thank you card for Annie. I know we will continue to see her every three weeks, but I just felt like it was important on my last day of chemo to express our appreciation in a tangible way. She was sitting at her desk when I came from the bathroom into the oncology nurses’ area with something in my hand. She looked up and said, “What–do we need more toilet paper in the bathroom?”

I laughed and said, “No, we just wanted to express our appreciation to you on this important day, even though we know we will continue to see you.” As she got up and hugged me, I added, “And we’re hoping you’ll stop playing the lottery so you’ll be able to quit your job!”

We had a good laugh but she wouldn’t make any promises.

How thankful we are for all the wonderful medical personnel who’ve taken such good care of us at the New Castle HCC during the past three months and for the friends we’ve made there.

Heavenly Father, how can we doubt that our steps are “ordered by the Lord” as we place our trust in you. Amen.

*I love this completely unplanned HIS on this selfie taken the last day of my chemo treatments. It’s because we are HIS that we are still smiling

Health Update

My Holter (heart) Monitor was put in place on Tuesday morning, September 19. Things have certainly changed since I had a heart monitor years ago! It’s very small and will stay in place for 48 hours. I’m praying that if there’s a problem, it will be revealed, but I’ve had barely any palpitations since they reduced my steroids. I also enjoyed a good night’s sleep following my Targeted Treatment because I don’t need to take steroids before or during the treatment. My non-fasting glucose (part of one of the lab tests they do) was also normal because of the lack of steroids. Praise God!

I had no reaction at all to the Targeted Treatment which was also a huge praise. They give me three times as much Herceptin as I had during the chemo treatment in the same amount of time. We had to change my appointment at HCC to 2:00 in the afternoon because of the Holter Monitor appointment in the morning. Jody was our oncology nurse and no one else was in her POD within talking distance. Nothing noteworthy took place during the two hours we were there. Donn didn’t need to wrap my feet in icepacks with duct tape so our load of things to carry was much lighter. My next treatment will be in three weeks, Tuesday, October 10.  

Please pray for me to have wisdom as I continue to recover my strength. It’s easy for people to assume that now that I’m done with chemo, I can get back to “normal,” but I know it may not be that easy. In spite of how well I did, the chemo took a toll on my strength, and I don’t want to overdo. At some point, I will have another surgery and I want to be ready. I have an appointment with the plastic surgeon’s PA on Monday, October 2. 

Thank you so much for your prayers!

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