The Light at the End of the Road! I Can See It!

Yes, Rigo and I have been searching for answers as to when this ride is going to end. We boarded this ride in February and feel like we have been going full-speed ahead since then. As most of you know, my work has been gracious enough to allow me to have some time off to get my health in order and complete my treatments. The problem is, we never really quite understood how exhaustive my treatments were going to be. Now we know (or at least we have a game plan).



So, here we are, July 1, 2007. I am not having any chemo for the next four weeks. Does that worry me ... yes siree! I hate knowing that while cancer may still live inside my body, I am not doing anything to treat it. Even though one feels like crap on chemo, at least you get this peace of mind knowing you are doing what you can to one-up this cancer thing. For now, I must be content putting my health concerns to the side in order to prepare for the baby ... ah, the baby! He will be making his arrival (via induction and natural delivery) in 16 more days, but who's counting! July 17th Mr. Blake-something-Ledezma should be here.



My counts need time to bounce back up after delivery, so I am taking two weeks off of chemo after the baby. I will begin new chemo (Taxol is the regimen) on July 30th. Yes, in a sick and morbid way I am looking foward to beginning again, for the same reason as above. I will lose any hair growth I have had and have to deal with the typical nonsense that goes along with chemo, but at least it's treatment ... each cycle of chemo means more and more cancer cells are dying! Chemo will last only 8 weeks this go around ... piece of cake!



That leads us to the end of September, 2007. Chemo - check, baby - check ... that leaves us with surgery and possible radiation. We are not planning on having radiation, unless we find positive lymph nodes during surgery ... and with the power of positive thinking, I know we will NOT be finding positive nodes!



So, I met my General Surgeon and Plastic Surgeon in Stanford last week. Personality-wise, I like them both. The GS is a woman, Dr. Irene Wapiner and the PS is a man, Dr. Kahn. Although I will be meeting with them again to finalize matters, here is my tentative plan (the thing with this route, surgery, is it all becomes MY DECISION on what is to happen. I will explain what I think will happen now, but all that can change, if I want it too. Having my first born in two weeks may make me feel different about some of this. Nothing is set in stone.)

I will have an MRI to screen for the tumor(s) about 3 weeks after I finish Taxol ... okay, third week in October. I will be staying at Stanford for two days at this time so I can meet with the doctors and review all the tests as to how I responded to chemo.

I will have surgery, a bilateral mastectomy (both breasts) AND immediate reconstruction (my choice again) of implants with expanders (OUCH) approximately 4 weeks post-chemo. That is the end of October. I will only be in the hospital for 2 nights for this procedure. 7 days after the procedure, I will return to Stanford to remove my appendages, nice. Following that, I will be going to Stanford every two weeks for 3 months to fill my expanders. Once the expanders are filled, approximately, the end of January, I will have another surgery to switch the expander with the implant ... an exchange surgery.

Viola, I'm done (assuming no radiation). My life will be back to normal, I hope. Blake will be here. Chemo done. Surgery done. Reconstruction done. Cancer done. Back to a normal-living 28 year old wife, mother and DA! I can't wait to get back to work at this point ... yes, I know baby is on the way, but I cannot stand thinking that cancer will eat up more than a year of my life. My goal is to be back before the one-year mark, the infamous Valentine's Day Anniversary of Cancer! I need that for myself, to avoid feeling like a victim to this awful disease. I need to get control of my life again, on my terms. Yes, baby may change things, but no matter what, my goal is to be in my office at work on Valentine's Day, if not earlier. Then, if I need too, Rigo and I can see how I feel about work-baby. But for now, V-Day it is!

I hope this catches you all up with our journey. I can't believe next post will be about the baby! Rigo and I aren't good with pictures and the internet, but I will get a friend to post Blake and Mommy's pics asap after the birth. Please keep us in your prayers and thoughts ... we are halfway there! I can see the light at the end of the road, finally!