Victoria's Fight

Victoria just finished up her second round of chemotherapy and seems to be doing really well. She didn't sleep well the night before chemo, primarily due to the week ahead of us that we have coming up going to and moving back from Italy. We had to be out to the Cancer Treatment Center at 6:40 a.m., so they could draw her blood, send it to the lab, and have the results back, to ensure she was healthy enough to receive chemo. Our medical oncologist was very happy with the results as both her white and red blood cell count was in the 85 percentile of all women. Needless to say, she was very exhausted going into the chemo. Shortly after she was pumped full of all the fluids, drugs, steroids and whatever else they administer prior to beginning the chemo, she was out cold. I was happy to see her get a good nap in her chair. The side effects have been on the lesser side of extreme. The chemo takes a lot out of her, so she is very tired, her stomach doesn't feel right, her appe...

Saturday, February, 18, 2012. Victoria and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary. The day began about as normal as possible. Victoria's Mom arrived in the morning to take care of Brodie for the remainder of the day and night. I had an eventful itinerary planned. Beginning with lunch and horseback riding in North Scottsdale, accommodations at the swanky Hotel Indigo located in Old Town Scottsdale and an evening of dining at the quaint Petite Maison French Restaurant. We enjoyed our lunch and horseback riding and after checking into the hotel we spent about an hour lounging on the outdoor patio, taking in the beautiful Arizona sunset, and having our fill of one of our favorite activities, people watching. With about an hour to go we decided it would be wise to retreat to our room to get ready for dinner. As you may recall from my last post Victoria's hair has been falling out. Understandably, Victoria wanted to wash and do her hair for our dinner. I heard a phrase ...

Yesterday, Victoria and I went to see a Genetics Counselor. The purpose of the appointment was to determine if Victoria is a candidate for genetics testing. We went to the appointment expecting that she would be a candidate mainly because she has breast cancer at such a young age. There are many factors that go into determining if one should have a genetics test to determine their risks for various types of cancer. Many people are tested that do not have cancer, due to the fact that a certain type of cancer, or lots of cancers run in the family, or even just based on their family origin. Victoria is a candidate for the testing, primarily due to her age, as cancer does not run in the family, she is the first with breast cancer. Her blood was drawn and is sitting in a lab in Salt Lake City waiting to be tested. Specifically, what she would be tested for is a mutation in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene. To simplify a mutation in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene does not guarantee somebody will get ...

Okay Folks, so we are one week past Victoria's last chemo treatment and she is feeling great! The first few days were a little rough, but thankfully we didn't have any visits to the porcelain goddess. Victoria was very achy (similar to the ache you get before a fever - but she said it felt 5x worse). She didn't feel like much food wise, but I did my best to get her whatever she wanted. She was also extremely tired. She would sleep in and take 3 hour naps with no problem. Wednesday was the first day she left the house (and basically the couch) to take a walk around the block. Thursday, which was one week from the treatment was the first day she felt like herself. The hardest part for her was not being able to get on the ground and play with Brodie. She still has a constant chalky taste in her mouth, her stomach is upset every once in awhile, but besides that she says she feels great. We hope that this is as bad as it gets after every treatment. Victoria fears...

Today marks what might as well be a National holiday for the most widely watched event in American sports, Super Bowl Sunday! We watch as two teams full of warriors battle it out during 4 grueling 15 minute quarters to crown a victor. These warriors may inspire us temporarily, but the glory or pain for that matter, of what they have endured wears off quickly. My warrior and wife Victoria inspires me. I know this road ahead will be long and at times bumpy, but inside she harnesses the same tenacity and fight that we will see on the grid iron today. Victoria hasn't felt so well the past couple of days. I think it's primarily due to the Nuelasta shot that she received Friday. She has some aches and is a bit fatigued. I want her to feel 100%, but understand that a lot of the post chemo days will probably be like this. To top it off our little guy, Brodie, isn't feeling very well either. We took him to the pediatrician yesterday, just to find out that he has a viral infection ...

Day 1 after Chemo has gone relatively smoothly for Victoria.  She woke up feeling great this morning, no nausea or fatigue, pretty much a normal morning.  The nice thing about the hospital that we are at as I believe I mentioned in an earlier post is that they do alternative treatment that compliments all the medical treatment that she will be going through.  Alternative as in they have you meet with a naturopathic doctor, who can recommend  different herbs, vitamins, and foods for you to eat while going through treatment, along with recommending massage therapy, acupuncture, physical therapy, and chiropractic care.  All of which is available within the hospital. This morning Victoria had an acupuncture appointment, which she seemed to enjoy.  She had a red dot between her eyes where they stuck a needle when she came out.  She said the appointment was pretty neat, at one point she thought she was done, raised her head and there were a ton of nee...

This morning Victoria and I had the BIG meeting to discuss her treatment plan with our medical oncologist.  First she had what is becoming an all too frequent physical exam by the doctor.  Victoria is not bothered by this and neither am I, as I know they are just confirming what the other doctors have felt and are looking for other changes in her body.  After Victoria's exam the doctor is ready to discuss the pathology results of the biopsy that was performed on Monday. The biopsied lymph nodes have come back negative for cancer!  This comes as surprising news as the surgical oncologist was 99% positive the nodes were infected according to the PET scan results and his examination.  Both Victoria and I are happy to hear this news. Next we discuss Victoria's cancer with the doctor.  He explains that her cancer is a pregnancy related breast cancer. This is an area in breast cancer that is not widely discussed.  The increased hormone levels, specifical...

As many of you know and some may be surprised to learn Victoria has been diagnosed with breast cancer. Victoria is by all standards a healthy, fit, 29 year old female, mother of an 18 month old, and wonderful wife. She doesn't have any history of breast cancer in her family and she is young, so a case like hers is very RARE! We don't know what caused this or why, and those questions may never be answered. While living in Italy Victoria noticed a large lump in her left breast. An ultrasound was performed and a biopsy was scheduled and performed on 4 January 2012.  Nearly a week and a half passed before we received the news.  My parents were in town, so little thought or worry was put into what the results were going to be.  After all Victoria is young and the chance of her lump being cancerous was slim. Victoria received a phone call on Thursday,12 January, that she was scheduled to see her doctor at 4:00 p.m. on Friday.  She was instructed to bring somebody b...