Background...
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 because she may be given a drug that would sedate her and would need someone to drive her home. She wasn't given any other information. She asked if this was regarding the biopsy results, but she could not be told anything.
4:00 p.m. on Friday the 13th couldn't have came any slower. Victoria and I walked into the hospital gripping one another's hands. We were hoping for the best, but fearing for the worst. After waiting the longest 30 minutes of my life we were called back to an exam room. Another excruciating 15 minutes passed and finally the doctor walked in. "Your biopsy results came back. They're not good. You have breast cancer." Stated the doctor. Victoria began to cry and I tried to comfort her, holding back my quivering lip, I needed her to know that I was going to be strong for her.
With so many questions and absolutely no answers we left the hospital. My wife has breast cancer, it's a 3 day weekend in Italy, my parents leave early tomorrow morning, and we won't be able to talk to anybody about this until Tuesday.
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Tuesday (17 January) arrives. Victoria is scheduled to see an Oncologist at the Aviano Centro di Riferimento Oncologico (essentially a state run cancer research hospital). We meet with the doctor he is very serious and a specialist in the area of breast cancer. He speaks decent English, but there is a language barrier. It is difficult to communicate our concerns and questions, and for him to communicate his point. The doctor immediately suggests Chemotherapy and a Mastectomy. Mind you he is going off half of a pathology report and about 3 ultrasound images. Due to the language barrier many questions go unanswered.
Over the weekend Victoria and I had discussed returning to the United States to seek a second opinion. After our appointment we decided it was not only important to return to the US for a second opinion, but to seek treatment as well.
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Tuesday (24 January). We board our plane in Venice, Italy and are returning to Phoenix, AZ. There is nothing pleasant about coming that far with a 17 month old... Well, at least it took our mind off of what Victoria is going through for a while.
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Thursday (26 January). We walk through the doors of the Cancer Treatment Center of America in Goodyear, Arizona. Everybody is helpful, initial appointments run smooth and we are instantly thankful we made the decision to return to Arizona. This place seems wonderful. Everything is done under one roof, all the staff comes to you, scheduling of appointments is taken care of by a scheduling team, they even offer massages, acupuncture and have a spa on site.
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Friday (27 January). Victoria has a PET scan in the morning. We meet with the surgical oncologist, naturopathic physician, and nutritionist in the afternoon. Victoria's PET scan results come back as good as to be expected. The left breast and what appears to be a couple of affected lymph nodes, which we were anticipating due to some previous physical examinations. The surgical oncologist is very serious and conveys this through his words to Victoria and I. We aren't 100% sure as to what they are going to recommend for a treatment plan, but leave with a pretty good idea.
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Monday (30 January). Victoria is scheduled for a biopsy of the lymph nodes in the morning to confirm whether they are cancerous or not. The first biopsy is painful for Victoria, but she holds up well. She is then told that they want to place some surgical clips on Victoria's large lump in her breast and that they want to biopsy a second smaller lump that appeared on the PET scan. Again, Victoria is in pain, but she does well with it and is out of the biopsy by the early afternoon. Today was supposed to be a big day because we were going to meet with the medical oncologist to receive Victoria's treatment plan. Unfortunately, since the biopsy ran long the consult had to be re-scheduled and the earliest available slot is Thursday.
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Wednesday (1 February). Victoria is scheduled for a port placement. For those of you who do not know what a port is, it is a medical device that can be placed under a couple layers of skin. It is a semi-permanent device that can be removed once it is no longer needed, but can be left in place for months or even years. There is a catheter that runs from the port into a large vein in your chest. This allows the medical team to draw blood, inject chemotherapy, or perform any other type of injection that would require them to find a vein.
The nurse was trying to find Victoria's vein to place an IV prior to the port surgery and was having a difficult time finding the vein. Victoria was in a lot of pain and clinching my hand. I felt so bad for her and it was hard to watch her go through this. My tears got the best of me. Here lies my beautiful wife, in pain, and there is nothing that I can do but hold her hand. This is just the beginning of the long road ahead of us and I'm sure there will be several moments like this some more difficult than others.
I tell my wife she is the strongest woman that I know and that I love her.
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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 because she may be given a drug that would sedate her and would need someone to drive her home. She wasn't given any other information. She asked if this was regarding the biopsy results, but she could not be told anything.
4:00 p.m. on Friday the 13th couldn't have came any slower. Victoria and I walked into the hospital gripping one another's hands. We were hoping for the best, but fearing for the worst. After waiting the longest 30 minutes of my life we were called back to an exam room. Another excruciating 15 minutes passed and finally the doctor walked in. "Your biopsy results came back. They're not good. You have breast cancer." Stated the doctor. Victoria began to cry and I tried to comfort her, holding back my quivering lip, I needed her to know that I was going to be strong for her.
With so many questions and absolutely no answers we left the hospital. My wife has breast cancer, it's a 3 day weekend in Italy, my parents leave early tomorrow morning, and we won't be able to talk to anybody about this until Tuesday.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday (17 January) arrives. Victoria is scheduled to see an Oncologist at the Aviano Centro di Riferimento Oncologico (essentially a state run cancer research hospital). We meet with the doctor he is very serious and a specialist in the area of breast cancer. He speaks decent English, but there is a language barrier. It is difficult to communicate our concerns and questions, and for him to communicate his point. The doctor immediately suggests Chemotherapy and a Mastectomy. Mind you he is going off half of a pathology report and about 3 ultrasound images. Due to the language barrier many questions go unanswered.
Over the weekend Victoria and I had discussed returning to the United States to seek a second opinion. After our appointment we decided it was not only important to return to the US for a second opinion, but to seek treatment as well.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday (24 January). We board our plane in Venice, Italy and are returning to Phoenix, AZ. There is nothing pleasant about coming that far with a 17 month old... Well, at least it took our mind off of what Victoria is going through for a while.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thursday (26 January). We walk through the doors of the Cancer Treatment Center of America in Goodyear, Arizona. Everybody is helpful, initial appointments run smooth and we are instantly thankful we made the decision to return to Arizona. This place seems wonderful. Everything is done under one roof, all the staff comes to you, scheduling of appointments is taken care of by a scheduling team, they even offer massages, acupuncture and have a spa on site.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday (27 January). Victoria has a PET scan in the morning. We meet with the surgical oncologist, naturopathic physician, and nutritionist in the afternoon. Victoria's PET scan results come back as good as to be expected. The left breast and what appears to be a couple of affected lymph nodes, which we were anticipating due to some previous physical examinations. The surgical oncologist is very serious and conveys this through his words to Victoria and I. We aren't 100% sure as to what they are going to recommend for a treatment plan, but leave with a pretty good idea.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monday (30 January). Victoria is scheduled for a biopsy of the lymph nodes in the morning to confirm whether they are cancerous or not. The first biopsy is painful for Victoria, but she holds up well. She is then told that they want to place some surgical clips on Victoria's large lump in her breast and that they want to biopsy a second smaller lump that appeared on the PET scan. Again, Victoria is in pain, but she does well with it and is out of the biopsy by the early afternoon. Today was supposed to be a big day because we were going to meet with the medical oncologist to receive Victoria's treatment plan. Unfortunately, since the biopsy ran long the consult had to be re-scheduled and the earliest available slot is Thursday.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday (1 February). Victoria is scheduled for a port placement. For those of you who do not know what a port is, it is a medical device that can be placed under a couple layers of skin. It is a semi-permanent device that can be removed once it is no longer needed, but can be left in place for months or even years. There is a catheter that runs from the port into a large vein in your chest. This allows the medical team to draw blood, inject chemotherapy, or perform any other type of injection that would require them to find a vein.
The nurse was trying to find Victoria's vein to place an IV prior to the port surgery and was having a difficult time finding the vein. Victoria was in a lot of pain and clinching my hand. I felt so bad for her and it was hard to watch her go through this. My tears got the best of me. Here lies my beautiful wife, in pain, and there is nothing that I can do but hold her hand. This is just the beginning of the long road ahead of us and I'm sure there will be several moments like this some more difficult than others.
I tell my wife she is the strongest woman that I know and that I love her.
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