Angie's Battle, God's Victory!

Update from Angie  I had a good report at my 3 month check up in May.  Blood work and cancer markers were all in the normal range, praise God!  I go back in August for another check up.  I am still struggling with my energy level but the doctor said this is perfectly normal and that it can take up to a year to get that back.  I’m trying to be patient and pace myself.  Thanks for your continued prayers and support.

Angie is doing well this week at healing from her surgery. She went yesterday for her post-surgery check and received a great report. She still is restricted with certain activities over the next week but she can start walking for exercise again soon, but she still needs to takes it easy. She did have a mild reaction to the antibiotics but after stopping the medication it has resolved. Thank you all for your prayers, meals, and words of encouragement! We are all so thankful 💗

Update 2/21/22 @ 8:38AM Angie   is out of surgery. It went well. She will be heading to recovery and home later today. No drain was necessary. Thank you for praying!  ——————————————————————- Today Angie is currently scheduled for surgery at 7:30AM to finish the reconstruction surgery and remove the port. She has been looking forward to having this part completed. The port has been in a while too so it will be a nice change.  She has been feeling well the past couple weeks and feels strong and ready to start recovering. In the past week she has met with her surgeon and the radiation doctor and reports good visits and recovery. We are thankful her skin has healed well from radiation and she can have the surgery now. She is still experiencing neuropathy but we hope it will start to lessen over time. Please pray the surgery and recovery process goes well. We will update this afternoon.  Thank you! 

Met with the oncologist today and he said we should stop chemo pill due to the increasing neuropathy.  He said to be happy with the treatments I was able to do.  I got to ring the gong signifying I’m done with treatments.  Lots of clapping and cheering. Soon we will meet with the surgeon to determine when that date will be scheduled and how the skin is healing after the radiation.  But we are cheering for a huge triumph today! It was evident God has been providing wisdom each step in this difficult battle. Today close’s an important chapter-done with chemo therapy x 2!  Thank you for your support and encouragement through this journey. 

Angie is currently in the process of completing round 2 of chemo. It was a slight delay due to weather-related closure to hear from the doctor. Thankfully she was able to get in touch the following day and received a good report on her bloodwork. Due to some of the symptoms and neuropathy increasing they both agreed to take a slightly lower dose this round to observe if this helps. So far, she is tolerating the symptoms well and has adapted good practices that have kept her comfortable. The biggest issue is the increased neuropathy or numbness, which is increasing in her hands and feet.  We will be meeting with the oncologist on February 7th to discuss what to do next.  Please pray for wisdom and clarity for both Angie and Jim as well as the doctor advising her. Pray also that any side effects will resolve eventually.  Thank you for continuing to read this blog, pray, encourage, and support us all during this fight! We are all grateful for each of you! (Angie, Jim, and Ju...

Angie finished her first round of the chemo pill with very little side effects, however, this week she had 3 straight days of bouts with diarrhea (a side effects of the chemo pills), even though she stopped her last pill on Sunday the 2nd.  The rest of the week has brought relief but her system is still not back to normal and she has had some fatigue.   Please pray that this will be a better week with fewer side effects.  She have blood work done tomorrow and the tentative date to resume chemo pill is the 17th.

I started taking the chemo pill on Monday, the 21st.  It was a little disappointing that I had nausea after the first dose but it lessened after a few hours.  Since then the nausea has been very little and definitely tolerable, for this I am very grateful.😌  The typical chemo schedule will continue for 7 cycles (2 weeks of chemo and 1 week off) and approximately 5 months but it will depend on future surgery and how I tolerate the chemo side effects  After my meeting with the oncologist on Monday the plan is to take the pills for two weeks and then take two weeks off to do blood work this time since I’ll be out of the state. If everything checks out I will begin the pills again on January 17th.  The doctor also said it would be fine to make our annual trip to Florida.  Please pray that symptoms will continue to be very minimal and that the trip to Florida goes well.  I continue to be extremely grateful for your prayers and support.🙏❤️

From Angie: Met with oncologist this week and he is ordering the chemo pill but it will take a few weeks to get, the tentative plan is to start it on December 20th and take for two weeks then have blood work done and take a couple weeks off.  Normally it would only be one week off but because I will be in Florida it will take longer to get blood work results.  Please pray that I will tolerate the treatment well.

From Angie: Finished radiation today with 28 treatments.  Doctor said last week I could stop early if I wanted.  My skin was very irritated and painful with little relief using the creams.  It will take a week for my skin to improve and 2 weeks to feel total relief.  I’m looking forward to a short break before starting the chemo pill in December.  Thank you for your continued prayers, some days the road seems long.  I’m trying to take it a day at a time.

Just finished the fourth week of radiation.  I’m still feeling really well.  This week I started having a rash and some itching but with the special cream the doctor gave it calmed down after a couple of days.  Very thankful to be feeling so well.  Thank you for your continued prayers.

From Angie: Radiation went well so far, 3 days completed so far.  Also met with oncologist yesterday and he said we will probably begin chemo pill mid-December.  Continue to pray for Jim, that his back will heal soon.  Very thankful that I am feeling strong and able to drive myself to radiation.  Special thanks to Julie for driving yesterday and doing a grocery run.  Please pray for continued strength and successful treatment.

Decided to do the radiation.  My first treatment will be on the 29th of September and continue through November 12th. Treatments are five days a week, Monday-Friday.  After radiation there will be a break for healing.  Tentative schedule for reconstruction surgery would be February.  The chemo pill will also be a part of the treatment but where it will fit into the plan is unsure.  I meet again with the oncologist on the 29th of September. Please pray for continued healing and wisdom for the team of doctors.  I do have peace about the decision to do radiation, please pray for God’s continued peace.  Thanks to all of you that continue to walk this journey with me, your prayers and support mean so very much.

Angie is continuing to heal well post-surgery even though the recovery is slow--we are thankful for making small steps in the right direction. This week we met with the oncologist and radiation oncologist. The oncologist shared he would like to begin a chemo pill after she heals and recovers post-surgery and radiation. The radiation oncologist explained her tumor size was 4.5 cm and showed no cancer in the lymph node biopsied. If there is cancer shown in lymph nodes and/or the tumor is greater than 5cm--radiation is proposed. Typically, this would suggest she does not need radiation; however, because TNBC (triple negative breast cancer) is challenging to treat, aggressive, and has a high chance of return---he feels radiation would still be a good choice. Unfortunately, we left discouraged and confused. There is little research and answers within this process and because the tumor did not respond to the chemo regime--it has been making decisions a challenge. Radiation would begin a few ...

Angie found out the results of the pathology report at her appointment and it was good news! There was no cancer found in the lymph nodes and no other surprises in the tumor removal--clean margins! While there is no such thing as 'cancer free' this feels like great news to celebrate!  She was able to get her drains removed and the bandages removed because her healing is going so well. She is still a bit uncomfortable trying to sleep through the night but she's getting rest and taking it one day at a time. After a few weeks of healing, we assume she will meet with the radiation oncologist again to determine what radiation treatment will look like in light of the latest developments post-surgery.  Thank you again for the prayers and support! We are so thankful! 

Angie visited the surgeon today and everything is healing well so far! We are all thankful for good reports post-surgery. She was experiencing a little discomfort/tightness with the bandaging and he was able to adjust that today in the office. She is still very limited in movements as she heals. She has 2 drains and will continue to have these tubes/drains for the next week or more. She is looking forward to being untethered soon.  The surgeon reported encouraging remarks about her tumor removal and how clear it was to know exactly what to do during the procedure to get clear removal (thank you, God!). He said she looks awesome. We are still waiting on pathology report findings. Angie is already transitioned to over-the-counter pain meds since she dislikes the heavy hitters. The doctor and nurse both commented on how incredibly tough and strong she is--but we already knew that!  Angie's sweet spirit but fierce battle stance has been remarkable to witness. She is an incredible ...

Angie has just finished surgery (approximately 1pm). Everything went well and she can go home tonight to recover. She will need to take antibiotics and lots of rest to recover. We hope to hear pathology reports from the cancer tumor and lymph node removal next week. Please pray for her discomfort and healing going forward. Pray for no infections or complications. This has been exhausting few weeks. We are hoping for some good rest and peace ahead. Thank you all for all the love, prayers, encouragement, and support. We are truly grateful for each one of you.  All the love, Julie

From Angie: Just got a call from the surgeon yesterday.  He and the plastic surgery and radiologist reviewed my case again that morning and feel that a mastectomy is needed because of the tumors recent growth and the direction it has headed.  I will still be having surgery on Wednesday but now it will be a mastectomy.

It has been a wild ride in the adventures the past 2 weeks. Angie has met with her oncologist, breast surgeon, radiation oncologist, plastic surgeon, and then breast surgeon again! Whew! And there was an MRI in there as well. Today- 8/12 we finally received news she will be scheduled on Wednesday for removal of the tumor. The MRI is showing some growth and we are looking forward to it being out of her body. Please pray for the procedure to go smoothly as 2 surgeons will be working together. She will have 3-4 weeks of healing and recovery before starting radiation. Thank you for your prayers and support, you each mean so much to us!  It has been discouraging to not hear brighter news, but we still feel God's peace in this battle and trust we are not alone.  From Angie: Finally heard back about surgery date, next Wednesday the 18th.  I have to be at the hospital at 7:30 and surgery will be at 9:30/10:30.  It will be a little more involved than a simple lumpectomy becau...

From Angie: Met with surgeon and I have an MRI scheduled for Wednesday as well as a consult with the radiologist regarding option for radiation after surgery.  The results of the MRI will be reported to the surgeon and I will see him soon to go over results and schedule a surgery date.

Finally this afternoon Angie received a call back from the doctor explaining outlook from Wednesday meeting. The consensus is to stop chemo, give time to recover from chemo, then surgery. Will continue to see oncologist on Tuesday to monitor blood work.  Have an appointment with the surgeon on Monday to discuss next steps.