The end of Lulu's chemotherapy

Today I'm thankful for...

That Lulu has finished her chemotherapy

Beating this Flu

Holding Lourdes again

Hanging with the kids

What a long day for us yesterday. We left Reno at 6 AM to make it to UCSF in time for the first of many appointments. We arrived in the MRI department at 11;30 AM, after she had her blood taken for the standard required blood test. Lulu was concerned about getting this MRI, due to the fact that last time she had this done it was very uncomfortable for her, and she knows that she has to be in the MRI tube for almost a full hour. I didn't know this (I'm not sure she even knew this), but Lulu seems to be claustrophobic. Not something that bodes well with laying motionless in a small tube structure for 40 to 50 minutes. But she ended up doing fine, and as she laid there for the 50 minutes having her tumors imaged, Lourdes and I sat together in the reception area saying a prayer that the tumors have gone away in Mommies breast? Since they hadn't been prepared for Lulu's MRI we were 30 minutes late upstairs for the meeting with the Oncologist (seen here with Lulu and Lourdes), but they accommodated us and took Lulu and I right in for the consultation.

The doctor was very impressed with the reduction in sizes of the three tumors in Lulu right breast. By her measurements they measured 1.5-1 cm, 1-.5 cm, and .5 or less for the last one. What an improvements over 4-3 cm, 3-2 cm, and 2-1.5 cm that these foreign invaders originally were thought to be. As you can imagine we were very happy about the findings. Lulu ask some questions about the long term effect of the chemotherapy drugs, and then turned to discussing her thoughts on the up coming breast surgery. The oncologist spent some time reviewing the other parts of treating a type III breast cancer, like radiation, and hormone therapy. However, we learned of a newer drug regiment that Lulu might be a prime recipient of? After the findings of the surgery (what if any cancer is in the axillary lymph nodes, how defined are the margins to the breast tumors, and if and how much chest wall muscle must be removed) there would be enough information to determine whether or not Lulu might benefit from this new treatment? We asked if the oncologist wouldn't mind taking a photo with Lulu and Lourdes, and after Lulu got back dressed we scooted off to the genetic counseling appointment.

We had been anticipating the results of the BRC1 and the BRC2 genetic test that Lulu had blood taken two weeks ago. At this time I'm not feeling so well, and as I'm feeding Lourdes and shivering with a fever; I can't concentrate on the genetic results that are being discussed with Lulu. The only part that I catch is the part about Lulu being negative for the gene that is responsible for the mutations of the healthy cells into cancerous ones. Everything about the 40 minute appointment is a blur to me, expect for that fact. I want to scream out loud for joy, but think better of it, because just a minute earlier I finally got Lourdes calmed down and eating from the bottle. Lulu isn't a carrier of the dreaded gene. The day was getting better by the minute.

Something no less then miraculous happened to Lulu and I was us were leaving the breast cancer clinic on our way to the infusion center. We ran into Kate's mother and sister. I had been thinking about what might have happened to the young girl that Lulu had shared her early experiences with, and only once in the long grueling five months of chemotherapy did we see her? Lulu recognized Kate's mom right away, and said to me, "there's Kate's mom and that must be her sister?" I do have to say that the 20 some old girl had a lot of resemblance to Kate, dark silky medium length hair, striking underlying Asian facial features, and slight build. Lulu and I were so excited that if we could see and talk to Kate, we could at least find out about how she's been doing. Lulu approached the mom and ask, "aren't you Kate's mother?" As it turns out not only was this your mother, and sister, but that Kate's dad was here too. We spent the next 10 minutes catching up on things like, how's Kate been doing, has she lost her eye lashes, how many wigs and what type and color are they, how far along is Kate in the chemotherapy and what type of drugs has she been enduring? We mostly spent the time finding about Kate's treatment and her successes and failures in the last 5 months, all long wondering how we all got here? By some force of fate? Was this all meant to be? Don't you sometimes wonder how your life flows, and what events happen that shape it?

I wanted for Kate to read about Lulu's life, and her battle with this life threatening disease, so I quickly removed a DFK (dentsitry for kids) business card from my wallet and write the web address to Luz Molina's Journey blog and handed it to Kate's mom. I told her that if Kate wanted to catch up to Lulu's life with cancer and her prognosis; that I had been logging all the events here, and Lulu would love to have Kate contact her if she felt up to it? Then, as I almost forgotten, I remembered the friendship bracelets that our friends kids had made for cancer patients that we run into, and I retrieved one from the manila envelope to give to Kate's mom. I explained how we have these friends that wanted to help all cancer patients in their fight, and made these cards and bracelets to hand out as a sign of hope? I could see the surprise in Kate's mother's face. She was I'm sure thinking, are these people for real? With all they're facing, they are giving away hope bracelets and email/website information to help others. As Lulu and I left to get to her infusion appointment on the 5th floor, I know that I felt that I just changed someones life for the better. This is a felling that I know that I like, and each time it happens, I feeling a little more positive about the world we live in! I was just hoping that Kate would feel that way too?