The Tumor Board has spoken!

Mom met with the entire tumor board yet again on Friday to go over the plan for the next little while.  She brought a whole box of See's candy to try and bribe the doctors to let her be done with radiation, but it was not to be.  Sadly, she needs to go in again next week for three final treatments.  She is still doing the Boost treatments and will finish up on Wed.  While she REALLY wanted to be done with all of this, she understands that it is all for the best.  She has done such a good job with all of this and has held up extremely well considering all that she is has been through since October.  I think though that the past few weeks have just caught up to her and she is tired of it all. There have been  few emotional breakdowns, one involving her inability to feed the dogs while home alone; I'll let her tell ya about that one. :)  She is still able to bring humor into any situation!  So she will take a break from things after Wed. (except I think she will still be taking the chemotherapy pills) and will plan on surgery for mid July.  Hopefully that will give her time to heal up and be ready for the next step.

Erica and I are excited because Mom, Dad and Blake are coming out to Utah at the end of next week to spend some time out here with us!  YAY!!  I don't know who is more excited, me or Audrey and Aidan.  Grandpa has promised them whatever kind of candy they want and I am reminded of that every single day!  Taylor may even take a short break from school and make an appearance.  I can't wait!!

Catch up!

I feel like so much has been happening since our last post.  I have not had the internet or a computer for a couple of months so I've been struggling to keep up with everything.  Thank goodness Erica is so helpful!  So Mom was supposed to be done with her radiation at this point, but she ended up taking a long break from things.  Her poor skin was so burned and damaged that they decided she could not undergo anymore treatments until it was healed enough to continue. She spent a couple of weeks pretty much just lying on her back airing everything out and taking pain pills every few hours.  She is feeling a lot better now and things havew healed quite a bit. She needs to do anywhere from five to eight more treatments.  They are doing a bit of a different type of radiation for these last ones.  It is called Boost and it is a more intense type that goes directly to certain parts of the tumor.  We are hoping it will not burn her skin and cause as much pain as the last one.  She is up at Stanford this week and will hopefully be able to get five treatments in before she meets with the tumor board on Friday and they determine what the next steps will be.  I will keep you posted!

Another Monday means Mom is back at Stanford for another week of Radiation! And without me there to entertain her, I'm sure it's not all the fun that receiving radiation treatment is cracked up to be!! Mom has been so excited to finish up Radiation as she's really starting to feel the "burn". (Literally! Poor thing is practically burning alive!) Last week brought some frustrating news though, they've added an extra week of 'intense' treatment, so this isn't her last week after all.  She's staying positive though, as she always does!

Her CT Scan results came back last week, which was the cause of the radiation extension.  However, it brought some good news as well!!  Her lymph nodes underneath her arm don't seem to be as swollen and the lump seems to be shrinking a bit!  YAY! While we'd like to see it gone completely this means her body is reacting to all the treatment she's receiving!!  Hence the reason docs are kicking it up a notch!!! 

After next week's treatment, they're going to give her a few months' break before performing the surgery. This is so her body can heal a bit from everything.  She'll still be taking oral chemo, but none of the hardcore stuff! She's been advised to stay out of the sun for the Entire summer, which as you know, will be difficult for Mom! 

I spoke with Mom a bit last week about one form of the cancer; Inflammatory Breast Cancer, which she's been doing some research on.  Up to a few years ago, when someone was diagnosed with this form of cancer, they were given 18 months to live. Period.  In the last few years, they've developed forms of chemo and treatment that give a lot more options. I feel so blessed that we live in this day and age!  Mom's doctors are so great, they're working so hard with her.  I've attached below some basic facts regarding IBC if anyone is interested in reviewing!

Keep her in your prayers! XOXO

• Inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) is a rare but very aggressive type of breast cancer.
• IBC usually grows rapidly and often spreads to other parts of the body; symptoms include redness, swelling, and warmth in the breast.
• Treatment for IBC usually starts with chemotherapy, which is generally followed by surgery, radiation, targeted therapy, and/or hormone therapy.
• People with IBC are encouraged to enroll in clinical trials (research studies with people) that explore new treatments.

Thanks to Erica and her family for the fun times they had in California staying with Mom and keeping things interesting while they were there.  We are now done with three weeks of radation!  Halfway there!  She spent the last week in Stanford alone, but enjoyed her time in her little apartment studying Spanish (she is doing the Rosetta Stone program), reading, and sleeping.  As she is pretty tired these days, naps are part of the everyday schedule.  This week she will look forward to Lynda and her mom coming up for a couple of days.  She was not excited this morning to head back up and wished she could have spent a few more days at home, but at the same time is anxious to get things moving and get them over with.  She has a CT scan scheduled either end of this week or beginning of next so we'll let you know when we hear about that!

LIVE from STANFORD!!!

This week I blog to you Live from The Home @ Stanford!! I'm SO excited I get to spend the week with Mom! Very last minute, Dean and I packed up the kids (baby Mason, Aidan Jane, and of course Buddy Brown the Boxer!) in our little compact Corolla and drove ALLLLL night Friday to arrive in Paso Robles at 7:30am Saturday morning. Miserable? Absolutely!! But we made it!

A huge THANK YOU to my Lovely husband Dean for watching the kids this week!

Mom and I headed up here today (Monday) about noon. What a Beautiful drive it was! We had a great time visiting and laughing and yes, a wee bit of gossip...., and made it in time for Mom's radiation appointment at 4pm. I waited in the Lobby and had the opportunity to catch up on my Celebrity Gossip via US Weekly. (Yesssss!!! And did you know BrAngelina are finally getting married??!!)

For the rest of the week, Tues-Fri., Mom's Radiation will be at 8am, which sounds ridiculously early to me. Oh well. Tomorrow after her session, she's volunteered to be a part of a survey thru her treatment to record her reactions/feelings towards the process to help future patients. Good for her!

She'll be here for the next 5 weeks, Mon-Fri and would LOVE to hear from you all I'm sure! Send her a letter!! Here's the address:

Shauna Sorenson
1100 Welch Road
Apt. 3B
Palo Alto, CA 94304

Thank you all for your continued prayers, love, and support! I know Mom appreciates it all. She's our Rock through all this, she knows she'll make it through and be a Stronger Lady for it! xoxo

Watch out Stanford!

Monday will indeed be the big day, the day Mom starts radiation.  She got her apartment all set up and I think it will be perfect for her.  It is connected to Stanford so she will be really close, and I think she said there will be a shuttle that will take her right to it every day.  She will live up there Monday through Friday and do one half hour treatment everyday.  This will last for 6 weeks unless her body needs a break in the middle and then she would take a week or two off and then continue.  I think my Dad is planning on spending the first week, at least most of it, up there with her, but he will not be able to stay the whole two months as he has lots of work and busy stuff going on. It really kills me that I am not there, I was so hoping that maybe a quick trip would be possible but financially I just don't think it will work out. So if anyone wants to drop in and spend some time, it could be lots of fun!  Her apartment has a kitchen with everything in it, a TV and sitting room and the bedroom has two twin beds.  We are all hoping and praying that this radiation works because it is sort of her last chance to fight this.  I (we all) appreciate all your prayers and support during this time.  Hopefully she will have some fun while she is close to San Fran and lots of other fun places.  Mom has become a really good shopper in the last couple of years so watch out Stanford!

radiation

Today Mom meets with the radiation people up at Stanford and they will go over what is going to be happening for the next couple of months.  She will more than likely start radiation next Monday, but it could be different so we will see.  She will be getting a permanent tattoo on her skin where the radiation will occur.  Wow, she will now join the ranks of the tattooed!  She will find out today for sure what is going on and then I will post!