Quick update

Alyson has had a very good weekend after having three rough days. She is gearing up for her second treatment of twelve total. I am hopeful that this week will be better and am praying that her side effects will be minimal. The boys handled the first week well and seem to be doing well overall. I know Brooks is very aware of what is going on as he spontaneously walked in one day last week and told Alyson, "Mom you are so beautiful". He sort of sang it to her, which was kind of cool to see and hear. It was just a quick 5 second affirmation of his mother, but it went a long way.
We have had a low key weekend for the most part and Aly has been drinking a ton of water to hydrate herself in preparation for Monday's treatment. She picked up some Smart Water that has electrolytes in it. We hope this will keep her from having any headaches associated with some of her treatment.
I will do my best to post an update, and with Alyson's permission post of picture of her putting on her "cold cap".
Thank you for your continued prayers and encouragement.

One down, 11 more to go

Alyson had her first chemo treatment on Monday. It was a long day as her infusions were done at a slower pace for observation purposes. The remaining 11 treatments will go faster. The first drug, Hercepton, was infused over a 90 minute session. They then observed her for an hour to see if she would have any adverse reactions since this was a new drug to her. After the hour observation, we had to put on her cold cap 30 minutes prior to her chemo drug infusion. They want the cold cap to start so that the scalp can be cooled down before the chemo drug got into her system. The chemo infusion lasted an hour. Once the chemo drug was done, she had to keep the cold cap on for another hour before she could take it off. We won't know if the cold cap is working until about the third or fourth treatment. We are praying that it is effective in eliminating hair loss for Alyson. As I said, it was a long day. We left the house at 10:30 am and didn't get back until around 8:00 pm.
Tuesday, Alyson felt normal for most of the day until her face became flush red. At first it was bright red and eventually subsided to a pink color. Before she went to bed she started to feel a headache coming on and it got worse through the night. She didn't get much good sleep, but woke up for work anyway. The headache was pretty intense to the point she is now laying in bed after getting sick a couple times. I am staying home with her today and the boys, luckily, are at a camp today and don't have to see her sick. We called to doctor to have them send in a prescription for an anti-nausea medication. I hope this will help her feel better and that the headache will go away too.
On the other side of this, we started school at the college on Monday as well. I am excited for the group of players we have this year. We have a lot of new faces and a solid core of returners. I cannot wait to get started working with this group in the coming days. I have a great assistant that will likely be on his own a lot as we care for Alyson, but I am confident that he will do a great job and have our guys prepared for this season.
Thank you for your continued prayers as we are still a little uncertain as to how Alyson will respond to chemo side effects. I hope she is able to recover in between treatments and can avoid being sick for this 12 week period.

Treatment begins

We visited the oncologist today to determine when chemotherapy would start. Since the lymph nodes were clear we knew that Alyson would not need to undergo radiation therapy. Today's visits were to follow up post lumpectomy and chemo port placement. She is healing nicely from the lumpectomy and we were told that the margins were clear (also good news). Now all we had to determine was the type and length of chemotherapy. She will begin her chemotherapy Monday August 20th. Alyson will get one treatment per week for a total of 12 weeks. She will go in every Monday for 12 weeks which will put her last treatment on November 5th. The obvious side effect will be hair loss. We think we may have a solution to that side effect. We have purchased a "cold cap" which will be worn during her chemo infusions. The purpose of the cap is, essentially, to keep her scalp cold, therefore restricting blood flow to her scalp which would keep the chemo drugs from getting to her scalp. This cold cap should either eliminate her hair loss or greatly reduce it. We are hopeful that it will prevent her hair from falling out. We won't know if it works for a few weeks after treatment has begun. Usually hair loss from chemo takes about 2-3 weeks to occur.
Alyson is in good spirits as she approaches this phase of treatment. We are hopeful that the chemo will have as little impact on her body as possible. The typical side effects are fatigue and nausea the day after and then gradual improvement within 2-3 days. She is hoping that the chemo will not impact her ability to work too much during the week, and oddly enough that it won't keep her from attending my basketball games at Judson.
After chemotherapy is done in November, she will recover for about a month before she will go in for her mastectomy. We hope she can have it done early in December and have a little time to recover before Christmas.
Thank you all for your continued prayers and support. It has been greatly appreciated and felt as we have traveled this road once again. Please continue to pray for chemo treatments to have as little impact as possible (except on the cancer). Pray that the cold cap works and for our boys as they may begin to really feel the impact of seeing Alyson not feeling well all the time.
I will update you as much as possible as we go through chemo. Thanks Y'all and we love you all!

Good News, no...GREAT News

Our last post stated that we were waiting until this week Wednesday/Thursday to find out the results of the lymph node dissection. Alyson received great news saying that her lymph nodes were clear, which means that the cancer did not spread into her body. This also means that she will NOT have to undergo Radiation therapy after chemo and her mastectomy. This is such a weight off of her shoulders, one to not have the cancer in her nodes, but two, she won't have to have radiation and all of its possible side affects.
We are taking the week off from doctor's appointments and will enjoy a quick trip to Iowa to see some dear friends from Texas. Yes, I said IOWA. We will go to the Iowa State Fair along with attending our very first Sweet Corn Festival...in IOWA. Should be fun! Iowa people!
Alyson will likely begin her chemo treatments somewhere around August 20. She will have 12 weeks of treatments. It will be once a week for 12 straight weeks. The other great thing about the nodes being negative is that the chemo will be less aggressive. We are seriously considering investing in what is called a "cold cap". She would wear this extremely cold cap during her infusions and it has proven, in many cases, to significantly reduce hair loss. It's expensive, but probably totally worth it.
Thank you all for your continued prayers and support! I will post more after we have more information from our next doctor's appointment on August 17.

Truer words have never been spoken...

Truer words have never been spoken...Cancer Sucks!!! Alyson has been diagnosed with Breast Cancer for the third time. We found out July 12 after discovering another lump back in May. This time it is on the right side. Previous occurrences were on the left.
As you can imagine, we have seen several doctors with different opinions on how to treat this cancer. What we do know for sure is that Alyson will undergo chemotherapy followed by a mastectomy and then reconstruction of the breast area and possibly radiation; she will then be treated with a drug called Herceptin for a year. To determine the strength and duration of the chemotherapy, Alyson underwent a lumpectomy and sentinel lymph node biopsy Thursday. The results of the biopsy will be in next week (Wed/Thur) and we will then know the type of chemo and the duration of the treatment. Friday she had her chemo port placed in her chest (left side). It was a long two days at the hospital.
This new cancer is more aggressive than her last two battles and will need to be treated as such. Previous occurrences were whats called Her2 negative. This time she is Her2 positive, which is more aggressive and unpredictable. I will give more details in another post soon. The good news is that we believe we have caught it early and the lump is relatively small. Our hope is that it has not gotten to her lymph nodes. If is has not spread she will be able to avoid radiation therapy, which she really would like to avoid. If it has spread, then she won't be able to avoid it. We have decided that she will be treated at Loyola Medical Center (Cardinal Bernadin Cancer Center) in Chicago. It is a little over an hour drive from our house, but we feel it is her best case scenario for treatment. Her oncologist there is the considered the world authority on Alyson's type of cancer. The team of doctors there have been phenomenal. Alyson's team consists of her oncologist, a breast surgeon,  a plastic surgeon and a lot of nurses and nurse practitioners.  Each time we have met with these doctors I have a feeling as if we are their only patient case. The individual attention is much appreciated. We are in good hands.
As for Alyson, she is in great spirits and ready for battle. No surprise there! I am blown away at how she just poises herself and keeps moving forward. This time, though, we have two awesome boys that will be affected in some way...we just don't know how yet. Brooks (12 yrs old) knew that when he was 1 or 2 his mom had cancer, but didn't really understand it then. He's seen pictures of him and his mom when she lost her hair, but doesn't really remember it. Now that he is older and is obviously much more aware, we know he will be affected because he has such a gentle spirit. When we told him, he teared up a bit, but then was ok. We just don't know how he will handle it once Alyson loses her hair and undergoes all these surgeries. Brock (7yrs old), on the other hand, just doesn't grasp the concept quite yet. For now, we have been carrying on as normal and by looking at Alyson they don't see any change in her to warrant concern on their part. Our prayer is that they will be minimally affected by this and that we as parents will be able to keep things as normal as possible for them.
We aren't putting her cancer journey on Facebook or social media...she struggles with Facebook, but would admit she is a bit of a Facebook stalker, lol! I will be putting updates on this blog for those that love her and want to pray for us.
Our next task as a family is not to ask God how He can help us, but rather ask how we can glorify His name through all of this. This won't be an easy task, because my desire is for Alyson to be healed yesterday! I do know this; God works in ALL things.  I will finish with this verse that I read just before she went into the operating room to have her lumpectomy and lymph node biopsy...
"So do not fear, for I am with you; Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." -Isaiah 41:10
Your prayers are coveted. This road will be a long one and frustrating at times. This blog will likely show the ups and downs that we may go through. But please pray for wisdom for Alyson and I as we care for her and our boys, and for the doctors that are treating her.