Rising Up: Grammie!

Welcome!

This is totally an experiment. I know about blogs, I've read blogs, and I can write, but I have never attempted to blog myself. I guess I've never really felt like I had a compelling enough story. Well, I'm not sure I would use "compelling" to describe our story now, but I do know that since my diagnosis of cancer, Jon and I have been overwhelmed at the outpouring of love from family and friends all over the world. Many of you have questions and like to know what's going on in our world - medically and otherwise, and we are happy to share. Welcome to the "Rising Up" blog of the JOWT Friesen family!

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Grammie!

The boys were thrilled to see their Grammie. Mom and I walked over to pick up the kids from Bev's, and Owen was quite surprised to see his grandmother there (and probably me since it's been weeks since I've gone to pick them up). It's been so great - Mom is already making headway with William - he's a little harder to reach. He has always made me work a little harder to get a smile, and he plays the shy card once in a while, which is something Owen never really did. Anyway, Owen even slept downstairs with Grammie (in another bed) last night and since I have yet to see him this morning, I assume all went well. I am so happy to have Mom here. You are all so right - having your mother around in troublesome times just brings a sense of "it's all going to be okay". I would love to have Dad here as well, but we'll make sure he's involved as much as possible via Skype.

We haven't heard from Dr. Dabbs' office yet regarding a surgery date, but I do have an appointment on Monday, so if I go back today and tomorrow, then if necessary, a few days next week, I should be ready to pass off my teaching assignment to someone else. It's quite overwhelming, but I think I'll just have to step back and have very little to say about "how I do things" and just let my replacement go to it his/her own way. Tough to do when a) I am a self-pronounced control freak, and b) that music/band program is my "baby" and it's success matters greatly to me. I guess I will just go to work this morning and try to wrap my brain around not coming back for a while.

I did go back to work today for the first time in weeks, and I'll head back tomorrow as well. I have appointments on Monday (more stitches out) and Wednesday (CT scan), but I still do not have a surgery date. Apparently they called today while I was at work, so I presume we will know more tomorrow when I return the call. Work today was pretty good - I have the best coworkers. They are encouraging, funny, helpful, and wise. I was happy to receive the "MRS. FRIESEN!!! You're back!!" comments from the kids - actual cheering and smiles and hugs from all ages. It makes a woman feel good. I love those kids.

William stayed home with Grammie today and they seemed to have had a good day. William actually slept and ate, and at some point Mom managed to find time to take care of my floors. It sure is going to be nice having her around.... for so many reasons.

Another awesome verse from Isaiah:

"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." (41:10)

3 comments:

triciadeeNovember 25, 2010 at 6:05 PM
You might have noticed (maybe not) that I started this post this morning before anyone was up, and then finished it tonight. Just in case you were confused about my timing...
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AnonymousNovember 26, 2010 at 11:44 AM
I know both of my girls were thrilled to know you were back. They are so very concerned for you and love you so much.
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AnonymousNovember 26, 2010 at 11:48 AM
This comment has been removed by the author.
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A Bit of Our Melanoma Story

A spot on my left forearm grew from a freckle into a raised mole the size of a pencil eraser. It started changing when I was pregnant with William (early 2009), and didn't cause much concern because doctors will tell you that pregnancy does strange stuff like that. Anyway, after pregnancy it started to pinch itself off, and eventually it ripped off (and BLED!) in February 2010.
It grew back within months with a darkish rim around it. I assumed the darkness was just from where the skin had been ripped. In June of 2010 my mother (again) requested that I get it checked out (again), so I did. In July, my doctor decided that another doctor should remove it. That doctor was not available until September 2010. They removed it and performed a biopsy, and we received the results in the first week of October. Malignant Melanoma. The mole was 3.8 mms deep (Breslow's measuring stick) and was ulcerated. This in itself put me at a stage IIB.
Things have just been happening so quickly since then - we have had many appointments with our melanoma specialist, Dr. Salopek at the UofA, and our surgeon, Dr. Dabbs at the Misericordia.
On November 9th they performed a Wide Local Excision and a Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy. The WLE is simply them making sure they got all the tumour the first time by taking a 2cm radius around the mole. It has resulted in a 6 inch scar. The SLNB is a biopsy of a couple of prominent lymph nodes in my underarm to see if the cancer had spread from its original site. Our results came back in on Monday, November 22 - lymph nodes did in fact have cancer in them. That means we are now awaiting another surgery - a Radical Axillary Lymph Node Dissection - to remove the rest of the lymph nodes under that arm. It also means I have been moved to stage III cancer.
I have a CT scan on Dec 1 to double check that the xrays and ultrasounds from last month were accurate - that I do NOT have any growths elsewhere in my body at this point. After this next surgery I will be starting a drug treatment called Intron. I have lots to learn about what this drug will actually do. I think that gets us caught up!