First post:
Aug 20, 2018 Latest post:
Sep 16, 2018
Thank you for visiting Brenda's Caring Bridge Blog. Brenda was diagnosed with a type of Colon Cancer on July 11, 2018 and has begun a journey towards kicking cancers butt. The cancer mass is technically located in the anal/rectal area and some lymph nodes have been effected. However, all imaging has indicated no other major organs have been effected, such as the lungs, liver or stomach, this is great news to hear and very encouraging. For those that may want to know, they have labeled this as a Stage 4, but only because of one lymph node that is located a little further away from the original mass. The St. Luke's MSTI team has been wonderful and Dr. Zuckerman is very optimistic that with the treatment plan they have decided upon, this is totally treatable and beatable.
The Treatment Plan: Brenda had her first Chemotherapy treatment this morning, in fact I am sitting in the room with her right now typing as she is being hooked up. She is handling it like she does everything else in life, strong, independent and 100% dedication. The current plan is to have 4 chemo rounds over the next 8 weeks. These should take place on Friday's, every two weeks, she will also have what they call a "chemo ball" that will go home with her and continue to administer the medication for 48 hours. The ball will be removed on Sunday's after treatment Friday's. Once the four rounds of chemo have been completed, additional scans will be done to see how responsive the cancer has been to the chemo treatment. She will then be scheduled for a combination of Radiation/Chemo therapy, the imaging scans will help determine the dosage and how many treatments will be needed at that time.
This is a pretty aggressive treatment plan, but again, the Doctors are extremely optimistic of curability and wanted to hit it full force for best results. This is obviously going to be a journey for Brenda and she is staying very positive through it all. At this point, we are all still trying to take it all in and support Brenda in any way we can. We hope this Caring Bridge blog helps to keep all of her loved ones involved and informed. Notes of encouragement, positive thoughts and lots of prayers are always welcome.
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