Gretta Christensen

Welcome to our CaringBridge website. We are using it to keep family and friends updated on our Bend in the Road Journey. We appreciate your support, words of hope and encouragement, and your prayers. Thank you for visiting.

Our Bend in the Road Journey
On January 23, 2017 I was diagnosed with  infiltrating ductal carcinoma.  Surgery to remove the tumors and a couple of lymph nodes was performed on February 6.  The post surgical pathology report indicated that the lymph nodes were clear--good news.  However, it confirmed that the cancer was not only estrogen and progesterone positive, but also HER-2 positive, which causes cancer cells to grow very, very quickly.  Therefore, Kirk and I decided to be aggressive in the radiation and chemotherapy treatments.

In the middle of March we took a trip to the Arizona Breast Cancer Specialists in Phoenix, AZ, for an ultra-accelerated dose radiation therapy clinical trial called Triumph-T.  It is a more concentrated, but shortened version of  Brachytherapy.  While there we had a little "cancer therapy" by attending a Cincinnati Reds preseason baseball game.  It was a real joy to watch my favorite baseball team beat my second favorite team, the Colorado Rockies.

At one point, I was leaning away from chemotherapy.  But my physicians emphasized that my type of cancer often comes back within 5 years if chemotherapy is not utilized.  So the next step in our journey will begin on Wednesday (April 12).   My chemo port was placed last Friday and day after tomorrow I will have my first infusion.  The plan, thus far, is to have a total of 4 infusions, 3 weeks apart.  After that I will continue  with the drug that targets the HER-2 receptor for at least a year.

One thing about this journey that has been amazing for me is to experience what Jesus promised in John 14:27, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.  Not as the world gives do I give to you.  Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid."  I truly am experiencing my Savior's  peace!