Hey everyone, want to give you a quick and way overdue update.
Some fantastic news to share is that Allison wrapped up her last chemo treatment October 27th! The session went off without a hitch, and some family and friends were able to come in and watch her ring the bell! It’s funny how easily we had developed our weekly routine of getting breakfast somewhere and driving in for treatment and greeting the same friendly faces at Texas Oncology, but will happily trade the quality time for Allison’s improving health.
October also brought Breast Cancer Awareness Month and a chance to give back to the community. Allison’s friends Sarah Hart and Abby Haynie organized Team Lemonade to fundraise for the Susan G. Komen “More Than Pink” walk. The outpouring of donations and support that all of you showed still humbles us. The team ended up 3rd in overall fundraising (behind two corporate teams), and brought in over $13,000 for the Susan G. Komen Foundation. Also the walk was a blast! Thank you to everyone who was a part of the amazing effort.
The biggest news to share is that Allison’s first surgery, a unilateral mastectomy, was this past Thursday the 14th. The weeks in between the last session of chemo and this surgery were a seemingly endless series of appointments, tests, and pre-op check-ins. Allison had a lot of anxiety and we were sort of both in a haze where it was hard to focus on anything else. We’ve been trying to get this update to you for a couple of weeks now, so thanks for bearing with the delay.
This was the first step in Allison’s two-surgery process. Rather than performing a double mastectomy (which Allison has chosen even though the cancer is only in the right breast) Dr. Eggleston (plastic surgeon) had a great approach of having Dr. Coombs-Skiles (breast surgeon) perform only Allison's right mastectomy, along with placing in her tissue expander, during this surgery. This allows her to use one arm while the other side heals, as opposed to both sides needing to heal at the same time, and reduces the risk of complications that might delay the next treatment steps.
Very happy to report that everything went fantastically with the surgery. Allison stayed overnight at Seton (shout out to the fantastic staff we encountered there), and is now resting and recovering at home. She’s moving around well, we’ve gone on walks around the condo complex to keep her active per Dr. Eggleston’s orders, and the pain has been manageable so far. Over the next 2.5 weeks we will have follow up appointments with all 3 doctors to find out results.
We want to thank everyone that came out to the hospital to keep me company during the surgery, all of those that visited Allison in her room, and the family and friends that have reached out, stopped by or sent flowers, food and gifts. Can’t tell you enough how loved and supported we feel.
Next steps in the coming weeks will be radiation, followed in the Spring by the second surgery (left mastectomy and a DIEP flap reconstruction). More updates soon!
