First of all, let me apologize for the gap in the updates! Life has gotten away from us! 

Mom has finished her first round of Taxol chemo now. We had a rough start because of her blood sugar troubles. They give her some steroids before the chemotherapy and usually this would cause her sugars to go up quite a bit. For some reason she had very low blood sugars. At one point we had to call an ambulance because she became delirious. She started working with an endocrinologist at Mayo and they changed up her insulin quite a bit.  Long story short, her blood sugar troubles seem to have subsided. 

Her platelets actually weren't affected too much by the chemotherapy. She has continued to eat a high protein diet and this has proven to help keep her platelets where they want them! 

She has however had trouble with low white blood cell counts, which is expected with chemotherapy. Her neutrophils (a type of white blood cell)- these are responsible to show up first on the site of new infection- were low which isn't good because then she could get a more serious infection. She started getting Neupogen (I probably butchered the spelling) injections the three consecutive days after chemotherapy. This essentially fixed the problem! We almost got to do these shots from home but due to insurance clearance and difficulty getting them from a normal pharmacy she just now got them in the mail after 2 months of waiting. Since she is now done with her Taxol chemotherapy.. she ironically doesn't need them anymore. 

Her first check up after starting the chemo was very positive! The mass was hard to find compared to before it was obvious where it was. The mass seemed to have flattened like a pancake- chemo is working! And check ups since then have been the same! No new masses have been found in her lymph nodes just by feeling but before this next round of chemotherapy they are going to do another MRI to be sure. The surgical oncology nurse practioner said that if she continues with this progress she still would be a good candidate for a lumpectomy! Which is what Mom is hoping for. 

We just met with her medical oncologist and he was very happy with her progress. He was not expecting her to get through all 12 weeks of the Taxol chemo due to her platelets and already having some peripheral neuropathy (numbness and tingling in her toes and feet) from being diabetic. This last Friday would have been round 9 of 12 but due to her increasing peripheral neuropathy he decided that we are done with the Taxol. Apparently this is a pretty common side effect with Taxol and if not stopped early she could have permanent neuropathy.. which isn't great for anyone but someone who uses their hands for a living cutting hair- this obviously isn't ideal. 

The next steps! This Friday we will start her second round of chemo -Adriamycin and Cyclophosphamide or otherwise known as "AC". This chemo will be only 4 rounds but given once every two weeks, so this will be over the course of the next 8 weeks.  Her oncologist goal is when she has the surgery and they take out the mass (which he is pretty positive that they should get all of it!! YAY!) that they find no cancer cells left over in the mass- this apparently happens 40-50% of the time. If they do find cancer cells (50-60% of the time) then she would be put on a chemo pill for another 5-6 months. The unfortunate part of the AC is that instead of her day 2-3 after the Taxol chemo having the side effects of fatigue and some nausea now she will most likely have side effects day 3-10 after AC chemo and they are a little stronger. They have given us meds to try and help with these but she is definitely not looking forward to it. 

Overall so far mom has had plenty of energy and still is working! This may have to change due to the neuropathy and increasing side effects but so far so good!

Thank you to everyone that has reached out and prayed for her and our family! We are truly thankful and believe that positivity and prayers work wonders!