There are many of you that know my beautiful daughter as Hilary, but she prefers using Katherine, which is her first  name. My 80 year old brain sometimes messes up but these two names do belong to the same person.

To those of you that don't know Katherine's cancer history let me share a bit with you.

In early May of 2012, Katherine was diagnosed with stage one cancer in one of her breast. After the initial shock, her comment was "But, I'm still nursing little Houston".

Things moved quickly after that. Test results confirmed that the cancer was estrogen driven. The BRAC 1 & 2 TEST came back "Variant, unknown signisitante (not yes, not no)".

After visiting with the surgeon(s), she choose to have a double mastectomy and reconstruction surgery. The chemo therapy was administered at MD Anderson.

On May 23rd, Katherine underwent 6 hours of surgery to have bi-lateral breast removal. Multiple session of reconstruction followed, as well as 6 months of chemo. The doctors didn't know what was driving this cancer so her chemo "cocktails" had to cover everything. The "cocktail" she received the last three months of her chemo treatment was referred to as the "Red Devil". It was brutal!!   

Fast forward to December 3rd, 2019.

Katherine went in for a routine colonoscopy, although a tad bit overdue. It was during the colonoscopy that the doctor discovered that she had colon cancer. He ordered scans of her liver and kidney. The news was shocking, she was numb. She has now become a colonoscopy crusader, reminding folk to have regular check-ups.

Before she was completely awake following the colonoscopy, her doctor was on the phone making arrangement with a surgeon who could see her the next day. So on December 4th, she met with 
that surgeon who made arrangements for a MRI, additional scans and more blood work. The positive was that the first scans showed that the cancer had not spread outside of the colon. The BRAC 1 & 2 Test came back with the same explanation as in 2012. At this point, Katherine was emotionally drained. There were meltdowns. 

On December 12th, the tumor was robotically extracted along with 1/4 to 1/5 of her colon. Tissue that was removed at surgery was sent to pathology. The tumor was very large, shaped like a mushroom with a stem that was attached to the colon lining. Pathology Report: it was recommended that she do chemo because it was undetermined if some cancer cells had broken off. 

Two and a half days in the hospital and then home to recover. Katherine's Gastroenterologist and her Surgeon recommended an Oncologist, whom she then chose to be her doctor. It was this doctor who told her that she had Stage 3A Colon Cancer.  Arrangements were finalized and on January 29th a chest port was installed and chemo Drip #1 began the next day. Katherine and Rick feel so blessed that all of these medical arrangements and implementations happened in such a short time frame. 

Katherine's chemo therapy will be for 3 months, every other week. On a Thursday the chemo is dripped for 3 hours in the hospital and then continues at home with the aid of a portable battery operated pump housed in a fanny pack. The "cocktail" finishes on Saturday morning. That same day she heads back to the hospital to have the line removed. Drip #1 was started on January 30th and Drip #2 was started February 13th. 

The chemo "cocktails" are different with this second cancer. The nausea, feeling nasty, aches and pain are still there but there are several new symptoms, of which the headaches are the worst. She says that they are horrible, worse than her Migraines. 

Katherine is a LADY of FAITH and STRENGTH. These two attributes, plus the love of her family and friends help sustain her.

I, as her Mother, would really appreciate your prayers for her and her family. As they do.

I'll be writing Katherine Hilary updates as this journey of chemo therapy continues. They won't be every day but they will come. If you are a note or card sender, those can be sent to #50 W Lasting Spring Circle, Spring, Texas 77389

Blessings to all,
FayAnn (Hannon)
a.k.a.
Mommy, Toozie, Tooziemouse, Granis and Gran

Started writing this on the 14th, finalized on the 17th. Sorry it took so long to finish. Writing is probably not one of my skills.  :-)