Hello everyone,

For those who don't know me, my name is Sarah and I am Rose's daughter. I thought with everything my mom is going thru, it would be the easiest way to keep everyone updated by sharing her journey on this page. Friends and family have reached out in the past week or so asking what is going on, so this 1st entry will be quite long. 

Several months ago Rose had found a lump in the side of her left breast. From everything she had went thru years ago, having to be hospitalized for almost a year, she was petrified to go to the doctor. As months went on things continued to get worse and the skin on her left breast started dramatically changing color, texture, and shape. The original lump was now a very large mass and several other large masses had formed as well. Multiple lymph nodes in her armpit and collar bone were very swollen and hard as well. Rose went in on March 8th to see Dr. Hidde.  At the appointment Dr. Hidde was very concerned and made an urgent referral to Dr. Foster at Bellin Surgical Associates. Rose then met with Dr. Foster on March 9th. At the appt Dr. Foster did confirm Rose has breast cancer and explained they would need to do a punch biopsy of the tumor area and also an Ultrasound-guided FNA of the left axillary lymph node. This would tell them exactly what type of breast cancer she has. We received the phone call from Dr. Foster on March 10th that Rose has Stage 3 inflammatory breast cancer. They were still waiting for some more labs to come back with a more definitive diagnosis but with the shock of hearing inflammatory breast cancer, i think that was more than enough to try to process for that day. 

March 15th- Rose had an MRI to be able to see the sizes of the tumors, as well as see if any cancer showed up outside of the left breast including other lymph nodes. The biggest concern was to see if the cancer had spread into her chest wall. She was also referred to Dr. Mortarra at The Bellin Cancer Team. On March 18th Rose met with Dr. Mortarra to discuss the MRI and biopsy results and come up with a treatment plan.  Dr. Mortarra explained the core biopsy showed infiltrating ductal carcinoma. They also found that the cancer did in fact spread into her chest wall and other lymph nodes in the surrounding area. Dr. Mortarra ordered a PET Scan to find out if the cancer had spread even further into her bones, lungs etc.  Dr. Mortarra explained that if the cancer did actually spread to other parts of her body they would not be able to proceed with treatments to save her life anymore. It would be a treatment plan to make her comfortable and not in pain. With Roses diagnoses of such an advanced invasive type of cancer we all feared the worse.

March 23rd- Rose had her PET Scan done and we met with Dr. Mortarra on March 24th to discuss the results. IT DID NOT SPREAD! Best news we had heard in days! Dr. Mortarra did have a lengthy discussion with Rose to explain that even though it was good news that the cancer was localized, she still has a VERY hard battle in front of her.  This type of cancer spreads so fast and is already in advanced stages so everything needed to happen quickly to try to stop it from spreading any further. He explained she would be on some very serious medications to try to save her. She agreed to go ahead with treatments and keep on fighting. 

March 26th- Dr. Foster performed an outpatient procedure to place her port in her chest for her upcoming chemo treatments. 

March 29th- Rose had to have an echocardiogram  to get a baseline for her heart function. This is to make sure her heart stays healthy while receiving her chemo treatments. 

March 30th- Rose went into The Bellin Cancer team where she received her first round of Chemo. She will have 20 weeks of treatments, followed by surgery, then 6 weeks of radiation. Her first 4 rounds of chemo which she will receive every other week are expected to be the hardest. 

Rose has been a fighter her whole life and even though she is up against the biggest battle she has ever faced i'm certain with lots of support and love she can win this fight!! I will continue to update as her journey continues. In the meantime, feel free to reach out via Caringbridge or to her personal number and let her know you're thinking of her!