so much to be thankful for

what a wonderful thanksgiving!!!!
we got great news when mom and dad met with vince in baton rouge last week. mom's latest pet scan results have been read as identical to her pre treatment pet scan. such great news!!!!!!! it means the tarceva that she's been taking has kept the lung cancer from growing!!!!
she will continue to take the once a day pill, meet with vince in about 8 weeks, and schedule another scan in about 3 months.
thank you all so much for your support and keep up the positive thoughts.
all my love,
g

race for the cure-austin

thank you to all of my friends who came out to the race on sunday to support the komen foundation and my mom. we had a great race, the weather was perfect, and everyone got to sit down for a delicious lunch together after. it is because of all of you that i am reminded how lucky we are to have such love and support in our lives!!!!!

race day

we had an absolutely incredible weekend in houston!!!!!!!!!!!
 it was amazing to see over 35000 people come together to support a cause. what was even more amazing was the outpouring of love and support from all of mom's family and friends. i finally got to meet the wonderful hayes elementary group that came out to show their love and support. it was certainly an emotional weekend and reminded me how lucky we are to have each other. the opportunity to see so many people who's lives have been impacted by cancer and how they continue to fight for the cure. below are some of veronica's pics from the race and i will post more as they come in.
all my love,
gretchen

great news

The results of mom's bone scan is back and its all clear!!!!! No cancer in her bones!!!! In houston to spend the weekend with family and walk the susan komen race for the cure on saturday. Will put up pictures of race day asap. Love you all
g

tour de pink 2010

so proud of my sis veronica!!!!



here are some pictures of the ride this morning that her roomate and friend tiffany did with her.... there were over 1300 riders and they raised over 350,000 dollars!!!!!!!!!!!

oncology appt wed

mom and dad will meet with vince on wednesday in baton rouge at 330pm and mom will get to begin taking the once a day oral tablet!!!!
vince wants to get a baseline cat scan on wednesday and then take another one in about 2 months to track her progress.
keep your fingers crossed and keep praying. the patients who are currently taking the tablet are showing a 70% response rate:)

good luck to veronica who is riding her bike in a benefit race on sunday!!

thank you to everyone for your support, well wishes, thoughts and prayers.... we are all very appreciative.
gretchen

my amazing sis

vee asked that i share all of this with you.
she's going to bike to raise money for breast cancer and i hope all of you view her webpage and support her.
 i'm so proud of her!!!!!!!!!!!!
http://www.tourdepink.org/goto/SupportVeronica

wigs, races, and updates

so many things have happened since i got back to new orleans. helped mom pick out a wig- she banned all pictures of the event from appearing on the blog. found out the the elementary school where mom worked in katy is sponsoring a team for the komen race for the cure. she is so touched by their support, we all ordered tee shirts!!!!
you can track the progress of the houston race here: www.komen-houston.org

FINALLY got the pathology back on the lung biopsy that was done almost two weeks ago. interestingly, it shows that mom has primary lung cancer in addition to already having the diagnosis of dcis (ductal carcinoma in situ). the lung cancer finding is entirely incidental as we would have never known mom had lung cancer if the PET scan wouldn't have been done and the lung cancer and the breast cancer are NOT related. what we know is that it is non small cell adenocarcinoma of the lung. vince (the best oncologist ever) has shipped out her lung biopsy for genetic testing in california. he has explained to us that if she possesses an EGFR mutation (epidermal growth factor receptor) she will be a candidate for TARCEVA (an oral pill) that has shown a 70% response rate in patients who are on it. if she is negative for the mutation, she will have to do regular chemo. radiation and surgery aren't options b/c the cancer is so spread out amongst multiple lobes in her lung. the genetic test results will be available in ten to fourteen days. (again, hurry up and wait).

i'm headed back to austin and plan to return once the test results come back and we know what direction we're headed. but before i left nola, mom and i dined on some delicious treats at acme oyster house. (see new picture at left)
keep praying
much love,
g

pathology results

the preliminary results are in from the pulmonary biopsy last week. the cells have proven to be malignant (cancer). they have been sent off to be closely analyzed this week to determine their specific composition. once they have been analyzed, we will know if it is breast cancer that metastasized to the lungs and what potential treatment options we will have. specifically, they will be checking for erpr and her2 which will indicate what chemotherapy drugs will be relevant. the doctor's office indicated that the report should be available next monday and we will meet with vince in baton rouge next week to map out the treatment plan and initiate treatment. i know that this is agonizing for mom as she struggles to balance the "hurry up and wait" aspect of all this. keep us in your prayers. all my love
gretchen

no news

Greetings from cabo!!!! Im less than 90 minutes into my actual birthday and having a blast!!!! No news about the radiology report. Hoping to hear something on monday. I will post when we get the report.
G

the trip back home

i can't help but feel nostalgic everytime i go back to new orleans. there are so many things about the NOLA that i miss. although the trip was about setting up the plan for mom's biopsy, my dad surprised us with a suite at harrah's in new orleans where we had a great dinner and spent time together. the views from the room were great (and the bathroom incredible!!) but the ride into new orleans was so hysterical that i couldn't help but put up a post about a few of the lighter things in life. be sure to zoom in on the red neck version of the general lee (oversized truck with purple and gold lsu letters)that i spotted parked in a driveway in metairie. then imagine me sipping on the swirl daquiri (a must on any trip to la) while my mom and i were forced to travel the ENTIRE length of the causeway in imposed silence while my dad conferenced call on his dorky blue tooth thing. (causeway= longest bridge in the world, spans from north shore of lake ponchartrain to suburb just outside of new orleans. also was the "path" used by helicopter pilots evacuating us out of tulane hospital after katrina and dropping us off at sister hospital on the north shore). i giggled and terrorized my dad snapping pictures on my iphone with every intent of putting them up on the blog. enjoy!

interventional radiology appt

had an appt this afternoon with the interventional radiologist at st tammany hospital. we all sat down with the pet scan images pulled up on the computer and mapped out a plan of attack. mom's appt will be thursday morning at 9am so she has to be at the hospital by 7am. she'll start out the day in the endoscopy department where they will start her IV and draw baseline lab work. the largest "spot" is about 10mm in size and is located between the 8th and 9th ribs on the right side. they will give her some medicine to relax her and take away the pain as they insert a needle (guided by CAT scan images) through her skin and into the mass to suck out the cells. (for you medicine peeps reading, they're going to consciously sedate her with versed and fentanyl and make her loopy:)) there will be a lab tech on hand to quickly review the specimen and make sure that they have a good cell sample. they will also take a few chest xrays before she goes home to make sure that they didn't inadvertently collapse the lung. the dr feels that we should have the pathology report back on friday afternoon and will be able to say whether or not this is metastatic cancer that is now in her lung. we got so lucky that the RN sitting in on the consult (who will be pushing meds on my mom on procedure day) is an old ER nurse who trained at a trauma center in houston!!!! we ended the appt by sitting around the table laughing and telling ER stories. she really put us at ease and hugged me and promised that she's going to take care of my mom like she were her own. i think we got a really good group of people working on my mom!!!!

i'm including a link that explains things way better than i can for those interested
http://www.answers.com/topic/ct-guided-biopsy

my friend vince (the smartest doctor i know)

a little bit of history...

for those of you who haven't heard the whole story, here's a recap.  during a ROUTINE yearly exam/mammogram, an area of abnormality was discovered in my mom's right breast. comparison with the mammogram from just 12 months before confirmed that this was new. the doctor immediately did an ultrasound and confirmed an "area of concern." she was scheduled for a needle biopsy the next week. the pathology report came back devastating- ductal carcinoma. once the cancer diagnosis was made, she was scheduled for an MRI and PET scan which she completed on tuesday of this week. then, the phone call thursday night.... areas of hyperactivity in the right upper lobe of her lung and hyperactivity in the mediastinal lymph nodes. we've gone from thinking that its an isolated breast cancer that was caught early to the need for pulmonary biopsy. i don't think any of us were prepared to hear that. we have an appointment on monday afternoon in new orleans with the interventional radiologist. based on the area/areas that they want to biopsy and where the masses are located, the decision will be made for CT needle guided biopsy or a pulmonologist doing a broncoscopy to obtain the cells. once the pathology is back, we'll all head to baton rouge to meet with vince (my heme/onc friend that mom wants to take care of her) to discuss treatment options/plans. i met vince at the starbucks in new orleans about 6 years ago while studying for nursing school. vince was chief resident at charity hospital and studying for his boards. we struck up a conversation about medicine over iced coffees and became fast friends. after katrina, vince went on to do his fellowship in hematology/oncology at m.d. anderson in houston and i moved to austin. since completing his fellowship, vince moved to baton rouge and accepted a job closer to his family. we've stayed in touch over the years and he was one of the first people i called. i am so lucky and blessed to have him in my life. keep your fingers crossed
g