Moving website

We decided to move the blog over to Caringbridge. This will allow you to signup and receive emails when we make updates. Here is the link

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/michellepinsky

Thanks

Howard

And we're off!

Michelle spoke with Dr. Barreau today and they want to start her treatment today. So we are going to her first Chemo Appt at 12:45 today. I will be there with Michelle and my mom is going to pick up the girls from school.

We're both a little nervous, but you have to start at some point. We will update the blog more now and the carecalendar for meals, rides, chemo bags, etc now that we are on the path.

On a lighter note, Dayna suggested that we have a party when all this is completed. We all think this is a great idea and look forward to that day.

Howard

More updates

So the plans were that Michelle was going to start Chemo tomorrow. We had decided to go to IU Simon Cancer Center in Indianapolis for a third opinion since we had two different opinions of the chemo treatment regimen. They were able to comfirm with the Dr. that recommended the AC followed by T and provided a lot of details as to why this was the best course of action along with the risks associated with it.

It really eased my mine and I think Michelle's also. We had already cancelled the appt for tomorrow so we will have to reschedule for maybe later this week. Michelle did have some problems last week with not having an appetite and feeling nauseous. It seems she may have had an infection near her port. Her Dr put her on antibiotics and she has been doing much better. Appetite is back to normal and nausea is gone.

I'm sure it seems that we having been going back and forth, but we wanted to make sure that we found the best care for Michelle. If you are reading this, you know she is worth it!! Now we are back on track and heading forward.

On another not. Cincinnati has a great ride, called the Ride Cincinnati. It raises money for the Barret Cancer Research center here in Cincinnati. Last year I rode 45 miles are raised around $750 in honor of Michelle's sister Ellen, who had breast cancer 3 years ago. This year I have created a team called Team PinkSky. If you are interested in Riding on the team, (you dont have to ride 45 miles) or just want to donate, go to http://www.ridecincinnati.org/team/pinksky to either register or donate.

I'll update you again tomorrow..

Howard

A Change...

Hi All,

It's been a while since I wrote. I am feeling very well these days now that surgery is over and I'm "back to my usual self." I am taking the girls to and from school and going about my days pretty normally right now. I am trying to build my strength and stay healthy in preparation for chemotherapy which will start in the next few weeks.

After the last post, we met with my surgeon the next day and learned some additional information which we didn't learn the day before when meeting with the oncologist. I guess it's always better to wait for your surgeon to talk to you about the pathology report before letting someone else talk to you about it!

Although the news is pretty much the same, I learned that there was more cancer in the breast than I originally heard from the oncologist. After taking out all that she could in surrounding tissue, the entire area of the tumor was over 5 cm. The cancer was also found in my blood vessels which is another path for the cancer to exit the breast and get into other parts of the body. So far, there does not appear to be cancer anywhere else in my body (other than the breast) that we can see, but chances are there are microscopic cells lingering around that need to be killed. This is why the chemotherapy is necessary.

The "margains" were pretty clean, however, it appears that there is additional cancer in some ducts and other areas of the breast. Therefore, it was recommended that a mastectomy is definitely in my future. Most likely after chemotherapy. The jury is still out on whether or not radiation is necessary, but it is very likely that it will be. That will come after the surgery.

I went for a second opinion yesterday (regarding chemotherapy treatment drugs) after meeting with Dr. Barreau (oncologist) last week. The second opinion gave me a totally different course of treatment recommendation. Either treatment will likely work, but one has more long term side effects than the other. It is complicated and I want to make the best choice, after all...the goal is a long life!

I will be seeking a third opinion in Indianapolis in about 1 1/2 weeks. Hopefully, this opinion will help me make the final decision on which oncologist to choose. As of now, I will just have to wait which I don't like to do.

So...it looks like chemotherapy may be delayed a week or so. This way I can feel like I am making a good decision on which treatment to use.

I am doing ok emotionally...just a bit nervous about making all these decsions. My family and friends are keeping me sane!

Thanks so much to everyone who brought meals while I was recovering from surgery. It helped so much! Also, thank you to everyone who has sent cards, called etc. It means so much to me and Howard. We are lucky to have such wonderful family and friends.

We will write another update soon when there is more info! Thanks for checking in.

Much Love to everyone!!

Michelle

Great news today

We met with the oncologist today, Dr Barreau, who we loved! He was able to get the Pathology report. It's great news. Dr Manders removed 20 lymph nodes and they only found cancer in the one lymph node that we had known about from the beginning. No cancer in any of the other 19 lymph nodes!!!! He also said that there were clear margins around the area removed from her breast. The tumor in her breast was 3.2 CM

I must say that I just about started to cry. Then he told us the Grade of the cancer. For those who don't know, Grading is different from staging.

Grading is how aggressive the cancer is.

Staging is

The stage of a cancer is a descriptor (usually numbers I to IV) of how much the cancer has spread. The stage often takes into account the size of a tumor, how deeply it has penetrated, whether it has invaded adjacent organs, how many lymph nodes it has metastasized to (if any), and whether it has spread to distant organs. Staging of cancer is important because the stage at diagnosis is the most powerful predictor of survival, and treatments are often changed based on the stage.

Michelle's cancer was a Grade 3 which means that it was very aggressive. Which also means it can grow and spread quickly. This explains why nothing showed up on Michelle's Mammogram last year. It might sound scary, but thankfully Michelle found it early.

So what happens next? Michelle has her first Chemo Appt on March 23. There are going to be four rounds of treatment every two weeks for the first drug, Adriamycin.

More about adriamycin here http://www.chemocare.com/bio/adriamycin.asp

Then another 4 rounds of treatment every two weeks with Taxol.

More about Taxol here http://www.chemocare.com/bio/taxol.asp

So now we start the long process of recovery. Michelle continues to get stronger everyday. We meet with the Dr Manders tomorrow and hopefully the drain can be removed.

Thanks again to everyone for their support. We can't begin to tell you how much it means to us.

Howard

First Day at home

Michelle is doing really well. Her color is back and swelling has gone down. Nausea hasn't been too bad. Having her Mom and sister here have been great. It's giving Dayna and I the chance to go out for a Daddy Dayna Date.

Michelle's strength continues to grow each day. Right now she is usually up for about 45 minutes and then back to sleep for 5-6 hours. She's able to walk around without any help. Emotionally she seems to be doing well. It continues to amaze us how many cards we receive each day.

As for me. I'm doing ok too.

Thanks for checking in.

H

We're coming home!!!

Yeahh!!!!!!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Doing Well today

Michelle is doing great. She had a great nights sleep. We had an amazing nurse last night who was very thorough and made it easy for Michelle to sleep through most the night. Michelle's sister Ellen chose to spend the night at the hospital with her and it was good for Michelle.

Dr Mander's came in today and told us that Michelle can go home today. We wont have the pathology report back until Monday or Tuesday.

Thanks again to everyone for all their support and kind wishes and prayers yesterday.

Howard

Out of surgery

Michelle is out of surgery. Just met with the dr. Everyhing went well. She did not find anything that was unexpected. Which is great. More later when we get to the room.

Almost done

Just checked with nurses. They are just finishing up. Putting in the port now. They didn't start till 8:30.

In Surgery

Michelle went into surgery at 8:04. Thanks to Ellen we had lot of prayers last night and this morning. Michelle has 4 powerful angels with her to keep her company while she is asleep. I have 5 powerful people to keep me company while I'm awake.

Thanks again to everyone for their well wishes. The girls seem to do well today and they are at school.

More updates later.

For Tomorrow

I know that everyone is as anxious, nervous, concerned, praying, and many other emotions about tomorrow. Michelle has an amazing surgeon. Her surgery will start at 8 am tomorrow. I also know that you all will want to know how things are going.

You all know what a crazy tech geek I am, so follow that geekiness, I can update the blog from my phone.

I will let you all know when she has gone into surgery, and when she is out through our blog.

I also want to thank everyone who has called, emailed, sent cards, gifts, signed up to help with meals or driving. The amount of support that everyone has provided truly brings tears to my eyes and has helped Michelle get ready for her battle that starts tomorrow.

There has never been any doubt in anyone's mind that she is going to win. Over the next few days and weeks I know many will want to call or email. Please understand that depending on how Michelle is feeling will determine is she feels like talking or returning emails. You may get responses from me if she is tired, but I promise to send all the well wishes and messages to her.

Thanks again to everyone for their support.

Howard & Michelle

A Plan

It's been a few days since we posted an update, but now there is more information to share.

After meeting with two surgeons, I decided on the first one we met. She is wonderful and I feel very comfortable with her. After much deliberation with myself, I decided to go with a lumpectomy and an axillary dissection to begin the process. This means she will be taking out the cancer from my breast as well as the lymphnode that also has cancer. She will also remove several lymphnodes from under the arm to test and see if any others have cancer. By doing this she can determine what stage the cancer is. She will also be putting in a port on the other side of my chest to be used later to administer the chemotherapy.

Surgery is planned for this Thursday, February 25th at 8am. It should take about 3 hours total time. I will be in the hospital overnight and will hopefully be home on Friday the 26th.

We met with an oncologist and radation oncologist yesterday which was very helpful in understanding treatment options after recovering from the surgery (takes about 2 weeks or so). After recovery I will begin chemotherapy for about 4 - 5 months and then radiation for 5 weeks following that. During this time I will have the opportunity to decide what I will do long term depending on results of genetic testing and other considerations. In the meantime, we are getting the cancer out and this buys me time to make some other difficult decisions.

I am so thankful to all my family and friends who have been by my side throughout all of this. It feels good to have so many wonderful people rooting for me. Thank you for checking in and for caring so much...

Much love to everyone!

Michelle

Almost A Week

This is the first time I've actually written since this whole thing started. It's been a whirlwind of a week and I can't believe tomorrow will be one week since this all began. It feels like much longer.

We met with the first surgeon again on Friday and received the results of the breast MRI. No new news really, which is a good thing. They saw what we've already identified on other tests. Nothing in the other breast. We talked to her more about surgical options and will plan to have a decision by next Friday hopefully. We are still going to meet with another surgeon this week for a second opinion, but we really like the first surgeon we met. We also have three other appointments on Friday to meet with other docs before making any final surgical decisions. There is a lot to consider and everything is quite overwhelming. It's kind of like living in a dream.

All I can say is thank you to all the people who have called, sent cards, emails etc. All of you have helped me to feel so loved. Each and every one of you make me feel so taken care of and I am truly grateful.

We will continue to update the blog as we learn new things. Thanks for checking in....This is going to be a long and challenging ride and I am glad you are all on it with me...

Lots of love to everyone!
Michelle

Day 3

Today we met with the Surgeon for the first time. We loved her. Very down to earth and took plenty of time to explain everything to us in such a way that we could understand it.

She went over the results of the CT scans and the bone scan.

At this point we have several options as to the course of therapy. All of which include surgery to remove the infected cells in the Lymph nodes and the breast followed by Chemotherapy. We have not decided the exact course as of yet. Tomorrow Michelle will be going for an MRI and we will get those results on Friday when we meet with the Surgeon again.

We are also seeking a second opinion next week from another surgeon that was recommended to us and this surgeon also recommended. We are so thankful for everyone that has provided us with names of DR's to seek out. So far it appears that everyone is recommending the same people which is comforting to us that we are finding the best care possible.

We want to thank everyone for all the support, playdates, good wishes and phone calls. We will do our very best to keep you up to date and will use this blog to help us do so.

Feel free to forward this blog to those who you feel might want to know.

Thanks again,

Michelle and Howard

Day 2

Sitting at Panera today. Michelle had her CT this morning and then has become RADIOACTIVE!! The inject some radioactive stuff into her for the bone scan that is later this afternoon.

Not much going on today other than that.

First Day

So today is our first day of the fight. We found out today that Michelle has breast cancer. She has only had a diagnostic Mammogram and a biopsy at this point. They found cancer in her right breast and in one of her lymph nodes.

We are going for more CT scans tomorrow and a full bone scan.

Yes we are scared, but so far we hear that the prognosis is good. The type of cancer she has is receptive to treatment.

We talked about creating this blog so our loved ones and friends have a place to go to see updates and make any comments they feel they want.

We have already received a ton of support from everyone and really appreciate it.

So you are probably wondering how are we doing? Well, we're scared, but managing. We don't have enough information yet to know if it is widespread. We haven't told the girls anything yet, but plan to look to some cancer organizations to help us learn the best way to tell them. Right now we want to try to keep there lives as normal as possible.

We will beat this. I say we because even though Michelle has the disease we are in this together. There may be times that you hear us rant, or rather me rant, but I feel this avenue gives me a place to do that.

Off to bed now. Big day tomorrow.