Monday April 28, 2008

Hello to our family and friends. Mom, Stacey and I are so blessed with the loving care, good wishes and prayers from you all. Thank you!
We would love to speak to each and every one of you to let you know exactly how things are progressing but find that overwhelming since so many people love Mom. So we have asked my husband Greg to set up this blog for everyone to keep in touch with Mom and let you all know in a timely manner what is happening. We will try to post as new information unfolds to keep you in the loop. When you have questions, comments, prayers, photos or laughter to share please do so! We hope this will be the simplest and most effective way to communicate at this time.

April 28th, Monday:
This morning, Mom, Stacey and I went to Mom's meeting with Dr. Barbara Goff at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. She is an ovarian cancer specialist and our surgeon. (A big thanks to angel Shannon Marsh for hooking us up in record time with this incredible surgeon. Mwah!) We connected with Dr. Goff and her team immediately: They were intelligent, straight-forward, and two out of three were red-heads! Best of all, they "got" Mom! We had an informative discussion that helped Mom decide on the following course of action and recovery.
Instead of undergoing surgery in the morning, Mom is going to begin chemotherapy. Dr. Goff showed us Mom's CT scan on the computer. It revealed tumors on her ovaries, uterus, abdominal lining, as well as on the perimeter of her liver along with some metastasis into the spleen. In order to try to save the spleen - which is helpful for a stronger immune response later - she recommended three courses of chemotherapy beginning next week to slow growth and to shrink the tumors, making surgery and recovery more effective.
Dr. Goff was confident Mom would have little trouble receiving and coping with the chemotherapy. She said: "After five minutes I could tell what kind of woman you are and I know you will do fine with the chemotherapy." It is a six hour treatment that we understand will make her tired and a little nauseous, though not as nauseous as was once the case. After about five to seven days post-chemo, she hopes to feel well enough to head back to Elmo and get to work on her garden and other spring projects! We are even keeping the May canoe trip in sight!
One of her plans is to continue to see Jimmy Mackimmie the healer in Eureka that our cousin Brittney along with Susan M. and Patty H. (Thank You!) helped hook us up with. If Mom had a twin brother, in spirit and looks, he is the one. After our initial visit with Jimmey ( who had a Sai Baba painting on his wall!) Mom was so peaceful and "smoothed out" . This is something we are both looking forward to as a positive healing treatment. We have already been diligent with some of his suggested alternative healing methods and believe that any and all will help to move this disease out.
Mom will undergo three chemo treatments here in Seattle, hopefully starting this Friday. There will be three weeks in between each treatment and a final three weeks recovery prior to surgery projected for the first week of August.
Please keep Mom in your prayers and know that she would prefer more e-mails or letters than calls and she says to Stace and me, "let's all do our summers just like normal and not make a big drama out of this." So that is our assignment. We are all trying to stay in today, make good choices and remember that God is in charge.
Please post your replies here or send mail to either address:
PO Box 41
Elmo, Mt. 59915
or
5724 35th Ave. N E
Seattle, WA 98105

Love to all.
Bonnie, Stacey and Mom (Barbara).