Update on Sue's Mother

Please continue to support Sue and her family in your prayers. Sue provides us with an update below.

Sue writes today:

What a long, long week ... My mom said today that this was the worst week of her life.

I just wanted to give you an update on where things stand:

This morning she went to the hospital for a MUGA scan, to see if her heart will be strong enough to handle the course of treatment (chemo, etc.). We won't find that out until sometime next week -- all we know is that the tests came back "clear." My question is this: if her heart is NOT strong enough, will they go through it anyway? It seems our choices right now are limited.This afternoon she went to her breast doctor/surgeon to see if she could figure out what is under her arm, in the lymph area. While her oncologist was concerned about it, her breast doctor didn't think it was anything to worry about. My mom had an ultrasound done, and the doctor didn't see anything -- certainly nothing with any defined shape to it. She thinks it's just the way that her body is healing in that area -- not "normal," necessarily, but because she had an extreme amount of radiation in that spot her cells are messed up to start with, so perhaps that's why the healing is coming in a different way (i.e. scar tissue, harder tissue, etc.).

However, while she is not convinced there's anything to worry about, she is going to talk to the oncologist on Monday. If he insists that he is concerned and that something should be done, the breast doctor will concede and will then operate ... again ... to remove whatever it is. I guess the "best" scenario would be to open her up, determine for sure that it's nothing, and sew her back up again. So ... while it wasn't bad news, it certainly wasn't the kind of news that can make you breathe a sigh of relief ... we still don't know what's going on, and that "not knowing" isn't easy. Lots of "what if's" involved. I guess we'll know more next week — the discussion on Monday between the two doctors, the results of the heart scan, etc. Her oncologist also recommended that she get a second opinion, but that means more waiting. And if the cancer is as horribly aggressive as they say, waiting is the LAST thing you want to do.

The week is over, we have a free weekend (relatively speaking) to rest up for what's coming. A very specific prayer request is for extra strength for my mom. She is SOOO exhausted — she cries of it sometimes. My concern is that if she literally has the fight of her life ahead of her, she's going into it extremely weak and tired. Right now, she almost needs some kind of superhuman strength. And please pray for my dad — he doesn't say how he feels (at least not to anyone other than my mom), but I know he cries a lot (I can see that his eyes are always red). He too needs a tremendous amount of strength just to be there for her, to truck her around to appointments — she's his best friend and this is taking such a tremendous toll. And please pray for lifted spirits — I felt so good (finally!) after Grace's [Sue's daughter] birthday party (we all did), and now my spirits have sunk to a depth of such sadness. We're all just so, so sad. It would be great to just get a shred of good news, a glimmer of hope in all of this, after a string of bad news.

Thanks, as always, for your loving support, friendship, and prayers — it means the world to us.

More later ...Sue

Again, as a reminder, comments posted on this blog will reach Sue directly. She checks this blog daily.

I'll continue to post any updates and share at Inward~Outward on Sunday evenings.