“I’m over halfway done.”

Kylie told me this early this week and I looked at the ribbons on the hearth. My eyes played tricks on me, but she is right. I can’t believe how fast it has gone. It’s like a dream almost, fast sometimes and super slow other times. 

We went to Disney World this week. We got our tickets half off because we strategically used credit cards with travel points so that’s nice. It was very fun for the kids and felt like a normal day at the theme park. We had to wait in line around 3 pm and everyone was tired. LOL. But it was fun, the kids loved it. Kylie loved it. I mean just look at the picture of her as the fireworks go off behind her. Beautiful. This is Kylie’s favorite place!

The day after we got back from Disney, Kylie had Chemo and a Meeting with the surgeon. We borrowed a 2nd car from our friends and they also watched the boys so I could go to the surgery meeting. Abby came with us to go to this meeting and Chemo. 

Dr. Wendy Cornett is the surgeon. She is amazing. She examined Kylie’s left breast. She said “This looks fabulous. It’s working. It’s different.” She also told us that the peau d’orange was mostly gone and the skin color was normal. Then she talked with us for 40 minutes all about the surgery, the options, and the other things that will happen with surgery.

We learned that the nerves to the skin come through the breast. And people who get a double mastectomy say hugging is not the same. You won’t feel pressure on your chest but a little on the sides and the back when people hug you. She talked us through the options of keeping the nipple or getting rid of it. Dr. Cornett said the nipple has the most ductile tissue concentration in the nipple. So why keep the nipple if it’s the most susceptible part to cancer? Not only that but if it is kept, the skin will discolor and it won’t have any feeling in it anyway. 

She said she recommended Kylie get rid of both breasts due to the BRCA gene mutation. She said Kylie reminds her of her daughter and that is what she would recommend to her. My eyes started steaming at this. It’ll be sad but she will be alive and healthy and the risk of cancer coming back will go way down. 

She talked us through the lymph nodes and what would happen to them in the surgery. Kylie needs to take all of the lymph nodes in her left side/arm. This is called an Axillary dissection which is a surgical procedure that involves removing lymph nodes from the armpit (axilla) area. After this, there will need to be radiation on the nodes. The risk of her getting lymphedema in her left arm is around 30%. Lymphedema is swelling in the tissue because of a build-up of lymph fluid. Without the lymph nodes, the body will have a harder time pushing lymph fluid around. But if cancer comes back and the nodes are still there and not controlled the risk of cancer is much higher. 

As a part of this, she showed us the abnormal lymph nodes on the computer from Kylies CT scan. “There’s one, two, three, there’s a cluster of them, 4, 5, many of them.”

“I think we need to remove all those nodes, I don’t feel good about just sampling them.” if they were to just sample them, they would remove some and test others, but it’s clear from the scan that a lot of nodes are infected. 

She told us after the surgery she won’t be able to have her arms above her head or behind her body for at least two weeks. Because she will have Drains in her arms after surgery. The drains are essentially tubes connected to little balls (think of a blood pressure pump). She will probably have 2 drains on the left and 1 on the right, maybe two. Thankfully she gets to wear a cute (hahaha) little tank top shirt thing that has pockets in it to hold the fluid balls. Because of these tubes, and the surgery in general, she won’t be able to put Willie in or take him out of his crib for 6 weeks and is restricted in lifting more than Tommies weight. And when she is holding Tommy, she has to be careful that the baby’s legs don’t pull out her drains.

We have a while to prepare for the surgery though. It won’t be until 3-6 weeks after the last Chemo, so sometime in late May or June. 

After surgery, Kylie and Abby rushed over to the Cancer Center to get her blood taken and get her drugs. I drove home to take care of the boys. Her Hemoglobin is up to 11 which is amazing! A normal range for a woman is 12.3 grams per deciliter and 15.3 grams per deciliter. Her Neutrophils are .8 but she got injections this week so she will be fine.

Abby and Kylie had a good time chilling in the chemo room for a couple of hours. 

The next day Kylie went to get injections to boost her neutrophils up. Abby went to two of these appointments. After picking up Emmie from school, they went to the Doctor. Abby and Emmie read the Spooky Lakes book in the car while they waited. These appointments are only about 20 minutes. Abby also went to a baby Tommie 4-month check-up with me. 

Tommies weight is low still. The Dr. asked about Kylie and said they would pray for us in their morning prayer before work. They have a team huddle in the morning.

Some other things from this week.

• Kylie and I have been sharing our feelings using this cool “How We Feel” app on our phones. It’s been a good way for us to start conversations as needed about how the other is feeling. It has also been nice to help dissipate negative emotions and just let them be here. Something magical happens when you name the feeling and let it be in your body. 

• As long as I’ve known Kiki she’s done bunco. I love bunco and always told her I wanted to join her group haha. Each month the group of friends (they have been doing this for years) has a theme and each person brings an item to win. This month Kikis bunco group did a cash bunco for us. Raising $600! 
• Maddie Jones’s family sent us some great cleaning supplies.
• A sister in our ward made us these amazing blankets.
• Kylie smells chemically. Ever since she started Chemo. She does not have BO anymore, it’s just the Chemo smell haha. 
• Abby played with the kids and did so much for us. She went to 5 Doctor appointments and put the kids to bed, read a ton to Emmie, and did so many fun things with them. She cleaned and did dishes and even made Curry. She is awesome.
• Kylie’s Cousins sent this package to her and inside are these Amazing cookies. One of her cousins started making cute cookies for special occasions a couple of years ago. She is soo good. Not only did the cookies taste amazing but they look so cute.

This week Kylie gets a PET scan on Thursday, Jan. 30th. It will show if there is cancer anywhere else in her body. Prayers that all will go well and be positive. We have seen God’s hand in our lives this week through all the angels that have come to help us out. 

Thanks for the love and support. 

#kyliebeatscancer