Girls Rock!!

I can't even begin to say how much I LOVE giving this kid of news!  I've had a rough year as you've seen from the updates about my mom.  If you are just joining, here's the background.

Here
Here
and Here!

Well, we just got some really awesome news!  My mom had her last round of PET scans last week and they came back clean!  Praise God!!

What does this mean?

Basically, she had Stage IV Breast Cancer.  This is the third time she's had this awful disease, dating way back to when I was in high school (in the rockin' 80's).  She also had another round about 6 years ago where she finally decided to have a double radical mastectomy. She had both breasts, the surrounding tissue, and all of her local lymph nodes removed as well.  This was to make sure nothing came back.

Well, it did.  The dr's must have missed something as small as a cell.  And since she didn't have any chemo with her surgery, the tiny cell multiplied and multiplied for 6 long years. 

She was diagnosed last October with Stage IV Breast Cancer.  It was Stage IV because it had metastasized from the original location (obviously given she had surgery to remove her breasts) and the tumor was quite large.  In early 2010, she had a set back.  The cancer had spread to her bones.  There were also spots in her liver and her lungs (that may or may not have been cancer). 

The prognosis wasn't great.  We even had some hard conversations about her last wishes.  That sucked.

Well, she switched doctors and treatments.  The combination really kicked cancer-butt!

It's taken exactly 1 year, 1 week, a beautiful head of dark brown hair, 2 eyebrows, and a very much missed set of eye lashes, but the cancer is gone!!!

You go, mom!

Also, it turns out that mom's new grandbaby that we are expecting in February is going to be a girl!  I hope that she has even a fraction of the fortitutude, patience, and faith that her grandma has!



Love you all!

Kelli

PS - Please pick one day a month to do your monthly check!  My birthday is on the 27th of December, so I will do my check every 27th (it's just an easy date for me to remember).  Trust me, it's in my calendar!  Promise me that you will do your personal check every  month.  It doesn't matter how old you are!  Start now.  It could save your life!