exploring alternatives
Now that we’re a few weeks into the cancer diagnosis, we are trying to find slow down from the initial sprint to more of a marathon pace. We had spent weeks bracing ourselves for the worst of news, and when the news came back (relatively) good, we are stepping back to figure out what’s next.
First, in case you didn’t here it anywhere else, the BRCA genetic test came back negative. This is huge! It means she has an average chance of the breast cancer recurring (about 1%/year), not a virutal certainity. That said, there’s still the cancer that’s there that we have to deal with.
The surgeon is ready to cut it out now, then send Holly on to radiation. While there’s a good chance that’s still in our immediate future, we wanted to take a breath and look at all options. After talking with our pediatrician who had had some success treating her breast cancer with alternative methods, we decided to give it a try.
So, last week Holly started a series of treatments at Chalmers Wellness. It involves some detoxification and mineral supplements designed to make the body less hospitable to cancer. The idea is to let her body kill it off so that maybe we don’t have to cut it out.
We are going to give this a six week try, then have the MRI done again to see if there are any changes.
Even if it doesn’t eliminate the cancer, this regimen and her workout schedule will allow her body the best chance to bounce back from surgery and radiation. So, frankly, it just seems prudent to do everything we can before decide to have pieces of her body cut out.
On the home front, one or both of our mothers has been in town helping us deal with everyday life as we figure out what’s next. They just left after being here more than two weeks and it was great help, not just in the everyday, but in helping get us more organized. Who could do life without Mommas?
Thanks to all for the continued prayers for healing and wisdom. These are very uncharted waters for us, and we need lots of both every step of the way.
