Breast Cancer, The Journey Continued

Breast Cancer, The Journey Continued

Friday Morning March, 18 2011 (third post in this series).

Last night (3/17/11), Kelly and Damon published an email to family and friends that summarizes the events to date. We though that we would share it with the readers of this blog:

Hello Family and Friends!

For some of you this is an update and for some of you this is new news.  We apologize if we haven’t been able to contact you personally, but this last week has been a busy one.

I had a routine mammogram on February 28^th which then led to a second mammogram and a biopsy.  Last Friday we found out that I have breast cancer, but feel VERY lucky that we caught this early. (Public Service Announcement – don’t forget to get your mammograms!!)

Although no one wants to receive that kind of news (especially on a Friday afternoon when you have all weekend to stew), the news that we have received most recently is mostly good.  I have had a number of tests and procedures since the initial diagnosis and we’re still in the process of collecting information.

We met with a surgeon yesterday and were very pleased with her.  Her bedside manner was outstanding and she offered us a lot of understandable information and a couple of options.  It was great to hear her say that this is Stage 0, that  I’m not going to die from this and that it is highly unlikely that I will need chemo.

Next week we have an amazing opportunity to meet with a team of doctors to get second opinions.  It will be great to get that information to help us make decisions.

My family, both immediate, and extended, have been amazing!  Damon and the girls are holding up well – we feel so lucky to have the family that we do.  We are trying to provide the information to the girls in small amounts and in understandable ways.

For those of you who have already reached out to us, we want to thank you!  Although we haven’t been able to reply to each of you individually, we greatly appreciate knowing that you’re thinking of and praying for us.

One thing I’d love to do right now is collect positive and inspirational quotes.  I have always loved quotes and carried a few of them around with me.  This seems like a great time to collect some new quotes as we prepare for the next steps of this journey.  A good friend of mine has offered to compile these quotes for me.  If you have any that you’d like to contribute, please e-mail them to Jamie at j.s.blevins@comcast.net .

We’ll do our best to keep you informed as we gather more information and make our decisions.

With love,

Kelly and Damon