A bump in the road, but we will get over it

Hi guys, Andrea here. Lins is on vacation in Colorado and Mom and Dad are busy cheering on the Badgers in Wisconsin this weekend (GO BIG RED!) so I'm updating the blog today! I'm not as well versed in this stuff as Lins is, but I'll try to explain things to the best of my knowledge, so here it goes. Last Thursday, Mom received a phone call from Dr. Londer regarding her Oncotype DX results, the one we have been desperately waiting for. Basically we needed this test before determining Mom's final treatment plan. Specifically, this test yields a recurrance score of 0 through 100, which correlates with the likelihood Mom's cancer would return in addition to indicating whether or not Mom would benefit from chemotherapy. 0 through 18 suggests a low chance of recurrance and that chemotherapy would not be beneficial. 19 through 30 indicates a moderate chance of recurrance and that chemo may be beneficial and over 30 states that chemotherapy would most likely be beneficial. With that said, Mom's results were unfortunately not what we were hoping and praying for. Her score was 28 with a 19% chance of recurrance. We assume this higher score is due to the fact that Mom's cancer cells are grade 3, the most aggressive type possible. This news was quite shocking to us all, including our doctors and practioners. There have been tears and feelings of anger and great disappointment. Mom really really really didn't want to have to go through chemo. So what does this mean? Well, basically we need to meet with Dr. Londer, our oncologist, next week, but he will probably leave the decision up to us whether Mom does chemo or not. With the results we got and a score of 28 being very close to 30 with a 19% chance of recurrance, how could we not decide to go with the big guns and kill this son of a bitch all the way. We probably will go ahead with chemo. We have talked a lot about it and feel that we don't want to have any regrets throughout this and want to give Mom every percentage we can possibly get towards a better out come. We will meet with the doctor next Wednesday to discuss our finalized treatment plan from here on out. It will most likely go something like this: Mom will have a port surgically placed in her chest, which is a large catheter that will be used for blood draws and chemo administration. It will stay in until her treatment is completed. She will most likely have 4 rounds of chemo, 3 weeks apart, totaling 12 weeks. Then will do radiation after that. Its going to be a long journey, especially through the holidays, but Mom will be fine. She is so strong and such a trooper. Please pray for us that we are making the right decision, for Mom's strength throughout this, for her health overall, and that the side affects of the chemo are minimal. We want to thank everyone again for their continued support. We need you guys to help us get through this. Have a great weekend and we will be in touch soon.

love,
the peterson's