Surgery Date

My mom called the hospital today, because they hadn't called us. Luckily, Dr. Stein was in the office and could talk to her. So this time they are going to take the lymphnode out of my neck and from the same site as last time so I'll only have 1 scar. But the date of the surgery is on March 4th.... the day before my birthday! I guess it'll just be an early birthday present. I am just glad we finally have a date for it even though it is a ways away. I would like to thank Alpine Grange for the cards and cute little monkey. I also want to thank my grandma and grandpa for the Valentine Box and their friends Melinda, John, and Sandy of L'atitude for the gift bag. Thank You!!
Thanks for following my blog and keeping me in your thoughts and prayers. I appreciate it so much.
-Carlene

Surgeon called...and the wait continues

Dr. Stein called today to let us know that they have a meeting scheduled between him, the oncologist, and the radiologist on Monday. Together they will determine which lymph node to remove. They are trying to ensure a testable sample this time. The difficulty with which one is that Carlene was prescribed several days of a steroid when this all started...unfortunately, the steroid affected the nodes in her neck and they may not be able to get a correct result from one of them. The next best area to biopsy is from her armpit, but only one node "glowed" on the PET scan showing the presence of cancer there and that node is small and rests high in the armpit. Finding that exact one causes difficulty. The final area to biopsy from is her chest. She has several larger nodes behind the ribcage which are the best to biopsy, but that entails a more intrusive surgery, so they are hoping to find a different solution, but might decide on it. He will give us a call when they know what the plan is.

Thank you all for your prayers and support while we wait this out. Everyone says the waiting is the worst, because you don't really know what to worry about. Hopefully the wait will be behind us soon and we can move on to treatment. In the meantime, Carlene has done a remarkable job with the change of diet =) Limiting sugar, milk and red meat have been the most difficult (have you ever tried to buy something that does not contain high fructose corn syrup, etc? If not, try it...check out your pantry and see just how little you have in there that does not contain it...but she is devoted to eating healthy...a salad is not complete without a WHOLE tomato on it...she has become a pro at taking her handful of vitamins...she has learned to enjoy her Monavie drink and is enjoying fresh processed juice. She says she now drinks her apples =) Next time you see her, ask to see her beautiful, long fingernails...a benefit of being soooo "healthy".

Doctors Appt.

So today was my long awaited doctors appointment. We met with the surgeon and the oncologist. They still aren't sure which lymphnode would be the best to remove. According to the PETScan they could remove one from my armpit but they are trying to see if they can just remove another one from my neck. Now they are sure that I have hodgkins lymphoma, they just have to decide what kind and what stage. When the doctors call us back we'll hopefully schedule the biopsy for sometime next week.
I want to give a HUGE thank you to Trish Lynn of the Cowgirl Chicks, she sent me her version of the National Anthem for my flag run along with autographed pictures, a DVD, a CD, and a T-shirt that I am actually wearing right now. :)
I also want to thank my best friend Heather and her mom for the awesome orange and green necklace and bracelet. I LOVE it!!!

Love,
Carlene

Finally!

After numerous phone calls over the past several days, we finally have an appointment set for Carlene's pre-op. We will be going down to meet with the surgeon on Tuesday 2/10 @ 10:30. I am not sure what the hang up has been, but somehow she had been "misplaced" in a huge system and the surgery orders were never placed. Now that we got to the bottom of that, the ball is rolling again and we are on our way!

I can eat OREOS today. On the fifth of every month, I will treat my self and eat 3-4 oreos. They are my absolute favorite cookie and this time there double stuff. :) I never realized how much stuff has sugar in it. I'm doing okay with out all that tastey stuff because I no longer crave an ice cold cola in a can... but it would be really good!!! I just want to say thanks to everyone for there support. Thanks Racketteers, You all are awesome and I love you. Thanks Rohaleys, you rock and of course I love you!!! And I thank God for blessing me with all of you.
Love,
Carlene

Thank You

We want to send a huge shout out to the Leona Valley Racketeers for collecting donations for Carlene at one of their functions...this is an absolute blessing...thank you for helping out with our gas, lodging, parking fees, etc. Even though we don't officially live in Leona Valley anymore, it is where our hearts are. It will always be home to us and we will always consider you our neighbors =) We want to send an extra special thank you to Cynthia Hull for her extra generosity.

Thanks to Sharon Rohaley and Father Serra Parish in Lancaster. They made a beautiful, orange prayer quilt for Carlene. Thank you for your prayers and the quilt. It is stunning (even if it is Carlene's favorite color - orange)!!!

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE FOR SUPPORTING CARLENE!!!!!!