Our News -- Major Announcement

Well, we had an interesting visit to the doctor this week.

We've been recovering from the surgery, which is still bothering her... she cannot lift *ANYTHING*.

Anyway, we went to our appointment. It started off unusually as our usual punctual doctor was fifty-seven minutes late. I saw/heard her records go by several time, and was intrigued, but... we waited.

When we were finally called in, he was there with the Chief of the department, who then left.

We were on track to find out the scheduling for the next phase of her treatment - Radiation - and for removal of stitches.

But, first, our good doctor wanted to chat with us.

He informed us that he'd been consulting on the case with... a professor in Frankfurt, the Chief Oncologist in Heidelberg, and even had raised it at a recent medical conference, in addition to the local Chief of the clinic.

Why?

Well, as we all know (hahaha), my wife is a special case. You see, her cancer had been undiagnosed for so long, that when she was diagnosed... it was already at a Stage III+ (out of Four stages). Her paperwork had her listed as... "Terminal". It'd spread to the lungs. From what our doc later told us, at that point, if untreated, she had maybe two months to live (of course, we weren't told that at the time, for which we're happy.)

Our doctor planned a blockbuster attack plan of treatment. He included strong doses of the most powerful chemotherapy drugs out there. As we know, chemo = poison. And it was very difficult for Ellicia. We've since learned from the doctor that the best he'd truly hoped for was that the chemotherapy would act as... extending Ellicia's time. Not really a cure, but... a prolonging.

(Summary: Terminal cancer, best hope was prolonging her time.)

The largest the tumor in her breast was measured was 13 cm. Get a ruler... see for yourself. It's huge.

When they did the surgery, the mass removed was 1 cm. ONE CM!

And they've done multiple tests... MRI, CAT scan, PET, biopsy, etc. Many, many tests.

The result is that they can find no trace or evidence of the cancer. Anywhere. The spread in the lung?? If it's there, it's below the resolution of all scanning devices.

Breast tumor? Aside from what was scooped out, they see no other cells.

The doctor announced that he was cancelling the radiation treatment as it would do more harm than good. It would be as if he was treating a healthy patient. (See that word? Healthy.)




Is she cured? Well, you are never cured of cancer. It's always there. We'll do tests every three months to see if it shows up again. And it can come anywhere... breast (again), lung (again), kidneys, liver, bone, even brain (though the doctor said if it's not there right now, it'll not be there later.)

However, this is definitely a superb example of remission. And unexpected. The doctors are stunned. He said she is an extremely rare case, as there is little to no documented evidence of a recovery as pronounced as hers.

Much of this, he attributes to the new drug Herceptin.

So, here we are. She's still recovering from the surgery, and we're still doing Herceptin every three weeks, and planning for intense testing every three months, but... she lives!

To our good doctor, who saved my wife's life, Thank you! And to all who supported and enhanced his efforts through your prayers and good thoughts, thank you, also.