Let the fun begin

Angie had her first chemo treatment today. It took around 1 1/2 hours to complete. We went to get some medicine and then she slept from 5:30 on for the rest of the night. The doc says she will most likely have 16 weeks of chemo with 8 treatments. We expect her hair will be gone within two weeks. So if you have a chance to see her new hair style she looks really really hot. We have had a ton of support and I think Kai Raass keeps making extra food for us on purpose, she has been awesome. Our freezer is full from everyone bringing food over. We assume things will be challenging in the future but as far as today goes, things are going well. For those that want to spread rumors ... Angie is doing well and I expect she will be at baseball games this weekend.

Locks of Love

Becky White and Jaime Ingersoll provided a memorable experience for students and Angie at Lehi High School. The principle at the school was against this exercise but they brought locks of love in and pink bandannas anyway. I think it would be great for everyone to send an email to the principal telling him how great these two teachers are and they should be rewarded for the extra effort. Principal Chuck Bearce at cbearce@alpine.k12.ut.us

Over 74 students cut at least 8 inches off and over 1000 students had pink bandannas on. What an amazing effort.

Tues. 4/8

First of all I have to say Ryan gets husband of the year, he has done everything!
I am feeling much better now. Chemo is scheduled for Wed., April 16th. It is good timing (spring break), so it will work out well.
Today at school was "Cancer Awareness Day". Two of my friends put it together. They delivered pink handkerchiefs to every female in the school and we read a nice little poem. Then later in the class hour, we had a video announcement stating stats with cancer and how many women chose not to have chemo because of hair loss. Then, about 15 girls cut their hair for "Locks of Love". Some of the girls I knew, some I didn't. Most had beautiful long hair. As you can imagine it was extremely emotional for them. They were crying, I was crying. As 3rd period started I had a student ask if she could be excused to go get her hair cut. She left and I followed shortly after. There was a line of girls and boys to cut their hair. We had a student with cancer there, a mom in recovery and two girls that had recently lost their mother their to help collect the hair. The total was about 70 girls and 2 boys (I think)!!! Most of my volleyball girls cut their hair. Needless to say, it was overwhelming. It was an awesome experience. I am horrible at expressing emotion, and can't thank Jamie and Becky and all the girls that donated their hair enough.
One check mark in the positive column for this life experience!

April 2 Ripken Birthday and Angie 1st surgery

http://www.breastcancer.org/symptoms/idc.jsp for those that want a visual with descriptions.

I am sitting at the hospital waiting for angie to come out of surgery.
We have been at the hospital since 8am and it is now 2pm sitting here waiting for the procedures to be completed.
1. Angie had X-rays on her chest
2. Angie got poked and poked with a bunch of tests
3. Angie had another mammogram
4. Angie got injected with dye (Ask Justin what it is for??????)
5. She had 5 nodes taken out of her right arm
6. Preliminary report is 3 out of 5 have no cancer in them.
7. Doc says usually!!! the first on or two will be the most concern. The first one was hot and really dark with dye which was a concern but it did not show any cancer (that is a positive)
8. Waiting to hear back on the last two nodes.
9. Angie is going to start Chemo on Monday or Tuesday and meet back with Doc in a couple of weeks.
10. Dr. Tittensor, the general surgeon put in a portacath

http://www.breastcancer.org/treatment/chemotherapy/overview/ports.jsp

(follow the link if your a interested person like Jon)

The Goal - Shrink the tumor into almost nothing with the chemo, then go in a cut out the infected tissue with a possible lumpectomy instead of full mastectomy or a skin sparing mastectomy . Do the chemo, for the next four or five months, then be cancer free for the next 73 years.

The doc said everything went well. She is a champ and I love her. Ryan

4/1 Change of plans!

Not a huge deal, but we are now going in for the port and lymph node test tomorrow (Wed). I really don't have much of a clue what this entails, I am just diving in. We'll see! I'm still going to try to sneak to Vegas without the Dr. knowing, I need to rest (by the pool) right?
Thanks for all your support. I just learned how to do this blog and read comments, pretty cool!