A lot has happened since my last post on 5/8/15. To follow-up on that post, I did hear from Dr. Rosenshein the next day, a Saturday. We discussed my biopsy results in detail (the biopsy was of the abdomen). At that point he confirmed my chemo drugs would be changed. As it turns out I am receiving one drug every 4 weeks and the other drug every 2 weeks. On 5/18/15 I did have my first treatment with both new drugs. The week went by smoothly other than a harsh headache on Wednesday, 5/20/15, that I ended up calling the on call doctor in the evening to confirm which pain drugs to take. I was told one of the nurse practitioners would call me back. I was fine with that as I knew the nurse practitioner. However, to my surprise Dr. Rosenshein called me,which was so nice! I took the meds he suggested and woke up Thursday morning with no headache.

Now, going back to the night before the day of my first chemo treatment with the new drugs. I noticed that my left breast was a little larger than my right breast. Now anyone that really knows me knows that I have no chest! But in any case I was concerned and the next morning at the hospital for my chemo treatment I did mention to the infusion nurse what I had noticed the night before.

Sure enough one of Dr. Rosenshein’s nurse practitioner was called to the chemo infusion floor to visit me. Long story short that day I had an ultrasound of my left arm to check for a blood clot (none found), an ultrasound of my left breast, and my first mammography, AND chemo. It’s now after hours, 5:05 PM. Based on the results of the breast ultrasound and mammography Dr. Warner of the Center for Women’s Imaging talked with Bob and me and expressed concern. She wanted a biopsy of my left breast and a sample of a lymph node. She said she could do this the next day but would need Dr. Rosenshein’s approval. Before chatting with us, Dr. Warner was able to get a hold of Dr. Rosenshein’s head nurse, Elaine, to fill her in with details. After leaving Dr. Warner’s office, we went to speak with Elaine as she was waiting for us knowing we would want to chat. We expressed our concerns and made known that Dr. Warner could proceed with the tests the next day if we received the okay form Dr. Rosenshein. Sure enough the next day Dr. Warner & Dr. Rosenshein connected and I got a 1 PM appointment that day.

I went through with the biopsy of my left breast and lymph node cell sampling on Violet’s birthday, Tuesday, 5/19/15. On my sister’s birthday, Friday, 5/22/15, Dr. Warner called me and told me that the results of both tests showed cancer of the same type that was confirmed on 5/8/15 in my abdomen. I called Dr. Rosenshein’s office and spoke with his head nurse Elaine.She explained to us that Dr. Rosenshein would most likely not contact me that day as he was in surgery scheduled late into the evening. I did tell Elaine that I wanted to be aggressive in how we approach this. She said she’d relay that to Dr. Rosenshein and that I should expect to hear from him over the weekend.

I am optimistic. Dr. Rosenshein spoke with Bob and me today,Saturday, 5/23/15. Before he contacted us he met with Dr. Friedman, the Director of The Hoffberger Breast Center at Mercy, to discuss my case. As Dr. Rosenshein spoke with Bob and me over the phone he confirmed what Dr. Warner had told us the day before. He also discussed next steps knowing that we wanted to be aggressive. We decided that we would proceed with the existing chemo plan for 3 full cycles (chemo is already battling new cancer sites). Then I will have surgery by Dr. Friedman, and then I will continue with chemo. Dr. Friedman and his team now know my name and are aware of my case. I am going to schedule an appointment to meet Dr. Friedman face to face soon.

Please keep me and my family in your prayers. -Stef