MRI and Ultrasound Results Post Chemotherapy

*ways to get involved posted at the bottom of this post

Well friends, as promised I am here to give you the report from my most recent MRI and Ultrasound.

At my midway ultrasound in October it was noted that their was a small amount of change in my tumors in the way of size, although they were changing in appearance.  I had two smaller tumors that were completely gone and two that remained about the same.

This time around there was significant change.  They are nearly undetectable to feel.  My doctor said that if she didn't know I had breast cancer she wouldn't be able to feel it. They are still detectable in my ultrasound and MRI but barely.  That is significant!

Here are a few pictures that show the progress from the initial diagnosis, to the midway point, to the end of chemotherapy.

Two tumors in July

The same two tumors in October

Post Chemo: two tumors!

Those results are spectacular!  So much progress from the beginning vs. now.

The next set of images show even more exciting results.  The first image shows the cancer and you will see all the white contrast.  The white contrast are the cancerous tumors. This is an image from my MRI in July.

Now look this next image and notice that their is hardly any white! This is my MRI from a few weeks ago! 

Isn't that amazing!  So we can confidently say that my chemo was effective and did lots of work to shrink the cancer.  I also believe that God and prayers had something to do with this! Especially since my midway point didn't show nearly this much change.  

All in all I am very happy with my results and the progress that has been made.  

Thank you for your prayers and support!  It's all coming together!  

Next I am gearing up for my big surgery which will take place this December 12th.  I met with my plastic surgeon yesterday to go over the details of the surgery.  I will be having a DIEP Flap procedure done, which basically means they will use the tissue from my belly to form my new breasts.  The doctor will be needing to use vessels from my stomach area to attach to my breast area to help support the tissue being relocated.  As of now it looks as if my veins may be going through the muscle in my abdomen.  If this is the case he may need to use a little bit of my muscle to be able to access the veins.  Please pray with me that he doesn't have to do that.  I need all the muscle I can get to stay in my abs. The surgery will take at least 10 hours and has a 12 week recovery period. Pictures of this procedure are graphic but if you are curious about it, google it.  It's pretty intense.  I am choosing this procedure because it is a natural route without any foreign objects being put into my body.  There is no maintenance as opposed to implants that need updated every 10 years or so.  They have a natural feel as opposed to implants that can feel cold and hard.  Some people love implants, and if this procedure fails then I will have to have implants too.  I'm ok with whatever happens but this is worth the try. I am also out trying to select a very important chair that will aid in my recovery and will serve as my bed for a few months!  Barnabas and I couldn't help but laugh as it took us to a whole new status of life!

We covet your prayers, support, and encouragement during this time.  Please pray for my children as two of them currently have strep (just found out tonight) and I cannot afford to get sick right now. We are doing our best to get things in order in our household.  I'd say we are nesting in full swing! We have our Christmas tree up and are trying to finish up any needed projects before I am down for a while.  It will all come together! 

Much love to you all!

Amanda

Ways you can help:

Meals: new dates have been added to the meal train if you would like to help provide a meal.  https://www.mealtrain.com/trains/md91g6

Financially: We have incurred big expenses with the inconvenience of having cancer.  From Chemo cold capping, to high deductibles, your help to ease the financial burden has been such a blessing to our family.  With my surgery coming up and much more on the horizon any contribution is greatly appreciated.  https://www.youcaring.com/barnabas-and-amanda-agwuocha-602767/update/563734

Childcare: Any help in this department will be greatly appreciated.  Especially the week of my surgery and the week after I get home.  The girls are in school but the baby is home.  And of course weekends the kids are around.  Even if you just come over to hang with the girls and bake some christmas cookies with them.  That usually was my job and now Nnenna is taking that task on this year.

Cards of encouragement:  As I go through this next phase I know that it will be quite challenging.  I do not know what to expect but I do know that your cards of encouragement have been so helpful and will continue to be as "WE" march forward through this next phase.
My address is:

3979 Brandon Rd.
Pgh PA 15212

That is all for now!! Thank you!!

WE MADE IT TO ROUND 6!!!!

Thankful here for a special person who dolled me up to make me feel
"good on the inside and the outside" for my trip to NYC. What a treat!

I can hardly believe it!  Round 6 is here!  Today I went with my very best friends to go and get my blood work.  During round 5 I had elevated enzymes which caused a delay in my treatment.  This time around I wanted to know for sure that round 6 would have no surprises.  I was with my friends when I got the phone call from my nurse that my blood work looked excellent!  I was so happy.  We actually high-fived in the store out of excitement.  Then we realized we were high fiving for chemo.  That's a strange thing to do but in this context it was a joyous thing!  I was going to be able to go through with round 6 and have my best friends with me who flew all the way from Seattle to to be there for my final round.  How exciting is that?!

These last three weeks flew by so fast.  We had Halloween.

Halloween 

 Nnenna's 10th birthday parties.

All of you many cards sent to Nnenna on her birthday!

Thank you Jess and Karen for all of your help decorating!
It looked amazing!

Pamper Spa Party with Friends

 And a girls trip to NYC with my very best friends followed by a trip back to Pittsburgh for my final chemo day. While in NYC we had the opportunity to go to Macy's where I was treated to an amazing makeover. The lady that helped me gave me a new set of eyebrows and brought my face back to the non rosacea self!  It was lots of fun! My best friends mothers sent them on the trip with sweet cards and a little gift in them.  That gift was put to good use by being able to purchase a little makeup to help me find a little normal in my face.

Before and After

Helping me prep the cold caps

Friends trying out the cold caps to feel what it feels like.

Nyack College: Driscoll Cottage: Where our Lifelong Friendship began!

Keeping with tradition: Playing Scrabble and drinking Italian Soda's
And enjoying Pittsburgh Popcorn!

Walking the Brooklyn Bridge

Thank you Moms for my new makover!

I'm getting eyebrows!

Saw the Rockettes!

Radio City Music Hall

Our favorite restaurant: Dallas BBQ  

Walking through Saks just for fun!

Cheers to our beautiful friendship! 

I have had to push through but thankfully I got through it. The thoughts that kept passing through my mind as I pushed through the hard days is that, I am still mom.  I wanted to be mom.  I love my children so much and do not want my hardships to effect them in ways that could be avoidable.  God was gracious and gave me exactly the energy I needed to be able to make wonderful memories. It was all worth it! I want to thank so many of you who also blessed Nnenna with cards and gifts.  You equally made her day all the more memorable and special and for that I am eternally grateful for your love and generosity.  Thank you!!

Hair update:  This round seemed to have a little extra hair shedding going on.  I don't know exactly why but it did.  I only shampooed once this whole round because I feel it makes my hair shed more.

Here is my hair after round 5.  Some Dry Scalp and more thinning.

 I find that rinsing without shampoo is the way to go.  Since I am going through chemo my hair is drier anyway so rinsing really is fine.  I have been wearing little headbands to make myself feel more comfortable with the thinning.  Let me tell you, this process has been so so worth it.  In the beginning it took a huge emotional toll but in my mind I kept reminding myself to stick with the process.  I had to talk myself out of the urge to just shave it all off, I had to accept myself for the morphing that would occur, I had to trust that God was going to give me all the strength that I needed to endure the changes. As hard as it was and still is, it gave me the freedom to feel more like myself. It helped me to still look like wife, friend and mommy.  That made for me the hard road, a little less hard.  I know if it had to turn out that I would lose all of my hair, they would still love me and would adapt but I am so grateful that this process thus far has been very favorable for me. I want to thank my dear dear sister in law for the time and dedication to loving me and serving me through all of this.  She has been my rock through the hair process and has never left my side, even when having a newborn baby. And my strong mom who came as often as she could dealing with her own surgeries. Thank you Ladies!

My team!!!

Sometimes Toben wants to get in on the headband action!

My schedule in the next month is going to very busy. Tomorrow I will have chemotherapy at the Wexford Health and Wellness Pavilion from 8am to 2:30pm (unless they are faster or slower then that could change).  On Thursday I will have an MRI at Allegheny General Hospital that will look for any remaining tumors. Next Monday is my birthday.  Most likely my time will be spent resting.  I'm OK with that. Tuesday the 22nd I will have an ultrasound and then a follow up appointment with my oncologist surgeon, Dr. Duggal.  I am excited to see if we have made any progress.  Then on the 23rd I will meet with my regular oncologist to go over further treatment plans such as the next steps in the process. Next comes THANKSGIVING! Please pray that I can eat!!! Pray for my tongue. The way the past has been unfolding my tongue has been intolerable which makes it hard to eat and enjoy anything.   November 29th I will have an angio CT scan and a follow up with my plastic surgeon, Dr. White to go over the results of the angio CT and to plan out my surgery. Dec. 1 I will resume my acupuncture therapy. December 12, I am scheduled with Dr. Duggal and Dr. White for my double mastectomy and immediate DIEP reconstruction.  As you can see this next month is going to be very busy!

As I prep for surgery I have been looking into getting a lift recliner as I will need a place to sleep that will allow my body to be positioned in such a way that will offer me the best healing possibility.  It surely will make standing up much easier as well.  I want to put a shout out to some awesome people who will remain anonymous for a $500 donation to go towards my chair.  Thank you!!!

Why can't recliners be a bit more attractive? 

I also want to thank everyone who is providing meals, housecleaning, childcare,, prayers, and financial support. All of you have made this process so much easier.  This journey is so tough and takes a lot of time away from my normal duties and all of you have surrounded me with the best support team anyone could ever ask for!  You have shown me grace and love.  It is so amazing how a process like this can form new friendship and enrich your life for the better.  I do not take any one of you for granted!  Thank you!!! And you know who you are! Thank you for being there for me and my family! Especially the Bellevue Moms who blessed our family tonight with a wonderful care package for me and my children.  They provided a wonderful meal and were so so sweet!  Thank you.

I am thankful for this sweet friend who drove 2 hrs to come and see me.
She is a faithful prayer warrior!  Thank you!

Today 11/16/16 will be my last day of chemo and cold capping!!!! woohooo!  If you  would like to visit me at the Wexford Health and Wellness Pavilion we would love to see you.  12311 Perry Hwy, Wexford, PA 15090 Cancer Center. Park in the upper front of the building instead of down in the covered parking area.  The upper part will lead you right to the cancer center. Come in turn left and speak to the lady at the desk and tell them you are here to see me.  No children please (their policy).
I will be finishing my cold capping 4 hours from when I finish my treatment and will live video my countdown to taking the caps off.  I hope you can join me on Facebook for my countdown. It will be anytime between 5 and 7pm.  I'll keep you posted on that as well!


We did it!  We made it to the end of the first phase!  Thank you Jesus!! Can you tell I'm excited?

Woohoo! I love you all!

And last but not least I would like to thank my wonderful husband!  He has been the most amazing husband one could ever ask for.  He loves me so so well. He cares for me, He prays for me daily. He has been my rock and my absolute  best friend.  He has endured a huge loss.  The day of my discovery on July 5th which is when I told him something was wrong was the day our lives changed.  We went into survival mode. Deep compassionate as if your life depended on it kind of love swept in.  The petty fighting that creeps into marriages basically ceased as we faced the unknown future ahead.  This man, is my everything!  I love him with every fiber of my being!  He is gentle, compassionate, humble and a servant.  BARNABAS AGWUOCHA.... Thank you for seeing me through these six rounds!  Thank you!!!! I love you!! This wife of yours ain't going no where!!! We got this! God's got this!

His faithful prayers over me daily.

The love in his eyes at the beginning of this journey.

Tears of love

First time seeing me at Chemo. Very emotional.  

Round 5 Take 2

Well, life has a funny way of taking unexpected detours.  My blood work came back yesterday with elevated levels of enzymes to my liver.  This is due to the impact that the chemo is having on my body.  With that at hand my chemo was halted and suggested I try again next week.  I really wanted to try to stay on schedule as much as possible so I was able to convince my doctors to retest me two days later and see if my numbers would have gone down.  So this Friday (10/28/16) I will be going back in to get my blood work retested.  If all looks well I will be treated.

In an effort to get ready for Friday, I utilized my program, Glimmer of Hope, and the service that they offer to me in the way of acupuncture.  I spoke to my acupuncturist and he was able to focus a lot on my liver in my treatment today.

:All of this has really thrown all of us off.  It has been a major feat to try and cover all of the children's schedules and the disappointments that come with the changes to my chemo schedule this time around.  Many friends and neighbors have stepped up to the plate to help us.  My sister in law has three little ones and myself 4 which means we need to cover childcare for 7 children, which we had just done on Wednesday.  That is pretty stressful.  I am most sad that I will miss my children's Pumpkin Parade at school, where they will be dressing up in their Halloween costume and parading around Frick Park.  We've been working on these costumes for some time.  Thankfully my awesome husband is going to be able to make a special surprise visit to see them.  Oh the looks on their faces when they see him.  I'm sure they will feel that warm cozy feeling in the depths of their hearts when they do connect their eyes with his.

  We did miss an event yesterday due to my chemo at Amara's school where they shared their published writing pieces.  Amara has shared twice now how she felt sad that we weren't there. That so breaks my heart but it is life and Amara knows we love her and are so proud of her.  I have given her my kiss on the palm of her hand and have told her that anytime she needs me to just take that hand and place it on her cheek and my kiss will always be with her.  She loves the thought of that.

So our rhythm is off a little and the routine is off but we will get through it.  Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to get this round completed!  That is my hope.

My last blog post mentioned ways you can help.  I mentioned something about sending cards.  Well now that my schedule is all thrown off, I would like to ask for a special favor.  Next Tuesday is Nnenna's 10th birthday.  If I get chemo tomorrow (Friday) my worst day will probably hit on her birthday.  I would like to make her day as special as possible.  If you plan to send me a card, could you send it to her instead of me?  Any little added touch will surely make her day extra exciting, which in turn will bless my heart!
(3979 Brandon Rd. Pgh, PA 15212)

Please stay posted if you plan to visit me tomorrow.  I get blood work at 8 am and will know by 9am if everything is a go.  I will post updates on Facebook if its all good.

Thank you everyone for your love and support.  We truly do need it!

Love,
Amanda and the Agwuocha Family!