Fabulous News!

Today Melissa heard from Dr. Shale, he wanted to know how she was feeling and she told him that if he would have called yesterday she would have told him blech! Today was a much better day. She has still had the anesthetic in her system which has been making her sick. She had color in her cheeks and she was animated when she talked. Her voice is better today but she is still not able to talk very loud and her throat is very sore. Dr. Shale told her that the lymph nodes were all clean! They had ended up taking out 6 instead of 3 and ALL 6 WERE CLEAN! This news is fabulous! It means that the cancer stage has been backed up from a 2b to a 2a (if the cancer had been in the lymph nodes the stage would have gone to a 3)! It also means that the chemo won't have to be as long or possibly, as often. However she still doesn't know some details, like how long they will actually do chemo. They will be telling her that when she sees her Doctors next week. She did find out that she will have to travel to Utah every 2 weeks to have the expanders adjusted. She had been hoping to be able to have that done here, but it is a little more complicated. They have to use a magnet to find the exact place to fill them. It is because of those that she is not able to raise her arms above her head for a few weeks while they get scar tissue around them. apparently there are some bad stories of people who do things they should not be doing and end up with the expanders in places they should not be! It was also discovered that there were pre-cancer calcifications all throughout the right breast, right up to the chest wall. YAY, for being aggressive and having the double mastectomy! The margins are all clean too! Which means they got it all! The tumor in her left breast was over 6 cm by the time they got it out, which means that since she discovered this it has grown 2 cm. The good news is that the tumor was actually 2 tumors that had grown together and only 2.5 cm were the aggressive kind of cancer which is another reason that the stage was backed up. They think she has probably had the less aggressive cancer for a much longer time but the aggressive one is new. 
Melissa said to make sure you all know how blessed she is! Her incisions are healing well and they may possibly take out the drains if they have under a certain amount of fluid draining when she returns to the Dr. Her appointment has been moved one day later than it was previously planned. The drains are very uncomfortable so that would be great. She needs to get all healed up before they can start the chemo. Thank you so much for everything you are doing for her and for her family. They are grateful for prayers, meals, cards, fundraising efforts, etc. Thank You!
                                                                                                         ~Nicole

Not a lot of Change

Melissa is doing well but there are some challenges. She is unable to take pain meds because they make her sick so she has to decide which is better, pain or puking. She is basically taking glorified advil to manage her pain. She has not had a lot of sleep due to discomfort and I would imagine also due to the fact that she is Melissa. That girl is not known for getting much sleep anyway. She has 7 separate incisions and 3 drain tubes to manage. The swelling in her hands is slowly improving each day. She has to keep her arms propped up and not let them hang at her sides. She is not supposed to lift them above her head so that creates it's own set of challenges. When they placed the tube in her throat they nicked her vocal chord so she hasn't got much of a voice and her throat is very sore. This all seems like a downer, but of coarse, Melissa says she is just really glad to have that tumor out! All things considered she is doing well and does improve each day. She is not supposed to have people shaking her hands, hugging her or even touching her. She is still in need of rest so for now she cannot have visitors or phone calls. Thanks for all of your support!

There is a bank account set up for Melissa at D.L. Evans where people can donate. There are jars around town at many businesses and I am sure there are still some blankets to purchase if anyone is interested. Thank you for all of your prayers and support! ~Nicole

Quick Update

There will be more to post later tonight but for the time being this is what I know. The Doctors were in this morning and Dr. Jordan's partner on call was happy with the way things were going. Dr. Shale's partner, who helped with the surgery, was in and removed the ace wrap from her chest. He was happy with the look of the incisions and the swelling. She took the first look and handled it well. He approved a shower (that should have made her pretty happy, I know how that girl loves a shower!) and placed some clear protective covers on the drains. They have been approved for release so they will be home sometime later today.
I know that everyone is wanting what is best for Melissa. We need to keep calls to the bare minimum. Please leave questions, well wishes, and messages of encouragement on the blog or FaceBook for one of the family members who can relay messages. There can be NO VISITORS! This is not meant to be harsh, it is just important for her optimal healing environment. The Relief Society has planned meals to take in, if you are wanting to offer help of some kind I will check on the best way to do that. Melissa, Tyler and the kids want you all to know how much they appreciate and love each of you, and thank you for your part in her recovery. ~ Nicole

Saturday's Update

This morning Tyler said that when he got to the hospital to see Melissa she was brushing her teeth. He said she still had a lot of nausea but less pain. Both Doctors visited shortly after he arrived and they wanted her to stay another day. They were both happy with the way incisions were looking and draining. She was able to eat some bread and a smoothie. Some of the pain meds were making her groggy so she had not ventured off the bed at that point.

Eli had his hair cut very short to support his mother and he plans to shave it when she starts to lose her hair. If you have only seen the picture of Alexa's supportive hair, I hope you have the chance to see it in person. It is so cute on her. Jonah is planning a hair cut after "No Shave November" is over.

I just heard from Tyler again. He says: Melissa has been doing better. She has been able to use the restroom. (I feel weird adding this, but it is medical information) She also just took a small walk to the end of the hall and back (150 yrds). She has been snacking on some solid foods as well. So things are coming around.

Update On Surgery

Melissa checked in at 9 this morning. After filling out some questions they got right to it. They started her IV on the first try (that is amazing) and gave her some fluids. Dr. Jordan came in and visited for a couple of minutes before giving her 5 radioactive tracer shots. The dye injections happened after she was sleeping. Shortly after that Dr. Shale stopped in to review his surgery plan and make some pre-surgery marks. Next to visit was the anesthetist. He was very reassuring. The surgery that was done in the OR Melissa was assigned to got done an hour early but we were not ready so they slipped a quickie in front of us. We didn't get started until 11:45. Dr. Jordan was able to get the port a cath put in quickly and then he removed the right breast. Next he removed 3 lymph nodes which have been sent to pathology. It will be 3 working days before we have results. Dr. Jordan finished with the removal of the left breast. He placed 3 drain tubes which she will have for a couple of weeks. At this point Dr. Shale took over. He was joined by his partner in the practice to assist. They worked together to place the expanders in. Due to the size and tightness of the peck muscles they were only able to fill them about half of what they had planned. They hoped to ease some of the chest pressure by doing that. Thank you everyone for all your prayers. -Tyler

Alexa's tribute to her mother! So beautiful!

Out of Surgery

Melissa is out of surgery and awake. The Doctors are feeling good about how things went. Tyler will be able to see her in about an hour.
They took her back around 11:30 this morning. Around 12:30 the nurse came out to tell Tyler that the port had been placed and they were starting the right mastectomy. Then around 3:00 Dr. Jordan talked to him and said that it had gone well and that the 2 plastic surgeons were starting the reconstruction work which would take around 1 1/2 hours. Each Dr. Said they felt good about the results. She will be moved to a room soon for recovery.
                                                              -Nicole

Tomorrow Is The Day

Here is a run down of what will happen in the surgery tomorrow. Friday, November 22 Melissa will check in at 9 AM. Dr. Ed Jordan (breast surgeon) will perform #1 sentinel node dissection, #2 bilateral mastectomy, and #3 implantation of Port a cath which will allow IV access for chemo. It is implanted directly into the vena cava (heart). It is under the skin and is accessed by a special needle each time a blood draw or IV line is needed. Dr. Christopher Shale plastic surgeon) will perform: Initial stage of bilateral reconstruction and placement of tissue expanders.
Melissa's own words: I will come home with multiple drain tubes! The current plan is for me to come home from the hospital on Sunday! I already have follow ups scheduled on December 3rd with Dr. Jordan, Dr. Shale and Dr Gray (medical oncologist). Dr. Gray will have all the pathology results by then and will have chemotherapy recommendations! Hopefully chemo can start the 1st of January.
Huge thanks & love to everyone. You are all so very appreciated!


I will keep this up with any new information when I get it.  Keep checking back :)