Friday, January 2, 2009

And the tooth is gone.....

Whoever knew that having a tooth pulled could be such an ordeal?? Well, after a month of tooth pain and several visits to the dentist, the tooth is finally gone, alhamdullilah. I remember loosing teeth as a child, and it was such a fun thing to pull out my own tooth. Well, today I was put to sleep just to yank a tooth. Seems to be a whole lot of overkill, if you ask me.

So now I feel almost ready to get back to school in a few days, after a couple of intense days of writing lesson plans and grading papers that is. I really can feel that so many people are making dua for me. So many things about this whole ordeal have been made so easy, and It helps to know so many people are in my corner.

The latest news from my tests that I had last week are as follows:
I had a new mammogram and ultrasound, and all the doctors and nurses said they have never seen progress like this after only a couple of months of chemotherapy. Two months ago, the cancer was in all my breast tissue, the skin and at least two lymph nodes under the arm. The breast tissue that showed cancer was 11cm across, and from the side view, the size of a baseball. (IBC is not like typical breast cancer in that it doesn't show a lump, all the breast tissue becomes infected.) So last week, I was shown a side by side mammogram (before and after) and now the size of the breast tissue that is involved is the size of a little green pea. There is also no longer any sign that the lymph nodes are involved.

This is great news, Alhamdullilah. I was really worried that they would come back and say there was no longer any sign of cancer. At first, it would seem that one would want to have no sign of cancer. However, knowing that no matter what they said, I would still have to continue with the same treatment, I would have been so deflated to know there was nothing to attack. Going through chemotherapy, it is much easier for me to pump myself up and know that the treatment is doing something.

So, on Wednesday, I start my weekly chemo and herceptin. 12 weeks. I realize that I still have a long road ahead, but now I am putting my focus on just getting through the next 12 weeks. I ask you all to continue to keep me strong with your dua...

4 comments:

SRG said...

One day at a time!You're doing great!
Love,
Laura Tucker Gallitz

UmmFarouq said...

One day at a time, for sure. I am so happy for this news I don't know what to do. I wish I could hug you.

You are a fighter. You will win this, I truly believe that.

Love you.

Shabana said...

Alhamdulillah, I was so happy to read this! What else could it be but the power of duas? SubhanAllah, may Allah continue to give you strength and patience. I will keep you in my duas, insha Allah. *hugs*

Bama Bedouin said...

Alhamdulillah! This is great news. The power of prayer is AWESOME. Stay strong and insha'Allah this will soon be a distant memory full of lessons for all of us.

I love you and am still praying for you.

Stacy