7-26-11 Treatment update

Good morning everyone!

Melanie has her 1st treatment yesterday.  This 1st treatment was administering "herceptin" which is what specifically targets the HER2 positive type of breast cancer.  This is 1 of the 2 drugs in the clinical trial (Melanie will only be getting the herceptin in the clinical trial).  As we learned during the treatment in the Dr Ashouri's office chemo center, the herceptin treatments are milder than normal chemo treatments.  The common side effects of herceptin are generally flu-like symptoms, which is what Melanie started experiencing later in the day and through the evening.  She wasn't feeling too good when we went sleep last night, and she's still sleeping this morning as I write this.  Hopefully she'll be feeling better today, we'll see. (post edit note - Melanie is awake now and feeling better - yay)

Beginning in about 3 1/2 weeks (Thurs 8/18/11), Melanie will start the chemo treatments, which will then be administered once every 3 weeks for 18 weeks (6 chemo treatments).  These chemo treatments will be tougher than yesterday's herceptin.  Chemo will be the next big challenge and "unknown" since this is obviously something she/we have never been through before.  Pray that God will give her peace and overcome any fears or anxiety prior to the chemo treatment.

Then, after the chemo treatments, Melanie will have the surgery to remove the tumors.  And after the surgery, she will then have a full year of herceptin treatments - once every 3 weeks.

We'll continue to keep you all posted.  Thank you again for all your prayers and love.  God bless you.