Welcome!

Hello everyone. Well, if you're here, I'm assuming you've been invited and told about the blog and you know about the circumstances that led to the creation of this blog. In the rare chance you don't know, here's a brief recap:

On Tuesday July 12, 2011, my wonderful wife (and love of my life) was diagnosed with breast cancer. This diagnosis came about after a few appointments that were set after Melanie felt a lump in her right breast during a self exam in the shower. After the 7/12/11 confirmation that it is indeed cancer, there have been many additional revelations, including the type of cancer and the treatment plan. There are a handful of additional tests scheduled this upcoming week to provide more information to her doctors and answers for us, including what stage of cancer Melanie has and if it has spread.

What we know so far is that Melanie has "invasive ductal carcinoma". The type of cancer is HER2, and knowing this is what has helped her oncologist know how to treat it. While it is very aggressive, it is also treatable/curable...YAY - some good news, right? I'm a HUGE fan of the "curable"!

Treatment begins the week of July 25th, although we do not know exact appointment times/dates yet.

We have created a community page on the "Lotsa Helping Hands" website, conveniently created with this web address: https://www.lotsahelpinghands.com. This is an invite only site, so if you're HERE but haven't been invited to the "Lotsa" site and would like to be a part of it, please send me an message with your email address for an invite. We will be posting a lot of specific information, especially to coordinate the many needs that will be coming soon - meals, watching the kids, helping Melanie while I'm at work, etc.

Here are a couple of links to websites with more info on breast cancer (there are also iPhone apps for these that we both have on our phones):
http://beyondtheshock.com/
http://www.breastcancer.org/
Here is a good article about HER2 positive breast cancer:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/breast-cancer/AN00495

ALL prayers are greatly appreciated. We love all of you too!

Mike & Melanie Rosenthal