Report from late January 2009

Most of you know that my mom (Margie) has breast cancer and had surgery in December. Her wonderful surgeon in Santa Barbara (Kim Grafton) removed her right breast and a number of lymph nodes under her right arm.  Mom recovered amazingly well from the surgery and had my sister, Mike (her husband), Donna and me at her place eating dinner on the day after her operation.  As we all know, Marjorie is a very strong and positive 87 year old.  

The pathology report revealed a very aggressive form of cancer that was clearly in her whole system. But on the good side, there was no sign of tumor growth in the full body scans that were done before the surgery. This cancer is one that very often recurs, but the tumors that had grown are out of her body and she is moving on.

Even though Margie is at an age when many would not be fit for chemo (because of multiple other health problems), Margie/Mom's general health and her own choices convinced her oncologist to try some powerful chemo treatments (the kind of cancer cell that is growing in her body cannot be controlled by estrogen or progesterone deprivation).

On top of all this new and scary stuff, Mom got the otherwise good news that a lovely apartment at Vista del Monte ("view of the moutain") opened up. This is in a community where there are the options for assisted living and further health attention.  So, in along with starting her chemo last week, Margie (with incredible help from Donna, Linda Ford, Steve Ford, Ceci [moi], Mike --- and huge huge huge work by Anabel) moved to a new home.  A week ago (last Friday evening), Mom was nested in her new dwelling and finding herself exhausted by chemo but feeling well-cared for and loved.  From her balcony she can really see mountains (for those of you who know SB, mom is looking out at the mesa that is above Hendry's beach).