Shannon's Successful Surgery and Christmas Eve Update

Happy Holidays to all of our Family and Friends!

First of all – A BIG THANK YOU to all of you for your continued support and offers to help us, especially during the craziness of the Holiday Season!

So yesterday morning at 7:30, Shannon had her second lumpectomy at Stanford Hospital. This second lumpectomy was much shorter than the first one (1.5 hours versus 3 hours) and Shannon got to come home the same day. The other big bonus was that she didn’t have to have the drain/bag attached. Shannon is resting comfortably, albeit in a little pain but nothing that a little Vicodin can’t cure.

So the past 10 days have been pretty crazy, and to quickly re-cap, here is where things stand as of today:

We’ve met our entire “Cancer Team” now which includes our surgeon, Dr. Dirbas, our oncologist, Dr. Guardino (point person) and the radiologist, Dr. Horst. We have also begun the process of harvesting eggs (more on that later) via the Stanford IVF clinic and Dr. Westphall. We feel that we are without question in the best hands possible and are very lucky to have Stanford Medical Center in our back yard! We won’t complain about Bay Area home prices ever again….Well, that might be going too far…..

So the high-level good news and most important fact before I get into some of the details: Dr. Guardino shared with us that based on Shannon’s type of cancer (size, location, stage, cell type, etc.), her age and the type of chemotherapy and radiation regimen that she will be undergoing – we’re looking at a 95% survival rate at 10 years. I know, I know – what about year 11? Well, the data doesn’t go beyond 10 years, but we’ll let you know, when we get to 10! All things being equal, and for those of you who know I have a penchant for odds and gambling – we’ll take 95%!!!

So today’s procedure was performed in order to attain “clear margins”, which means an area of tissue that is clear of any cancer cells. The rest of the world shoots for 1mm, but the Stanford philosophy is to go for 2mm. Dr. Dirbas felt that the procedure was successful, but as always, we won’t know for sure until pathology “path” results come back (7-10 days).

Unless pathology shows that invasive cancer still exists, Shannon will recover from surgery over the next two weeks and then begin chemotherapy for four months.

Chemotherapy will occur every two weeks (shooting for Mondays) followed by a booster shot on Tuesday to help ramp up her immune system since chemo beats it down pretty badly. I won’t go into the details of the chemotherapy, but Dr. Guardino has prescribed an aggressive treatment plan, so this probably isn’t going to be too much fun for Shannon (understatement of the year).

After chemotherapy and depending on the results of pathology from today’s procedure, and the genetic testing to be done in January (remember, she’s ¼ Ashkenazi Jew) we’ll determine the likelihood of recurrence and evaluate more radical procedures such as a single or double mastectomy.

At this point, all of our doctors concurred that there is absolutely no increase in lifespan by having a mastectomy. Additionally, performing a mastectomy could lead to complications/infection which would only lengthen the recovery process and thus delay the start of chemo. This is why Shannon decided to opt for another lumpectomy now, and has a few months to consider having a mastectomy later. Rumor has it there is going to be a nice Spring Boob Sale in 2006. (Apologies to Shannon’s parents – trying to keep it light here….)

So the other wrinkle in the Shannon Breast Cancer Saga 2005 is that there is a 40% chance that chemo throws Shannon into menopause and/or fries her ovaries. Since we want to preserve our ability to have a third child, we have begun the process of harvesting eggs. Basically, we’re going through the first step of IVF, which includes egg retrieval and fertilization. Between now and chemotherapy, we’ll make between 8-12 little Fallicks to store in a freezer. We may never need them, in which case we’ll have spent $1 per day in storage fees (not too steep for Bay Area rent when you think about it) for nothing, but we’re not taking any chances.

Wow – that was quite a bit of info, and that’s why we’ve opted for the blog route moving forward. It will allow you to check in whenever you want to and read as much as you want to. I can’t promise how often we will update the site, but will do so as significant developments take place (we’re so high tech). And I promise they won’t be this long….

Please don’t assume that this blog means we don’t want you to call/email and check in on us – we’ve loved the interest and support to date and will definitely want to continue to hear from you. However, now we can stop spamming you, and every conversation won’t have to be “all about us”.

Again, we thank you very much for your love and support and hope you have a Happy and healthy Holiday Season.

With love,

Jeff & Shannon

PS – Shannon is looking forward to trying some fashion-forward wigs, so stay tuned for photos!