My stepdaughter Sheri has breast cancer

Ronni

Ronni

The motormouth ;)
Location
Nashville TN
We received this news while we were out of town this weekend. She’d found a lump, her doc sent her for a mammogram, that found three more, and the biopsy came back malignant tumors.

She asked me to go with her this morning to see the surgeon because she knows I will ask all the right questions, stay calm, and advocate for her.

We’re all stunned by this news. Ron is in a quiet panic, obviously sick with worry, but continuing to put one foot in front of the other.

When Sheri got the news she got off the phone immediately and asked no questions so I’m eager for this appointment to get more specifics so that we know what we’re dealing with. What is her prognosis? Will she have a mastectomy or a lumpectomy? Will there be radiation/chemo? Chance of remission? Inpatient/outpatient? Recovery time? Etc. Feel free to add yours…I’ve never been up close and personal with breast cancer before so I don’t know a lot.

And if you’re the praying kind, keep her in them, or send good mojo or healing vibes…whatever your thing. Please.
 

Will indeed do my form of prayer. Hopefully while biopsy showed them (? did they sample all 4 or only one?) malignant they've caught them early enough for successful treatment. They've gotten much better at that in last 50 yrs or so.

It is scary and treatment can take a toll but the more you know and are prepared for the toll it takes the better one can get thru it. Sheri is fortunate to have you on her team in this battle and we will be your support team.

I will mention that two of my older sisters had breast cancer and survived long enough to be considered in remission continue their lives well into their senior years.
 
Some family members have had it, and did well. Treatment now is so much better than a decade ago.
However, it's important to ask all the questions you mentioned. Also, make sure she finds out the name
of the cancer. Is it in situ? Certain breast cancers have better prognosis than others.

Also, whatever diet she was eating, have her change it. Cancer cells get complacent (I used to grow them in the lab) and you want to shake up their lives and not feed them so well. Cancer cells thrive on sugar and growth hormones (meat, cheese, dairy products). Have her stop eating those, also no alcohol. If she can switch to vegetarian diet for awhile, that is good. Whole Foods are good. I am not a medical doctor, but just offering you my opinion. But don't expect her medical doctor to talk about nutrition. They're not trained for that. Will be praying for her! 🙏
 
Jules said:
Ronni, because you’re so calm and analytic, I’d suggest that you search for some blogs or groups that are about breast cancer. You won’t be so susceptible to unusual approaches as Sherri might right now.
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Jules said:
This may give you some ideas.

https://standuptocancer.org/for-patients-and-caregivers/

It was recommended by Brenda Coffee who used to write an award winning blog about dealing with breast cancer.
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What wonderfully helpful advice, Jules! Bless you for steering her in this direction.
 
Sorry to hear this as well.

It is a very scary thing for her, talk to her about her feelings not just the cancer. Talk to her about how she feels about having a breast operated on. How she will look after can be more frightening then having the cancer. She needs reassurance on how she will look.

Ask the doctor, if he does the lumpectomy, does he go through the nipple? If not, get a different doctor or a real good explanation why he can’t do the surgery this way. This is important as this is how the better doctors do lumpectomies; so there are NO scars on the breasts. The scar is on the nipple line and over time that scar fades.
 
I concur with everyone here Ronni... wishing Sheri everything she'd wish for herself.. and everything you and Ron will be wishing for her right now. She couldn't have a better advocate than her step-mom right now..so please pass all our prayers and best wishes onto Sherri, .. she'll get strength t fight knowing so many strangers are rooting for her around the globe... 🙏🙏
 
Oh dear Ronni,news like this must be like throwing
a wet blanket on your life, not knowing what to do
and not being able to do anything except cuddles and
words of comfort, I would hate to get this news.

I will of course say a prayer and send some healing,
I hope that it helps Sheri and you two also.

Mike.
 
Thank you so much for all the positive thoughts and prayers.

We met with Sheri's surgeon yesterday. He is a lovely man, very kindhearted and understanding, and spent a great deal of time with us explaining steps and options. He conducted a very thorough breast exam on Sheri, compared his exam to the ultrasound, and determined that the next step on this journey is an MRI, that he can't tell yet how extensive the masses are. It feels like a large mass and several smaller ones, but it's impossible to know without the MRI how invasive they are because an ultrasound is a very imprecise imaging tool.

After the MRI we meet with the oncologist who will be caring for Sheri with radiation and chemotherapy long after the masses are removed. He will discuss with us the various options regarding the best approach to the cancer, once he has the information from the MRI. A newer approach to some cancers, and breast cancer is one of the best candidates for this, is to do a course of chemotherapy first, because sometimes that will reduce the size of the tumors so that the doctor can simply remove the masses rather than doing a complete mastectomy. That is certainly preferable, but it will depend on if Sheri is a good candidate for that. The MRI will be one of the determining factors so there is a very detailed image of the masses and how/where they've spread.

The doctor confirmed what I'd already been thinking....that Sheri is very young to have breast cancer. He said it's unusual, even more so because there is no history of cancer on either side of her family.

She's waiting for a call from Premiere Imaging to schedule her MRI. She's doing OK. Shaken obviously, but so far staying positive. We discussed whether or not she would tell her boys right now. She decided to go ahead and do so, and I suggested she keep it very simple and matter of fact (they're 4 and 6) by simply telling them the Mama has something in her body that shouldn't be there so the doctor is going to take it away. She did, and they accepted this explanation easily.
 
Ronni said:
Thank you so much for all the positive thoughts and prayers.

We met with Sheri's surgeon yesterday. He is a lovely man, very kindhearted and understanding, and spent a great deal of time with us explaining steps and options. He conducted a very thorough breast exam on Sheri, compared his exam to the ultrasound, and determined that the next step on this journey is an MRI, that he can't tell yet how extensive the masses are. It feels like a large mass and several smaller ones, but it's impossible to know without the MRI how invasive they are because an ultrasound is a very imprecise imaging tool.

After the MRI we meet with the oncologist who will be caring for Sheri with radiation and chemotherapy long after the masses are removed. He will discuss with us the various options regarding the best approach to the cancer, once he has the information from the MRI. A newer approach to some cancers, and breast cancer is one of the best candidates for this, is to do a course of chemotherapy first, because sometimes that will reduce the size of the tumors so that the doctor can simply remove the masses rather than doing a complete mastectomy. That is certainly preferable, but it will depend on if Sheri is a good candidate for that. The MRI will be one of the determining factors so there is a very detailed image of the masses and how/where they've spread.

The doctor confirmed what I'd already been thinking....that Sheri is very young to have breast cancer. He said it's unusual, even more so because there is no history of cancer on either side of her family.

She's waiting for a call from Premiere Imaging to schedule her MRI. She's doing OK. Shaken obviously, but so far staying positive. We discussed whether or not she would tell her boys right now. She decided to go ahead and do so, and I suggested she keep it very simple and matter of fact (they're 4 and 6) by simply telling them the Mama has something in her body that shouldn't be there so the doctor is going to take it away. She did, and they accepted this explanation easily.
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So she will be getting a whole body MRI?-to make sure the cancer is still just in the breast area?
 

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