A Day Of Rest

Tuesday we went back to our normal routine of school and work. It was nice to have a break from the somewhat discouraging information we received yesterday. Yet even while we undergo our daily routine, the reality of our choices is always in the back of our minds.

Marce confirmed today that her surgery is next Tuesday - one week from today. In a way it seems too far away, but then it allows us to get some things in order prior to the big day. When it happens we will be glad it is over. She also has a pre-op appointment scheduled for next Monday at 11AM.

Marce's mother, Alene, will drive over this Saturday to spend time with us prior to the surgery. I know that will be especially good for Marce to have the comfort and support of her mother, which is so special at times like this. Alene lost her mom (Marce's grandmother) to breast cancer 18 years ago - it must be difficult to see one's daughter experiencing the same sickness. Yet by God's grace we are hopeful that Marce will have a long life ahead of her and get to experience the blessing of being a grandmother herself. This is our prayer for Marce.

Marc

Three Doctors and An Exhausting Day

Today (Monday) was another day for back-to-back doctors appointments. Two of the three doctors were naturopathic doctors, which means they work more with vitamins and natural supplements rather than modern drugs. Marce and I both believe strongly that "we are what we eat", and so obtained two recommended naturopathic doctors. They are both respected by the medical doctors and develop an "integrated plan" that works with the surgery and possible radiation and chemotherapy Marce will be undergoing. After visiting both doctors, it was clear to both of us that we felt most comfortable with Dr. Daniel Labriola at Northwest Natural Health. What we appreciated about him is that he works in an integrated fashion with our Swedish doctors, and in fact actually has an office at Swedish Medical Center. He had some great recommendations and insight, and best of all even started his career as a Boeing engineer!

At 3PM we met with Dr. Hanson at Swedish Medical Center, who we have decided will be Marce's surgeon. He comes with a reputation of being one of the best, if not THE best, breast cancer surgeons in Seattle. This was a good but difficult appointment, perhaps the most difficult we have had so far. It was good in that we both came away with a high degree of confidence in his knowledge and ability. However it was difficult because we literally spent hours learning about the risks and options before us. There is no easy road ahead of us. Dr. Hanson reviewed our mammogram and MRI films with us, explaining in intricate detail the nuances we would never have understood. In the end, we both came away confirmed that the risk is too high to attempt a lumpectomy (i.e. partial removal), and that a left mastectomy (complete removal) is best for Marce. The good news from this is that it is unlikely she will require radiation, which is used in a lumpectomy scenario to kill any local residual cancer. However, the thing that Marce really struggles with is chemo and hormonal therapy, both of which have significant side effects. Both are used if the cancer is suspected to have left the breast and be somewhere else in the body. While Dr. Kaplan is most knowledgeable in this area, Dr. Hanson believes that, based on imagery, chemo/hormonal therapy may offer significant risk reduction. This will depend on the same two factors (in order) which will have to wait until surgery:

1- Whether the lymph nodes have been "contaminated" (which he believes is unlikely), and
2- The size of the largest tumor

Both Marce and I left the appointment exhausted, tired, and with headaches. It wasn't anything new, but I guess the fact that we have now decided on mastectomy is making it more real.

We will confirm tomorrow, but the tentative plan is for surgery next Tuesday the 22nd. Marce's mother will travel here and stay for a week or more. Marce will stay at least one night in the hospital, and will need to lay low for around 3 weeks. With the help of Marce's mom, my Seattle based family, and friends we hope to quickly get through this.

We would appreciate prayer for the following:

1- The cancer has not spread to the lymph system and she has two smaller lumps (rather than one large one),

2- For peace of mind, especially for Marce and

3- For continued wisdom that we will make the right decisions.


Thank you!

Marc


Interesting Fact: More than 1.7 million women who have had breast cancer are still alive in the United States.

The Bad News Arrives

The afternoon of Monday, January 7th, was certainly one of the darkest days of our lives when Marce received a phone call with results that she has invasive ductile breast cancer. Due to some suspicious signs, in the two month prior she had been undergoing a series of tests, including mammograms, ultrasounds, and MRIs- the last of which was a "MRI-guided biopsy". The biopsy determined that she probably has two lumps, each approximately 1cm in diameter, separated by 1-2 cm, both on her left side. Because imagery is imperfect at picking up the exact tissue densities, it is possible that she has one larger lump comprised of the two lumps above which are connected by less dense cancerous material. We will not know for sure until her surgery, which will probably be the week of January 21-28. Immediately after hearing the news, I took two days off to accompany Marce as she met with numerous doctors and to help research the issue. We were thankful to meet with medical and radiological oncologists and a surgeon at nearby Evergreen Hospital all in one day. On Wednesday evening we met with Seattle's legendary Dr. Henry Kaplan at Swedish Medical Institute. Dr. Kaplan treated my mother successfully for lymphoma several years ago, and is a personal friend of my brother-in-law's family, the Hoffmans. Dr. Clark Hoffman is a retired Swedish surgeon, and thinks the world of Dr. Kaplan. The word on the street is that he is one of Seattle's finest oncologists, and Swedish is also known as one of the best cancer treatment facilities in the US. Interesting fact is that Seattle has some of the highest cancer rates in the US, but it also has some of the best cure rates. The reason for the former is believed by some to be vitamin D related, which is understandable given our lower exposure to sunshine. So there are some facts to help you justify spending $$$ for a trip to Hawaii - its healthy!

While Evergreen has great care, we have decided to plug ourselves into Swedish for treatment. On Monday, January 14th, we will meet with one of Seattle's top breast surgeons, Dr. Jim Hanson. We will also meet with two naturopathic doctors who provide "integrated" treatment of vitamins and minerals that work with the surgery and, if required, radiation and chemotherapy.

Presently Marce looks very treatable in the near-term, probably for the next 10 years. Past that, her "survivability" will be determined by two primary factors:

1- If the cancer has spread to the lymph system, and

2- The size of the largest tumor

For those of you who believe in God and prayer, we would appreciate your prayers for the following:

1- Wisdom in making the right decisions,

2- That the cancer has not spread to her lymph system,

3- That the tumors are indeed two smaller ones (see #2 above),

4- Courage and comfort for Marce and the rest of us.

Marce and I are resting in our faith that "God works all things for good" (Romans 8:28), and that this is merely a bump in the road of His eternal plan for our lives. Events like this serve as reminders about our frailty and mortality, and we are thankful we have a God who offers us hope in Him.

We will update this blog as new information occurs.

Love,

Marc & Marce

Our First Six Months Back

Our six months back has been a mini whirlwind in and of itself. On November 1st we finally moved back into our home after a kitchen remodel and some other needed improvements after renting our home for 2 1/2 years. These improvements include putting in kitchen wood floors, new cabinets and appliances, as well as repainting and refinishing the hardwood floors throughout the whole house. We had some great people helping us along the way, but none finer than our construction leader, Phil Jaegge, seen in the picture here with his "wish I was back in the 60's" tie-dye shirt! Doing a kitchen remodel has got to be one of the most stressful things in life, and Phil was our coach, mentor and counselor through it all. The "crown jewel" of our new kitchen is our countertop, which is made from Brazilian Yellow River granite. I sometimes wonder if our granite was more expensive than the crown jewels! Here's a picture of it being offloaded in our driveway. The largest piece weighed more than 1,000 pounds!!

During our remodel, we lived a nomadic lifestyle, rotating between a hotel, my mother's house in Somerset, and our good friends, the Spears' home, in Bothell. Living out of suitcases for 6 months gave us a deeper appreciation of "Home, sweet home"! The ironic thing about housesitting at the Spears was that they were actually vacationing in Australia and New Zealand. They originally planned to visit us in Brisbane (as well as tour around Oz and NZ) in September 2006, but were unable to do so when their oldest daughter suffered a severe hip fracture. Even though we missed sharing the Australia experience with them, we were blessed beyond measure to live in their beautiful home for 5 weeks.

In November, we all happily piled into our minivan and resumed our annual tradition of driving to Spokane for Thanksgiving at Marce's mother's home. Traditionally we visit Spokane for Thanksgiving, then Alene visits us for Christmas. Thankfully we were able to keep the latter tradition for the last 2 of 3 years, with Marce's mom visiting us for Christmas twice in Brisbane, where we enjoyed taking off to New Zealand (2005) and Tasmania (2006) over the Christmas holidays. Here is a picture of Madeline, Marina and Grandma Alene shopping at The Body Shop in Spokane's Northtown Mall on "Black Friday".

Our Christmas season was filled with plenty of fellowship with family and friends. My mom treated our family to two plays, one of which we especially loved: "A Christmas Carol", at the Seattle ACT Theatre. We also had a wonderful holiday dinner at my father's house in West Seattle. I enjoyed having the two weeks off between Christmas and New Year's to help Marce and the girls get our home back in order before resuming our homeschool schedule. But little did we know that we were in for some shocking news that would hit us in 2008.

Marc

We're back home!

Wow!! It's hard to believe we've been home for almost 2 weeks. We've had a fabulous time catching up with everyone and familiarizing ourselves again with the Seattle area. We're amazed with all the changes occurring on the Eastside, especially in Bellevue. As I look outside our hotel room, I can spot 4 cranes hard at work erecting huge buildings. I believe there are about a dozen cranes in downtown Bellevue alone. It's entertaining to watch. I'm sure if I had 4 boys, they'd be glued to the windows, mesmerized by all the action. Not so with our girls... :-)

While we've enjoyed our time at the Bellevue Marriott, living out of suitcases in adjoining hotel rooms can get old pretty quickly. We've done our fair share of shopping at Bellevue Square and Factoria Mall--of course we had to load up on cool-weather clothing. I discovered the girls and I each owned only one pair of closed-toe shoes (tennis shoes) and all the rest were flip flops and sandals. While that's all you need in Queensland, that just won't work here. And it's taking awhile to get acclimated to the colder temps which makes me thankful we came home in the summer instead of winter!

It's funny to see some of the modern conveniences we're getting excited about: toilet seat covers, paper towels and soap in public bathrooms (in Australia, I had to always keep a little bottle of liquid soap in my purse); eggs in the refrigerated section, as opposed to sitting at room temperature in the baking aisle alongside the flour and sugar (I could never understand that, especially when the box says to refrigerate immediately when bringing home...hmmm ); normal shopping carts; and water fountains (almost non-existent in Brisbane).

Of course, we've already made several trips to Costco and Trader Joe's (what a treat!) and about half our meals have been eaten at Mexican restaurants (we've sure missed authentic Mexican food).

Marc and I are slowly getting used to driving on the right side of the road. Our first day out, Marc pulled out of the hotel parking garage directly into oncoming traffic. I was a little flustered, to say the least, and offered to drive instead. Of course, I thought I wouldn't have any problems--it's just like riding a bike, right? Later that week, I let my guard down and made the same mistake. I discovered it's easy to do when there isn't much traffic on the road. Normally, you just 'follow the leader', but when there isn't anyone to follow, you can easily get confused. And just the other day, as Michelle and I chatted away while walking to our van, I found myself standing on the right side of the vehicle (ready to get in and drive away), while Michelle ended up on the left side. We had a good laugh about that!

On Friday, we have the privilege to housesit for our dear friends, the Spears. They will be on a 1-1/2 week road trip to Yellowstone National Park. The girls are so excited to be able to care for their dog, cat and rabbit while they are away. And Marc also leaves for a 2 week trip to Brisbane. His replacement still hasn't been decided, so he'll be juggling 2 jobs for awhile.

That's all for now...

36,000 feet Back To America

If any of you are reading this in America on Sunday then we are zooming back to the States as you read. We are scheduled to arrive Seattle 10:15PM Sunday evening. Our last week has been a great week filled with friends and fun, amidst all the packing. On Friday night the Boeing Australia Executive Council treated Marce and me to a farewell dinner at Marce's favourite restaurant called Manx. A picture of us was taken at the right. Our dinner started at 7PM and we rolled out at midnight. I know I will sure miss working with these great Australians. During the week as we had been doing our packing, our close friends,the Grzesiaks, watched the girls for us while we could focus on the home. David, Marcia and children Ryan, Connor, Sarah and Lucas are US expats from Long Beach. They attended our church and also homeschool, and have become very dear friends. Saturday afternoon we had a great time with them at their home along the Brisbane river. They have a couple of acres of land which includes a tennis court and an old sheep paddock where the kids have a great time. Below are some pics of them having fun one last time at the Grzesiak estate.

Marina tries to keep up with Sarah & Madeline on the downward driveway

Michelle, Meagan, Ryan & Connor have a last round of tennis on a warm Queensland winter afternoon

Saying goodbye to our Grzesiak friends in the CBD (city business district)

The girls enjoying the Qantas Club in Brisbane while we wait for our flight

Goodbye To 23 Ascot Street

Fortunately some friends of ours the Grzesiaks have been watching the girls for 2 days while we cleaned up our house and had the movers pack our goods. Last night (Wednesday) we picked them up and took the girls to one of our favorite outdoor restaurants on Racecourse Road, near our house. After dinner we brought them to the house where they could see everything packed up. Michelle took lots of pictures with a smile on her face, knowing that this meant we really are moving back to America. Meagan and Madeline were a bit melancholy, as their home for the last 2 years was now in boxes. Marina seems to be a trouper and it doesn't seem to fade her energy or enthusiasm. Today, Thursday, our goods are all packed and we finish the clean-up in prep for our trip.

Marc