Deb’s Blood Test

Good morning.

Yesterday I took Deb for her first blood test since deciding no more chemo treatments. Quickly, for those who might not know, my wife Deb was diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer on April 28th of this year.

No cure, as it had moved from her breast to just below her tracheal tube. Two separate tumors. Her diagnosis stated 8-9 months without treatment, and possibly 4-5 years with treatment. We were told, it is terminal.

Deb took one chemo treatment, and decided against taking any more. She decided to step outside of the “medical spectrum,” and to do some alternative treatments which we’ve discussed here previously. Anyway…

On the drive to Orlando for the blood work I told Deb, no matter what this test read, stay focused on what you need to do, and stay positive. I also asked her what would be her reaction if she were told that the blood counts were very low and they told her she needed to start chemo back immediately? Her reply, “I’ll continue with the alternative treatments. I KNOW I’m doing the right thing, and I’ll whip this.”

My reaction was simply to say to do what she feels in her heart that she needs to do, and that we’re all behind her in her decision. And we are, but, we also were all nervous as cats in a room full of rockers, prior to the results.

Well, we have the test run, and go into the Dr.’s office to have the reading of the test results. The findings…her blood counts were perfect!! She had taken chemo on June 23, and had had no blood work since.

We were elated!

By the way, Deb’s Doctor is simply one great guy, and a God fearing man. She trusts him totally, but she feels chemo is not for her. Again, this is not my decision to make, or the decision of the family. This is Deb’s decision only, and as far as we’re concerned…she’s in the driver’s seat, and we’re along for the ride!

BUT, yesterday was the best news we’d had since April 28. It was literally a ray of sunshine filtering through months of overcast skies!

NOW, we know this is only a brief moment of euphoria for us, but one we needed badly, and this provided it for us. Thank you Lord!

Today starts the next chapter in Deb’s fight. We are very, very cautious, and very, very respectful of this terrible disease, and without a doubt we are not anywhere near out of the woods! Far from it, but we took what we learned yesterday as a guide that, you know what, we might be on to something here, and this in itself gives us the desire and motivation to hit this stuff even harder. We’ve got a lot of long hard work in front of us, but Deb’s tough enough to do this, “standin’ on her head!”

Once the Doctor’s assistant read us the tests, she told us the results were perfect, and then asked what had we been doing, if we didn’t mind telling her. We didn’t mind, and told her most all off what we have been doing, the whole time she was taking notes.

She leaves, and in just a minute the Doctor came in, and examined Deb. He then stated, that if in fact we were intending to continue using alternatives, then let’s at least have a scan run to see what our treatment was doing internally to the cancer cells. Deb and I both agree.

He wants to do this fairly quickly, but Deb and I have talked this over, and she feels we need to wait 5-6 weeks.

The reasoning?

This is simply to give one of our treatments this length of time to get up to the dosage requirements. You build up to this, plus give the full dosage an amount of time to get into her system like it needs to be. In other words, we just haven’t been doing this treatment long enough to give it a fair shake.

We don’t want to run the scan until this takes place. Our next blood work will be in eight weeks, and we’d like to have the scan results fall right along this same time frame.

By doing this, we’ll have everything we’ve been doing as alternative treatments in her system just about as good as we’ll be able to. Everything we’ve been doing then gets an opportunity to be evaluated after allowing time to see what it can do.

To all of you out there who are involved in the same fight Deb is, God Bless you and your families! It is a terrible disease, but not unlike anything else you do. Once you’ve put your heart and soul into something, IT CAN BE BEAT!

Once again, we have a long hard road to go down, but yesterday gave us that glimmer of hope that we’ve made the right decision in regards to her treatment. Again, we’re quite aware of all the bad, but Deb believes totally, she’s gonna whip this, and honestly, I truly believe she will!

Oh, one other quick story about yesterday.

On the way home, just as I’d told you earlier, we were both ecstatic…on cloud nine! I looked over at ole Deb while I was driving and asked her how she felt? She was just beaming, and replied she felt great! I asked her how long it had been since she had such happiness in her heart? She said it had been quite a while, but today, she felt wonderful…even on top of the world!

I told her I was so proud of how she had accepted the cards she’d been dealt, and the way she has “grabbed the bull by the horn,” and dove into this fight headfirst. It is very inspiring, and I too was just so happy for her.

I then asked, “If you’re so happy, and I’m so happy, once we get home, let’s send the guys home, lock the gate, and “mess around?”
She looked up, batted her eyes up and down and said, “You know Dub, as good as I feel, I don’t feel near bout THAT dern good!”
WOMEN!!

Thank you all for your prayers and concern. They mean so much to Deb and I both. God Bless you and yours, and Deb says to keep a smile on your face, and one in your heart!

Dub and Deb