I am so glad we went.
So here is the news we can tell you about Nikki's Cancer after a long
day at the Huntsman Cancer Institute. First off, what a wonderful place
with Doctors that really care about you as a person not just another
patient to poke and prod. The Medical Oncologist Dr Khong was very
positive and uplifting and 100% opposite from the Oncologist we met with
in Logan. I will try to keep this short and simple and if you want or
need more details let me know. He explained that the tumor was in-fact
considered small and the fact that the cancer had only spread to the
first Lymph node and none of the others barely put Nikki
into the stage two category. He feels that she is right on the edge of
not needing Chemo (totally opposite the Logan doctor) and if she does
then it would be no more than 12 weeks at a low dose. Because of
several specific characteristics she is eligible to join a clinical
trial designed for just her situation and they will do more in depth
tests and study of the cancer cells from the tumor and determine on a
scale from 1 to 50, 1 being non aggressive how high the chances are that
the cancer really has spread to other parts of her body and if the
score is over 25 then its on to Chemo no exceptions if it is below 25
then she continues on in the clinical and may not need chemo at all.
either way they will monitor her treatments and overall health for years
and see how each person reacts to each type of treatment so that by the
end of the trial of 5000 women with exactly the same situation as Nikki
they can have a hard set number to say that scores below this number
don't need chemo and above do which will help many women in the future
to not be over diagnosed. Regardless she will do six weeks of local
radiation and 5 plus years of Estrogen therapy to insure that it does
not come back. We will get the results from the extra testing in about
two weeks. We feel really good about it either way and that Dr Khong is
doing what is best for us and we can change our minds in any direction
at any time. Thanks for all the cares and prayers
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