Wayne, stay strong my friend. She will need you now more than ever.

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Thanks. Just giving everyone an update

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My prayers are with you and your wife.

Having had lots of friends and family with cancer, I have to confess I have never understood why they don't cut a tumor out first, then do the chemo. The way they always seem to do it now makes no sense to me.

I am sure there are excellent reasons, but to me it is counter intuitive.

I hope all goes week for your wife.

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I thought the same thing as the oncologist was telling us this. He said they have better results this way so I didn't argue it. My guess is they shrink the tumor. They kill off the few cells that are in the lymph nodes in the process. Otherwise they stand a chance to grow.
Don't quote me it's just a guess.

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Chemo was 6 hours long. They didn't allow me to sit with her during the treatment.
COVID!!! might get you.

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Geez....that sounds crazy to me. You are with her all the time.

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As if you don't spend any time with her now!!! The Medical establishment continues to suffer from Mass Formation Psychosis...sad.

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So true. When I was in my 30's-40's (and probably early 50's I didn't mind some time away. (Disclaimer- we worked in the office we owned together for most of our 30's and 40's.)
Now I want to spend as much of the day with her as I can. Even before THE diagnosis. For the past 4 years she has been driving to Michigan on Wed and returning Fri evening while preforming her Grammie duties watching our grandson (now sons). On Sat she would be so worn out she would spend most of the day resting. Sun was a heavy dose of church related activities so we really only had Mon-Tue. Work and my other commitments would eat into those nights as well.
Now I get to be with her So much more.

The Rn had to come out to the waiting room and chase me off before I would leave for lunch. I didn't pack as well as I should have. I thought it was only going to be 3 hours. A couple of protein drinks along with a baggie of Cheerios. A bottle of water and some gum. I thought I was set. Next time I will pack some granola bars. Peanut butter crackers. Along with some other munchies and I won't be run off so easily.

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It's been awhile since I updated anyone. 
My wife went through her first round of chemo treatments. She had surgery to remove the tumor. We've had follow ups with both the surgeon and today, the oncologist. At today's session he told her that chemo killed 90% of the cancer cells. Twice they checked nymph nodes. 3 with the original exploratory and another two with the lumpectomy. All were clean.
Next up is another series of chemo treatments. She is HER2 positive so the protocol is more chemo. 14 more sessions. That will take us through December. The good part is it is only one chemo bag instead of 3. Might not need the additional infusions such as the anti-nausea med. This type of chemo isn't the kind that makes her hair fall out so hopefully it will grow back soon. She is looking forward to that. 
She also starts radiation treatments in a few weeks.  5 days a week for 4 or 5 weeks. The radiation doesn't last long. About 15 minutes but the whole process is around an hour.
We are both very happy this evening. We keep on marching along.

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She's been a real trooper. I am so proud of her.
Giving up watching our grandsons was the hardest part. The little boy turned one a couple of months into the process. He doesn't remember her as well as big brother does. We were there for Christmas. When she went to get him up, he cried because she didn't look right. It took a while for him to warm up. I was playing "airplane" with him and dropped him in her lap. She started playing one of their games and singing to him and it all came back.

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