Amanda went for her follow up doctor's appointment yesterday. The incredible Dr. Bendell has been absolutely amazing, as has all of her staff. Amanda still has stage 4 cancer, most likely uterine in origin. The good news is that the chemotherapy she received in China made her lung metastasis so minimal that the new CT scans had to be compared to the old ones from China in order to see where they were. She had a great response to this chemotherapy so that is really good to know. However, she still has a mass in her uterus about the size of a tennis ball which needs to be removed. She is meeting with a gynecologic oncologist surgeon next Thursday to schedule this, and THEN we will have a complete diagnosis. While the chemo helped her greatly, it has also made CONFIRMING the diagnosis a bit difficult. Amanda will have a second procedure at this same time, but due to the personal area we are not giving details about that one. Please do pray that the hysterectomy can be performed vaginally as the doctors do not want to do an abdominal hysterectomy. If this is not possible, then Amanda will have a biopsy only. The surgeon will not know until the time of surgery what is possible.
Her PET scan showed the area in her uterus as above as well as an area on her left hip bone that is suspicious for metastasis. She has an MRI scheduled to better evaluate this area. It is likely that she will have radiation therapy localized to that hip if it is indeed.
There are NO chemotherapy treatments planned at this time. Amanda wants to stress that she is very hopeful and that her doctors are committed to treating her very well and providing her with the best quality and quantity of life. She wants you to know that there is likely not a cure per se (though we can all pray for miracles), but that this cancer is something she will live with the rest of her life. That might mean that she has to get scans every 2 to 6 months to monitor, or it might mean that she will have more chemotherapy in the future. We do not know yet. BUT, there is a good chance that she will be able to go back to China for periods of time, and THAT is a huge blessing of news!
Amanda is happy, she is ready to fight, she is also back on the internet :) We are still working on getting her on Facebook. Her passwords and details are in China so we hope to talk via Skype later there and get those. She does receive email but about 400 per day, so please be patient if she takes a bit to get back with you. She wants to go for walks, and is trying to learn to love my kale. She has memorized "The Gingerbread Man" which is my daughter Florie's favorite book! Please send cards...she loves them!
Her diabetes is doing very well, and her blood pressure is getting under control.
She feels your prayers and so needs them! Thank you for all of your support. It has been a blessing to have her in our home.
Love,
Eve
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