8 Weeks Down…

Wow, it’s been a few weeks since our last update, hasn’t it? Sorry for the lack of updates. I would tell you it’s been a tiring and busy month, but no excuses, right?

I guess we better start with the highlights to get everyone on the same page. We’ll start off with the REALLY good news.

The tumor is shrinking. A lot.

Amy has officially had three treatments of her initial chemo mixture, and this stuff is potent. After round one, her tumor shrunk literally in half. After her second treatment, it shrunk in half AGAIN. We’re now waiting for her follow up visit to see how it’s responded after this last dose.

To give it a little perspective: Right before Amy started treatment, the tumor was sitting at about 8cm x 7cm (or 1/12th the size of Danny Devito). It then dropped to around 4cm x 4cm, and then 2cm x 2cm. At this point the tumor is shrinking so quickly it might not be physically detectable soon.

Other happenings

Well we knew it was coming, but that doesn’t make it any less difficult. Amy started losing her hair at the end of August. But not before she got this killer haircut from Erin over at Lure Salon.

Unfortunately the new do didn’t last long. Once her hair started falling out, Amy asked me to buzz it all off for her. I was hesitant at first, but of course I obliged. 🙂

Amy is now rocking a nearly bald head which has opened up the door for some stylish scarves, head wraps and hats! She’s noted that the plus side to all of this is her head finally feels cool in this 100 degree weather.

Thank you for all the support!

Aside from the hair loss, Amy has been feeling the effects of chemo much more these last couple weeks. She’s been very fatigued and pretty nauseous. It’s taken a lot just to look after the girls and go to work part-time, and that pretty much wipes her out,

(She also hates pepper now.)

We really couldn’t do this without the support of our friends and family. Being able to feed the fam without thinking about what to cook has been tremendous, and thank you to all the caretakers who have stepped up to watch our girls when the need arises. We’ve also been very fortunate to have Amy’s mom in town most chemo weeks to help keep life moving forward. I use to roll my eyes at the phrase “It takes a village…”, but I finally understand and accept it. This would not be possible without the dozens and dozens of people surrounding and supporting us.