Happy New Year

All has been optimized the past 24 hours. Brian, Brooke, Parker and Finley arrived back home in St. Louis safe and sound. Dr. Jo (Joel's girlfriend) arrived safely back in San Fran. Joel is currently in the air on his flight back home. Kyle has finished producing a show in Muncie and has just arrived back here with us to spend the day before returning back to NYC tomorrow.

As for me, my pain is well controlled by pain meds. My energy is coming back. Ted and I are looking forward to dinner out with friends at Palamino's which is close by....then to be back home watching our traditional movie, "When Harry Met Sally" (sorry Ted!) and just maybe staying up to see the ball drop from the coziness of our bed.

I know most of us are happy to see 2008 come to a close. It has been a tough one on nearly all fronts. But New Year's Eve is always a hopeful night for me. I'm filled with hope as to what is ahead and I guess as I've grown older, I'm content to know that there will be both blessings and trials, but somehow when all is tallied at the end of 2009, the blessings will be what I remember! I hope your head is filled with anticipation and hope tonight!

Back at Home!

We're back at home now.  Mom is resting in bed while sipping chicken noodle soup and eating Xmas cookies.  Parker and Finley are providing loads of entertainment.

Big thanks to Mom and Dad's neighbor Ann Fairchild for bringing over her signature spaghetti dish!

Surgery Update (from Joel)

Mom just got out of surgery at the IU Med Center in downtown Indianapolis. Everything went very well.  Dr. Goulet removed the tumor completely with the assistance from Brian's old med school friend Claire Jackson who is now a surgery resident.

In addition, during surgery they inspected nearby lymph nodes using a blue dye for any other signs of cancer, and the initial set of inspections came back negative, which is great news.  

The pathologist will do a second deep dive analysis of the blue-dye lymph nodes to check thoroughly for anything.  Mom meets with the oncologist on January 7th to get the results back from that lymph node test.  Typically, the visual lymph node inspection the pathologist performs during surgery matches the post-op deeper dive inspection in the lab, so all early signs are positive.

Dad, Brian, Moni, and I are currently hanging out in the post-op recovery area while Mom sips on 7-Up and eats crackers.  She's got the usual post-op pain but a bit of morphine and ice is giving her comfort.

We'll probably head back home later today once Mom is a bit less dopey.

Pull the mirrors in...we're goin' in!

I'm up ready to head for the hospital in just a few moments, but I had to send out another thank you for the many people who visited our family throughout the extended weekend and the many of you who have called, brought food, posted comments (thanks Wendy for the tip!) or emailed such loving thoughts to me.

I'm reminded of being in Spain with our good friends Kurt and Joey (who drove from Columbus, OH to Indy to see us, then back to South Bend...crazy people!). We were trying to find our hotel in a very tiny, OLD town and as we drove down a cobble-stoned street, it became very clear that we might not squeeze through as it was so very narrow. But of course, we had highly educated people in the van! So Ted said to Joey...pull the mirrors in, we're goin' in!...and with Ted's head hanging out one window and Joey's head hanging out the other window, we got through the narrow place and came out the other side!

Good analogy for today! Joel will post an email later today.

Merry Christmas!

It's the peace before the rush of this day begins, so thought I'd post a quick update. We are so blessed to have Kyle, Joel, Jo, Brian, Brooke, Parker, Finley and of course, my mom, MO with us today. Later we will travel to my brother Larry and dear sister-in-law Barb's to be with them for the evening with their kids and grand kids. What a blessed day this is...thanks be to God for sending his son, Jesus to us as example of that perfect love that we all strive to give and receive!

A couple of updates. First, telling my 97 year old mom was hard Friday, but she got lots of support from my sisters Marilyn and Carolyn calling, Larry and Barb being with us, and then staff at her assisted living facility all helping her through the day. I know many of you know "Mo" and I would love, if you have the time, for you to send her an email at molukens@webtv.net or a card at Helen Lukens, 271 Village Lane, Greenwood, IN 46143. She'll need lots of support through this...so if you're trying to find a wonderful loving way to help me...support Mo!

Second, we had an incredible meeting with my oncologist, Dr. Kathy Miller yesterday with Ted, Joel, Kyle and Dr. Jo in attendance. She literally spent an hour and a half with us, patiently answering all of our questions. We all liked her a lot. She is fairly certain I'll need chemo in addition to the required radiation, but she needs the lymph node results from the surgery to know which I'll have first, what the exact routines will be, etc. etc. So when I go back for my post-op visit on Wed, Jan 7th to see Goulet, I'll see her for all that news right afterward.

So really, the next two weeks will be about having fun, getting through the surgery Monday, then recovering and going in to see Goulet/Miller to see what's next! I'm not doing very well keeping up with all the many messages you're all sending me, but know for sure, that your words are lifting us all up...that goes for my entire family who reads your comments too!

Angels We Have Heard On High

I awoke this morning with this song in my head and in my heart. Then I opened my blog and read all your comments and the song's words were confirmed.

Angels we have heard on high
Sweetly singing o’er the plains,
And the mountains in reply
Echoing their joyous strains.

Gloria, in excelsis Deo!
Gloria, in excelsis Deo!

You lift me up with your words, your visits, your calls, your prayers, your messages, and your emails. Gloria, in excelsis Deo and for you too!

Early Christmas Present!

Praise God above. Just got the path report and it's the best possible news...ER positive, PR positive, HER2 negative. I know, I know...what the heck does that mean? It means it's the most treatable form of cancer with the highest success rate. YEAH!!!

So we also had our appointment with the plastic surgeon and we're official now...going for the tire patch vs. the two-tire with realignment (for those of you just reading this, see the post below and you'll understand)! So just a lumpectomy for now. So my surgery is scheduled for next Monday, Dec 29th at 9:30am. From what I understand, I should be able to come right home after the procedure.

All the kids will already be here and all are staying over...so I'm glad Ted will have company and the love and laughter that all give him as he waits for all of this to be done.

I will definitely have radiation, but the chemo decision is still awaiting an appointment with the oncologist on Christmas Eve. This is great as Joel and Jo (our very own Dr. Chien) get in from San Fran at 9a and so Jo will be with me when I go to this appointment at 1p. How great is that?

So lots of good news today! Many, many thanks to you all..the calls, emails, visits, etc. etc continue to pour into our home and we are so very grateful for each of you!

Some good laughs!

Have you heard the expression "laughter is the best medicine"? Well, both Ted and Kyle have given me the gift of laughter this weekend. As Ted and I were discussing the pros and cons of lumpectomy vs. mastectomy, I shared that I just don't understand the concept of having only one breast removed. Even though the long term survival is the same, some women prefer to have their entire breast removed so they don't have to worry about the higher risk of local recurrence. But my thinking is different...if you still have to be vigilant about screening with the other side, then to me, there's no advantage...so I told Ted that the options I think make sense are lumpectomy vs. bilateral mastectomy.

With complete seriousness, he replied..."That makes sense to me too. You never buy just one tire...the balance and steering would be off. You always buy two tires." So now in our household, we've officially switched to discussing a tire patch vs. a two- tire change with re-balancing!

As we decided that this blog might be the best idea, we needed a blog title, so I asked the kids for ideas. Kyle was relieved that I came up with Julie's Pink Link as his ideas were "Cancer Schmancer" or "Boob Beat"! What a hoot!

Let the journey begin!

I suppose we all walk around aware at some level, that life is fragile and that each of us, at any time could be faced with a real life-changing challenge of one sort or another. So this was my week. I've shared with many of you already, but for those just learning of this for the first time, I learned this week that I have aggressive, invasive breast cancer. A routine mammogram on Dec 10th, led to an ultrasound and MRI same day, which then led to a core needle biopsy on Dec 16th. On Dec 17th at around 11am, I got the call. You know the one you really want to get, but yet dread at the same time. When my doctor confirmed that I did indeed have cancer and that it was the most aggressive, invasive kind...my heart skipped a beat or two.

So here's the good news...it's early, it's small, it's very treatable...but best of all...I have absolutely the best possible support system a person could have. The reason for this blog is to make it easier to keep you all updated and to receive your words of encouragement and to get my thanks back to you. I have literally been on the phone the entire day since Wednesday hearing such amazing words of encouragement and support. I've already received 50+ emails and it's only been 3 days! The other big reason for this blog is to create a link to Ted and our kids too, as they really need your support as well.

So watch for updates each couple of days and thank you, thank you for supporting my family through this challenge. God is good!