Just a Little Clarification

It wasn't until I spoke to my Aunt Coco this morning that I realized how poorly my last post read- sorry! I was so tired!

Mom is going forward with radiation (I think that was the part I really skipped). Technically she is cancer free right now because any measurable disease was removed during her surgery, however we have no way of knowing that some little cancer cells aren't still floating around somewhere. We were in the same boat last year, opted to do chemo just in case, and it still didn't work. So although she is a bit of a pioneer because her case is so unusual, she's been well advised that radiation is a good option at this point.

The hard part about medicine and nursing, is that everything we do is "evidence-based." If there have been reputable studies that prove the treatments we chose are the best therapy, then that's why we do it. In the cancer world, every patient is new territory, and there aren't always studies that exist to back up treatment plans. Recommendations are made with the best of intentions and often based on similar cases, but there are no guarantees.

So who knows! We could be subjecting Mom to radiation unnecessarily because she's cancer free, she could have cancer right now and the radiation won't work, but only time will tell. In the mean time, she is incredibly positive and motivated to live her life as planned.

And you can't do that without a new wardrobe so we spent a few hours at Talbot's yesterday morning soaking up the sales :)