Discovery.  It sounds exciting, right?  Anyone who knows me knows that I love surprises.

Rex Hospital here in Raleigh has a catchy slogan regarding us cancer patients: “From Discovery to Recovery.”  The recovery part I’m certainly looking forward to.  Even the treatment (as that’s the most probable avenue God will use for recovery).  But the discovery phase?  It has given me a run for my money.

Today marks the end of the discovery phase.  And we received news we were longing to hear.  The PET scan showed fairly extensive “regional lymph node involvement” (not the news we wanted), but was otherwise clean.  The brain MRI was also clean.  The breast MRI had no surprises either.  Thank you, God. It is strange what qualifies as “great news” all of a sudden.

After 14 days of not knowing, I am delighted to have Stage 3 breast cancer.  Yes, it’s serious.  We know that.  But I’ll take it!

The  battle plan was also finalized yesterday.  Since I’ll begin with chemotherapy, my oncologist is leading the charge.  And let me tell you, Gabe and I feel like we have General Dwight D. Eisenhower on our side.   Dr. Graham is not only a brilliant strategist against the Invader, he is exceptionally kind and empathetic.  On several occasions, he has spent two or three hours with us, drawing diagrams, and explaining everything we need to know.  We have full confidence that fighting cancer is his passion and vocation.  We are thankful he is on our team.

Chemo begins Monday.  I’ll have 6 infusions of the TCHP protocol exactly 3 weeks apart.  I finish mid-May.

I continue on two of the four drugs for another 11 infusions, every three weeks, for a total of about 1 year.

In mid-June, I will have a double mastectomy.

In August and September, I will do radiation each day for 6 or 7 weeks.

We cannot adequately express how much your support has meant to us these past few weeks.  Our family, friends and even folks we only know through a friends and family have prayed (please continue), called, texted, emailed, brought meals, made lunches for our kids, initiated play dates, given us valuable advice for the journey ahead.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.