Visit with Dr. Haley

Today Jessa's right leg started feeling better. It could be that the radiation is working, but it also could be that she has just been distracted by the leg cramps she has been getting in her tumor-free left leg. After radiation Jess was able to wheel right over to Dr. Haley. It was really nice because Dr. Haley is right next door and we didn't even have to go outside to get to her. Dr. Haley said something almost right away that made my heart drop into my stomach momentarily. She said that she wanted to talk about Jessa's lungs and liver. She wanted to let us know that there are no tumors in them! She had read the scans that the radiology oncologist had used to determine where to radiate and seen that the cancer was still confined to bone, but when she said that I was dreading that she was going to say it had spread. She also told us that Jessa's blood counts were good, no anemia right now.

She will start a new chemo medicine pending medical approval. The medicine is Sunitinib (good luck saying it-- I can't) and has not been FDA approved yet for breast cancer (though it is already approved for treatment of other types of cancer). Jess will get a Zometa infusion on June 6th to strengthen her bones. Then she will start a combo of Xoloda (chemo which she has taken before) and Sunitinib. Both of these are oral chemos, so no trip to Dallas for infusions required :)

Jess will get a new temporary wheelchair tomorrow. She calls the current one her FDR chair and it to use Jessa's word for it: cumbersome. We're hoping the new one will allow more maneuverability until she gets one that will be custom fit.

Our needs are well-covered the rest of this week!