Update on December NIH Visit and Conference Call

Melissa and my parents had the conference call with the doctors up at the NIH and after meeting and discussing Missy's case the doctors decided that Missy does NOT need surgery right now!  This is such a blessing.  These surgeries are extremely difficult on Missy and come with a ton of terrifying possible complications, so avoiding surgery is the greatest news we could have possibly gotten today.

The doctors made their decision based on the fact that although the growth of the tumor over the last eight weeks is alarming, the tumor is not extremely large.  Combine that with the fact that she is having no side effects from the tumor, and it makes them think surgery is not what she needs at this time.  There is the IV treatment, Avastin, that prevented any new growth of this tumor the entire time she was on it, so they believe that is the the best treatment is to go with for now.

So they want her back on her IV meds as soon as possible.  She has an appointment with her local doctor to hopefully set up an infusion before the end of the week.  She will do that treatment right away, then another in two weeks.  Two weeks after that she will go back to the NIH for another scan.  Hopefully it will show no new growth.  The option for surgery is still on the table at a later point, she is very strong and the tumor is operable, they just do not think the benefits out weight the risks as of today.  We are hoping this medicine continues to work and she does not need surgery any time soon!

Thank you so much for your continued prayers and support.  We are so very thankful for you all.

Merry Christmas!

December NIH Visit

Missy had her 8 week scan up at the NIH on Thursday, and the results were not what we expected.  Her MRI came back showing aggressive new growth of her tumor. So aggressive that the doctors think the best action to take is most likely going to be to go in and remove the new growth.  Her doctor will be meeting with the board to discuss options on Tuesday, but when they spoke with him on Friday it seemed most likely they they would opt for surgery.  Of course this news has been very difficult for Missy and everyone in the family, but we feel very blessed that they are options of ways to fight this cancer.  We have aggressive treatments to fight aggressive growth, and that is a good thing.

We have two treatments that the doctors and Melissa feel will give her the best chance to fight.  Four months ago the doctors took Missy off an IV infusion treatment, Avastin, that was meant to cut off the blood supply to the tumor. The six months she was on that medication there was no growth. She was also on a chemotherapy pill, Temodar, which they left her on during her break from Avastin. Without the Avastin the tumor has grown out of control. 

Fighting cancer is very hard. And the most effect way to fight it is to remove as much as possible. And that's what we are fairly sure they want to do. The most effective treatment. Because she is very strong, she is fighting very hard, and they want to give her the very best chance to beat this. And that means taking out what they can, then putting her back on the medication that we now know works to stop growth of whatever is left. So we think that is the plan.  Tuesday we will know for sure, but we are expecting surgery in early January. 

Missy and the rest of our family are very happy to have two ways to fight this cancer.  We know another surgery will be very difficult for Missy, but she wants to do what is most aggressive to kill this cancer.  She is very brave, very strong, and she wants to do whatever it takes.   We are leaving that decision up to her doctors.

I will update again next week after we hear from the doctors about surgery details, if they do decide surgery is the best option.  Thank you for all of your prayers and support during this difficult time.  They mean so much to Missy and our entire family.

October NIH Visit

Hello everyone!  Just wanted to stop in and let you know that last week Missy had her eight week check up with the NIH and things went well!  There was no new growth of the tumor, which is always the best news.  They are watching the tumor closely to evaluate if she can continue her break from the IV treatment she was previously doing along with her chemo.   She will go back up in eight weeks to have another scan and they will go from there.  For now, the doctors felt good about the visit and told her just to stay with her current treatment plan.

Everything around here is going really well for our sweet Melissa.  She has started keeping Henry (her nephew) one day a week and they are both loving this schedule!  Henry loves his Aunt Mimi!  She is spending lots of time with family, friends and her boyfriend George and she is feeling good. 

Thank you all for your continued prayers and support.  They mean so much to us all.

Recent NIH Visit

Missy and Mom went back up to the NIH last week for a follow up MRI. On the plane from here to the DC airport they realized they were traveling with a celebrity!

John Wall had been back in town to play an exhibition game and was flying back to DC at the same time as Missy and Mom. It makes any trip more enjoyable to see someone famous at six in the morning!

The visit to NIH went very well. The MRI showed that the tumor had no change, so the treatments are working well to prevent new growth. They are making so changes to her medications, taking her off one for the next eight weeks to see what the effect is, but all in all things are going very well and Missy is doing great!

Thank you all for your continued support. We appreciate you all so very much.

Overdue Update

Hello everyone! I am so sorry that I have not been on here to update in so long. I have no real excuse except to say that things have been going very well for Missy, and so it hasn't really occurred to me to post. I will try to do better and at least post a general update every month or so, just so that people using this blog are in the know about our sweet Melissa.

Several weeks ago Missy went back up to the NIH to have a repeat MRI to see how her current treatment is working. The scan showed that everything is looking wonderful! That the cancer is under control and her brain is healing and looking much healthier than it has since this all began. We feel so very thankful and blessed.

With her health finally looking better and under control Missy has been enjoying her summer. She is looking for a low stress part time job, since her full time position in research was just too much for her at this time. She has taken a couple small trips this summer and has been enjoying quality time with family and friends. Her treatments, along with the travel to and from the NIH every 8 weeks, is taking a lot out of her, but she is feeling much more like herself and is very thankful for that.

Thank you for your continued prayers and support. We all appreciate all you do as she continues down this road of treatment and recovery.

Follow Up at the National Institute of Health

Missy and Dad flew up to the National Institute of Health yesterday for a follow up MRI and to meet with her doctors about the effectiveness of her current treatment plan. She found out this morning that the scan shows her cancer is responding exactly as they hoped to this new treatment! This is such amazing news! We were all very hopeful that it was working well, since she seems to been feeling more like herself lately, but there was definitely the fear that we would get a report of new cancer growth as we did last time. Hearing the words that this is working like it should, to just continue on with treatments as planned, it's just such overwhelming and wonderful news.

Missy and Dad will be flying home tonight, and she will continue on with her current treatment plan here at home. She will go back up to the NIH for another MRI in two months, just to keep an eye on things and to make sure nothing has changed.

Thank you all so much for your continued prayers and support. They mean so much to us all.

Update

I am so sorry that it has been so long since I have posted an update here on Kicking Cancer. Time has just been moving since Missy's surgery and it doesn't feel like there is much to report. Still, I know you all use this site as a way to know how our sweet Melissa is doing, and I will try to do better with updates, even if they are just to say she is doing good and there isn't anything new to report!

Since my last post Missy has recovered very well from her surgery! She is back to work part time, which is the plan for the foreseeable future. She is just not up to a full work week with everything she has going on. She tires easily and really needs that extra time to focus on recovery. Luckily her amazing job has worked it out for her to stay on at the hospital in a part time roll. She is currently still in the Cancer Research department and we hope she will be able to stay there, but we are just very thankful for all they have done to keep her on as part of the Central Baptist team.

A little over a month ago Missy started her new treatments and they seem to be going well. For the last few weeks she has been fighting off a terrible flu like virus, and then a sinus infection and bronchial infection, but she seems to be feeling better. It is just extremely unfortunate that when you are fighting things like cancer your immune system is down and you end up picking up every bug that comes down the line. Hopefully with the start of spring she will be feeling better!

Thank you all for stopping by the blog to check in on her. She so appreciates all of you!

Treatment Plan

This morning Missy, along with our parents, met with her doctors at the National Institute of Health (NIH). The lab tests done on the tumor removed during her 2nd surgery shows that she has a Grade 3 Astrocytoma. We had feared it may be a Grade 4, so this is good news. Her original tumor contained a less aggressive cancer type along with the Astrocytoma cells, but they now seem to be gone.

After meeting with the doctors and discussing options it was decided that the best thing for Missy at this time was an FDA approved IV treatment that will cut off the blood supply to the tumor. The IV treatment drug is called Avastin and she will receive it once every two weeks. Along with that she will take a chemotherapy medication called Temodar each evening. Hopefully these two medications combinded will stop the growth of the cancer and shrink the existing cancer cells. Both treatments can be done in Lexington, so she will only have to travel back to the NIH every eight weeks for monitoring.

Missy is doing amazingly well. She is exhausted, but ready to continue this fight. She is so thankful for all of your love and support during this time. You all mean the world to her and to all of us. Thank you for all for your prayers and constant support!

Resting

Hi everyone. I just wanted to drop in and let you know that Missy is doing really well, and that there isn't really any new medical information at this point. She got home at the end of last week and since then has been at my parents house resting and recovering from the surgery. We spent the day with her Saturday and had a wonderful visit. It was good for my heart to see her sweet face. She came to town Monday for a quick check in with the doctor and stayed in Lexington to spend time with her boyfriend. I know she was very happy to be back at her house and to spend time with George. Tuesday she headed back to my parents so she can continue the recovery process. She is very tired and sore, but is so strong. She is doing amazing.

The next step will be to head back up to the NIH and find out the lab results and get her new treatment plan. As far as I know, the NIH likes to start treatment four weeks after surgery. We are expecting her to go up for the meeting with them at the end of next week or possibly the beginning of the first week of March. The date has yet to be set, but we know it will be soon. At that point we will have more information and a course of action. For now she is just trying to feel better and be as ready as possible to start fighting this cancer with her new treatment plan!

Home Again

I am really sorry I haven't updated in a couple of days! Time just got away from me. Missy is doing amazingly well. She is actually flying home this evening! She has had a good last couple of days, just resting and healing at the NIH hospital, and she is now ready to continue healing here at home. Both of our parents are still there with her and will be helping her make the trip home. Lucky she has a direct flight right into Lexington, so it will be as easy as possible. She will then be going to our parents house for the next week or two to continue recovering from the surgery. We will not have any lab results or treatment plans until she goes back up to the NIH in three to four weeks. For now we are just so happy to have our sweet girl back home!

Many of you have asked if you can do anything to help once they get home. First we want to say thank you for all that has already been done for her and our family. Your donations, thoughts and prayers have made a huge difference during this time. Plane tickets, food baskets, money to cover bills, constant messages of support. These are things that have meant the world to all of us and the words Thank You just don't seem to feel like enough. You have all done so much already, the question of "what can we do?" is hard to answer. Not because we do not need things, but because we already feel so blessed to have you all.

That being said, we continue to appreciate your desire to help. Food or gift cards to restaurants that do takeout would be very helpful and make life a little easier as everyone attempts to get back to a normal routine. Donations to Missy are also always extremely appreciated to help cover expenses while she is off work. Details of how that can be done are on the left sidebar of this blog or you can contact me (biogirl79 at gmail dot com) and I can help. As always, good thoughts and prayers are appreciated more than we can say. We are so thankful for all of you and your support during this time.

Monday Update

Just wanted to post a quick update to let everyone know that Missy got a lot of much needed rest last night. In the early evening she developed a bad headache, but they got that under control and she was able to feel better and rest well.

We found out that the MRI done after surgery showed that they were able to removed the 90-95% of the tumor that they were expecting. We are really happy with this result. They said today that her recovery was going great and that she would really just be staying there the next few days to keep the pain under control and to get her ready for the flight home. We can't wait to get her back here, but we know she is in awesome hands.

Recovering

Missy is doing amazingly well with her recovery. Boo and I headed back to Kentucky this afternoon, but we got to spend the morning with Missy and she is really doing great. Yesterday afternoon she moved out of the ICU and onto the regular floor and the transition has gone awesome. Last night she was up walking the halls and laughing and joking with me and Boo. It was a wonderful night. She still has ups and downs with the pain level, but the doctors and nurses seem to constantly be on top of keeping her comfortable and that is wonderful.

Missy, along with both of my parents, will stay at the NIH until the end of the week. As far as we know she will continue to stay in the hospital during their entire stay, and my parents will continue to stay in the family lodge there on the NIH campus. I cannot tell you how great it was to be right there with her and to have this housing provided for free. The entire NIH complex was amazing. Everyone was so kind and helpful. It is hard to be so far away from home, where we have the support of so many of you all, but the NIH has done all they can to create the feeling of home for these families who have all traveled so far. It truly is an amazing place that I hope with all of my heart that none of you ever have to visit. Still, we are so thankful that they are here for us, and all the other families during these difficult times. It is always better together.

Surgery Day

Missy's surgery went very well today! We are so very thankful for the amazing doctors and nurses here at the NIH who worked on her and made this day run as smooth as it has. Surgery began at 8:30 and lasted right around five hours. After surgery the doctor came out to meet with us and said things went great. They tumor was in a slightly different location than they originally thought, which meant that one of the side effects they were worried about was no longer a concern. This was very exciting news!

After surgery Missy was taken directly to the ICU and we got to see her after about an hour. Her head was hurting very badly, but she was talking and even laughed a little bit. She was struggling from having major surgery, but was clearly her normal sweet self, and it was so wonderful to see.

The doctor seemed pleased with the amount of tumor removed. He said he was fairly sure that at least part (but not all) of the tumor was dead cells rather than new growth. They did a follow-up MRI this afternoon to see the exactly how much tumor is left and we will have those results tomorrow. We will have lab results on the actual make-up of the tumor in about two weeks.

For tonight, our girl is still fighting a headache but is doing awesome. She will spend the night in ICU and should hopefully be moving back to the regular floor sometime tomorrow. Thank you for your prayers and support. We so appreciate you all.

Pre-Op

Well the Shepherd family has made it to the NIH Hospital safe and sound. Mom and Missy arrived yesterday and Dad, Boo and I flew up this morning. We got to the hospital around nine and Missy had already been admitted and things were rolling. She had a day full of pre-op tests, such as an EKG, x-ray and MRI. Lots of blood work and meeting doctors. It was a long day, but also enjoyable because we were all together. I am pretty sure we laughed more than most families the day before brain surgery, and it was good for us all.

Really today was basically about just getting ready for tomorrow, but we did learn that the plan on the surgery being 5-7 hours and is scheduled to start at 8:30. We are expecting a long hard day, but we are hoping and praying that there will be good news at the end of it. Thank you for your continued prayers and support. I will hopefully update again tomorrow evening and let you all know details from the day.

And now just because it is sorta cute, here is Missy with me and Boo. We sure do love our sweet Melissa.

The New Plan

Missy had her appointment at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in Bethesda, MD this past Friday and unfortunately things did not go as planned. The doctors informed her that there has been new growth from the tumor in her brain. This new growth is located in the region between the left and right lobes of her brain. The neuro-surgeon Missy spoke with at the NCI believes he can remove 90 to 95% of this tumor. As far as I have heard, the radiation treatment worked well, but the area that was not radiated is where the new growth has occurred. The purpose of the chemotherapy Missy was taking on a daily basis during her radiation treatment to prevent this was ineffective.

Nobody in our family expected this news. I think we were all expecting the doctors to say the treatment went well and Missy will begin her chemotherapy maintenance as soon as possible. We thought the follow-up's main purpose was to set a new baseline and from now on we would be comparing new cancer growth with each new MRI. We assumed she was basically finished with treatments, but instead we find ourselves starting over from the beginning. Preparing for brain surgery...again. Still, she feels extremely blessed. We know we can't take this cancer away, but she's in amazingly capable hands. At least the tumor is operable. After the surgeon removes this tumor, hopefully with a new chemotherapy treatment in place she will be on the road to recovery. We will continue to fight from this point forward. Each new piece of information is vital to this fight, so we take this information, embrace it, and use it against this horrible disease.

We know more than we knew last week, and in it's own way that is a blessing. We know why Missy has been feeling worse and not better over the last few weeks. We know why her headaches are back, why her emotions have been all over the place, and why she has been so nauseous. We know that this new growth is here, and although disappointing, that knowledge is so important. You can't fight what you don't know.

Surgery is scheduled for Friday morning in Bethesda, MD. Mom and Missy will be flying up on Wednesday. Dad, Boo and I will be making our way to DC on Thursday. Please pray for good weather and easy travel for us. A storm is heading for the Bethesda/DC area right in that time frame, and we do not want to be delayed. Thank you for all you have done and continue to do. Your donations have helped allow Missy to take this time off work without the stress of how to get her bills paid. She is able to focus on fighting, and that is the most important thing. Your support has meant the world to us and we just wanted to continue to say thank you.

Update

Sorry I haven't updated you all on the last post! Time just seems to have gotten away from me. Missy is doing much better since her seizures on Monday, but she is still very tired and sore. She went to the doctor this week and they let her know that seizures are very normal after things like brain surgery and radiation. They put her on anti-seizure medications which she will remain on from now on. They said she will not have any long term damage from the seizures, and that now that she is on medications they should stop happening, so that is great. They also said that the seizures are not a sign that anything else is wrong, rather just a side effect of what has already happened. This was great news.

Next Thursday Missy will be heading back to to the DC area to meet with her Oncologist and have her follow up MRI. Hopefully it will show that all the radiation and chemotherapy did their job and that the cancer is under control! Good thoughts and prayers are appreciated as her and my mom fly up for the visit. I will update here again after we know her results. Thank you all once again for all of your prayers and support during this difficult time.

Set Back

I know several people from Missy's work check in with this blog for updates on her treatment and how she is feeling, and I thought you all may be worried after her day at work yesterday and would want an update. While at work, Missy had a seizure. She was walking down the hall and all of a sudden she was on the ground. A coworker found her and they immediately took her to the ER. My parents met her there and they gave her medication to help prevent the seizures and something for nausea. Unfortunately she still went into another seizure there at the ER. They are thinking it could have been the anti-nausea medication that triggered this second one. After several hours in the ER she was discharged home with new anti-seizure medications and an appointment to see her doctor today.

They did preform a CT scan at the ER and said everything looked good, so that was good to hear. I am not sure if they will do an MRI today or not. She heads back up to the National Cancer Institute next weekend so they may wait until she is up there. According to the doctors who saw her in the ER, seizures are very normal for a person who has had brain surgery. They apparently were a little surprised this hasn't happened to her before now. We are hoping to be able to regulate this with medication and for her to be perfectly normal and live seizure free. For now she isn't able to drive for the next 90 days while we get everything worked out.

Yesterday was very scary for everyone, especially Missy. We all felt like the hardest time was behind us after getting through surgery and her intense treatments, but now we have a new set back. All of your prayers and good thoughts for Missy are so appreciated during this time while we work out her newest complication. A special thank you to all of her co-workers who were there for her and got her to the ER while we were on our way. We are so thankful to you all and all you have done and continue to do for our sweet Melissa.

DONE!

Missy finished her last radiation treatment today! She also took her last chemo pill for the next month, and to say she is relieved to be finished is a huge understatement. This process has been emotionally and physically draining on her, and she is just so happy to have it behind her. She is now planning on taking it easy and trying to start feeling like herself again over the next few days and weeks. At the end of the month she will travel back to the National Cancer Institute for her follow up MRI and we will then know how well the treatments worked. For now we are just so proud of her and ready for her to start feeling better!

Thank you again for all of your prayers and support during the holidays and the new year. She appreciates each and every one of you.