Race for the Cure...

The Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure is Sunday, October 11, 2009. Many of our family and friends want to all get together and walk for my mom and for everyone effected by breast cancer. We are designing cute pink t-shirts that we want everyone to wear so if you are interested please email me ASAP at klizarra@asu.edu so I can get sizes and prices. We hope to see you all there! It will be a lot of fun and for a good cause!!

Pretty pic...

Mom and Lina at the hospital during Sylvia's surgery.

Surgery...

Mom's surgery to remove her ovaries is scheduled for the morning of Wednesday, October 14, 2009. We will have more details later but that is what we know so far.

Next surgery...

Dr. Zafar called mom and explained to her that he suggests she gets her ovaries removed for the simple fact that they could cause a recurrence of her breast cancer in the future, and since they are already developing cysts, it would be proactive to have them removed now. Mom agrees and will be having them removed soon.

No cancer...

Ovary results: CANCER FREE! Yay!

Now Dr. Lebranche, mom's gynocologist, and Dr. Zafar, mom's oncologist are talking about together about whether to remove the ovaries or have an operation to just drain them and remove the cysts. Mom's concern is that the ovaries are hormonaly related to breast cancer, so she is leaning more towards removing them, but that is still to be decided. As long as it's not cancer...

Ultrasound...

Mom's ultrasound results came back that she has 2 cysts on her left ovary and 1 cyst on her right. She was given a blood test to determine if they are cancer or not, and those results have not come in yet. Whether they are cancer or not, Mom may decide to have her ovaries removed, which will require another surgery, but we are praying for no cancer. The results should be in soon.

Prayers...

Mom, Sylvia, Veronica

Please pray for my mom's close friend, Sylvia Simental, who will be having a tumor removed from the right side of her brain today at St. Joe's Barrow Neuro Center also.

Results...

Mom's tests came back negative on cancer cells! Amen! However, the PET scan did show that her ovaries/uterus are enlarged, which is not normal. Dr. Zafar scheduled her for an appointment to have an ultrasound taken to look more into it, so hopefully that is not cancer-related. I will keep everyone posted.

No results..

Mom went to her appointment to get the results, but Dr. Zafar had an emergency and was not able to meet with her today. The nurse did tell her that the doctor said there is nothing urgent and that everything looked good so far. (Yay!) Mom is not sure if he had her PET scan results though, so we're still not completely sure.

She was re-scheduled for Friday afternoon.

Tests...

The PET scan on Friday went well and, today, the mammogram with an ultrasound on her right breast, also went fine.

Mom will get the results tomorrow.

MRI...

On Tuesday mom went in for her MRI on her breasts. She told the staff about her brain surgery, so they took an x-ray to make sure she was in good condition to have the MRI. To our surprise, the x-ray showed 6 or 7 metal clamps inside from surgery. Dr. Spetzler did not mention that she would have these left in her head, but they are most likely to hold together the incision. The office told mom because of the metal, she cannot have MRIs done. We were worried about what other way can they could test her. The doctor got back to mom and scheduled her for a mammogram with an ultrasound, in place of the MRI. Mom contacted the office that is taking care of the PET scan and they ensured her that the metal does not effect this test, so she will have that procedure done today.

Next Tuesday she will meet with Dr. Zafar, the oncologist, and hopefully get the results. Pray for cancer-free ta-tas! :)

Update...

Mom saw Dr. Spetzler yesterday and he was really pleased with how well she is doing. He suggests that she complete physical therapy for the month of August to get her used to more activity before returning to her normal life. He scheduled a follow-up with her 3 years from now... seems like a long time.. but he is sure that the procedure was successful and that she will not need to be seen until then to check on the progress.

Regarding cancer...Dr. Zafar, mom's oncologist, has scheduled her MRI for August 4 and PET scan for August 7, now that she is done with the AVM issue. We can now look forward to getting positive results from these tests that she is cancer-free! She will get the results at the end of August.

Stay strong Mama!

Recovery...

Mom is doing really well! She is feeling much better than the first couple weeks, but she still gets fatigued and dizzy every once in a while. She meets with Dr. Spetzler next week for her post-op appointment.

Benefit pics...

Hi everyone.. Sorry so late... here are some pics from the benefit. Please email me more if you have them.

This video is of a family friend, Rea, who sang mom's favorite song, Amazing Grace for her, at the benefit... it was BEAUTIFUL!

Thank you...

A big THANK YOU to everyone for coming to the benefit yesterday and for donating so many raffle prizes. It was a lot of fun and a great success. Mom looked so happy and healthy!

One request... if you took pictures last night can you please email them to me (kLizarra@asu.edu) because I was not able to take pictures, but I wanted to post some on here. That would be great. Thanks again.

Better...

Mom is still doing really good. She still gets tired a lot and has to take naps throughout the day but her incision is healing really well and she looks great. This was a really scary process for all of us so seeing her recovery is amazing.

See everyone on Sunday! Wear pink!

Update...

Mom has been feeling really good the past couple days, so it looks like she will be able to come to the benefit! Yay!

Benefit...

Mom's fundraiser benefit will still be held this *Sunday, June 28th, @ Famous Sam's on 43rd Avenue and Glendale @ 4 PM.* There will be many live bands playing and great raffle prizes. $10 @ the door. Hope to see you all there!

Releases...

Hi everyone... I need a big favor... if you were at mom's event @ Famous Sam's OR @ the hospital at any time while the cameras were filming, we need to have you sign an appearance release in case you were filmed, for the production company. Please email me at KLizarra@asu.edu and I can email you the form! Thank you!!!!!

Update...

Mom is doing really good still... she got her staples out, which really hurt, but the incision is healing very well. You can hardly see it, even with how short her hair is... Dr. Spetzler did an amazing job. She is still in pain but everday is better.

Today is Albert's 19th birthday so we will all get together tonight at mom's!

Update...

I talked to my Mom this morning and her recovery is still going well. She said she doesn't remember much from last week in the hospital, so we've been explaining what all happened. She is feeling better everyday, but she gets tired more frequently and takes lots of naps.

The staples will be removed tomorrow.
The post-op appointment with Dr. Spetzler is July 22nd.
A speech therapist was prescribed to help with exercising her brain for the next couple weeks, so we are working on that.

You're doing great mom! xoxo

Update...

Mom is home and doing better everyday. She is starting to feel more and more normal so we are really happy for her. We already caught her trying to do laundry! She always wants to be busy so our biggest job right now is trying to keep her relaxing. :)

The doctor prescribed a speech therapist for her to see for the next couple weeks.

Home Sweet Home...

Mommy has already signed the discharge papers to go home! Yay! She is waiting for a couple things then she will be on her way! She is so excited.

Update!!

Mom is going to be in speech, occupational and physical therapy today so she won't be able to have visitors for the rest of the day. Sorry and thank you for understanding. I will keep everyone updated.

Update..

Mom is doing better today. She has been cracking us up because she is so soft-spoken and saying the funniest things. She was in a lot of pain last night so she is tired today but she is looking good.

Her new room is on the 6th floor, to the right, in 6N43. Visitors welcome!

Update..

Dr came in this morning and said Mom is doing excellent. She will get a room on the floor tonight, where she can have more visitors, so I will post that information when we get it. She is most likely going home on Saturday, maybe Sunday. She is still talking quite a bit, ate a few bites and took a walk around the hall but is very emotional and asks a lot of questions because she is having trouble remembering things. Nurses say that is normal. She is taking the size of her incision really hard because it is larger than we expected. It is about 7 inches long and we tell her that we can hardly see it but it is still bothering her. We are praying for a full recovery.

Update...

Mom is feeling a little better today. She is talking more but still sleepy and groggy. Her swelling has gone down and she is looking good! She sat out of bed today and ate breakfast... progress. Everyone is surprised how well she is doing. She is SOOOOOOOO STRONG! It's amazing.

She still needs a lot of rest so while she is in ICU the Dr suggests less visitors but in the next day or so she should be in a normal room and more alert.

@ the hospital...

Lots of friends and family waiting during surgery...

In ICU...

Being interviewed...

Bartending event...

Here are pics from Friday... we had so much fun!

Look @ the camera crew!

Bartenders!