Second Email: Health Update 2

June 18th, 2013

Hello all,

So Tom and I have been to several more appointments in the last few days and we have a little more of a plan for moving forward.



Dr. Butryinski (oncologist) confirmed that we have a little time to do fertility preservation since it is something we are interested in, and it wouldn't be "dangerous" to put chemotherapy off for a couple weeks. So, yesterday we met with Dr. Ginsburg (the reproductive endocrinologist) at Brigham and Women's Hospital, and today started the process of preservation. I am currently taking medication to stimulate my ovaries into generating as many mature eggs as possible. On Saturday I go back to do a couple more tests and see how the treatment is going. Depending on what happens then, they'll switch me onto different medications and doses - this may change daily - and eventually will have me back again to harvest the eggs, anywhere from 10 - 14 days from today. Harvesting is a surgical procedure, so I'll be knocked out and will be on pain drugs afterwards for a day or two, but then the process will be done. There is a possibility that this will coincide with our house closing, so we are getting in touch with our realtor to figure out how to work that out.

In the meantime, I also began the process for radiation therapy. My appointment today was just the planning stages - getting me into the proper position, and giving me permanent tattoos on my leg to help with the future treatments, etc. We have scheduled my first radiation appointment for July 1st, which will also be a planning appointment, but the 2nd will be when I first receive treatment for real. From everything everyone has told us, radiation is "easy", in that there are very few side effects and I don't need to alter my diet or eating habits. However, I will have to go to Boston every weekday (excluding holidays) at the same time for 25 consecutive days, so we will get very used to that drive, as if we haven't already.

We are anticipating that Dr. Butrynski will want to begin chemo as soon as possible after the fertility surgery, so it's possible that may begin the same week as radiation, the first week of July. This is completely speculative as we have not discussed scheduling with Dr. B at this point, but it seems to us that that would be his suggestion. We expect to be in touch with him again soon, especially when we know when I'll be having the fertility surgery, so we'll pass along that information as we get it.

We will soon update the KCA calendar with the timetable of these appointments. Also, we're planning on making a Google Document that we can share with everyone of things we need - rides to appointments, dinners, grocery shopping, help with moving, ect, to try and keep everyone informed about how they can help.

Thanks again, and that's all for now,

-T&A