Weekend Update

We can't believe a week ago today Sara was just coming out of surgery! What a week it's been . . .

First, Sara's doing great. She started out with a lot of pain but was able to quickly stop taking the pain medication. By Wednesday she was taking nothing but an antibiotic. We spent the rest of the week and the weekend just laying low. Sara was actually able to sleep despite having to be propped up on 3 or 4 big pillows. (She hated me for waking her up every six hours to take her medication, but that's what the bottle says and I like to follow the rules!). She was even able to go for a few short walks outside to breathe in the fresh air.

On Friday we were on pins and needles all day waiting for the pathology results to come back. We expected a call before 9 a.m. but it didn't come until 4 :30. The news was pretty good -- a few more lymph nodes contained cancerous cells than we had hoped, but it certainly could have been worse. Overall, the treatment plan will probably be the same as the doctors previously thought.

Tomorrow is a big day as we are going back to the hospital for several follow up appointments -- the surgeon, plastic surgeon, maternal-fetal medicine, and the oncologist. We anticipate that tomorrow will be the day the doctors come up with a final plan for the chemotherapy and the anticipated delivery date of Margo's brother or sister.

Margo had a good week despite everything that's going on. She knows that mama has a "boo boo" and seems satisfied with that explanation. We made sure to keep her busy with lots of help from our incredible support network of family and friends.

Again, we want to thank you all for the flowers, food, cards, gifts, texts and emails that flooded in this week. We appreciate all your love.

We hope everyone had a great holiday weekend. We'll update again soon.

Brian

Sara's Home!

She did it! We got home around 11:30 this morning and Sara's resting comfortably in our own bed. I'm so proud of her for getting over this first (huge) hurdle. The last three days were draining to say the least, but everything went very well. Actually, the doctors were ready to discharge her yesterday, but her pain level increased in the late afternoon so they decided to keep her for another night of monitoring. The last thing we did before leaving today was listen to the baby's heartbeat (again). It was perfect!

Love you all,
Brian

Surgery Update

Ok, a big sigh of relief! Sara's surgeon came out after 3 hours and told me that everything was fine. Sara (and the baby) did great and now the plastic surgeon is finishing up his part of the procedure. Sara will be in recovery for at least an hour, but probably longer. Then they'll transfer her to the women's hospital (rather than a regular post-surgical floor) for a little extra monitoring.

Thank you again for all your emails, texts and phone calls. Sara will love to read/hear them when she wakes up.

love to you all,

Brian

Meal Calendar

Hi again. Laurie has put together the amazing meal calendar. Here's the link:

www.takethemameal.com/meals.php?t=BDCW4656

Or, if the link doesn't work, you can go to www.takethemameal.com and enter:

Last Name: Lewis
Password: 8200

We only planned the calendar for the next 30 days, but we'll be adding more dates once we get a better handle on things.

Thanks again!
Brian and Sara

Here We Go

Hi everyone. This is our new (first . . . only . . .) blog. Never in a million years could we have imagined creating such a thing to disseminate information about our lives, but things have dramatically changed and we think it will be easier to post things here to keep everyone up-to-date.

First, Sara and I want to thank you all for . . . EVERYTHING. Sara's diagnosis blindsided us and within hours you all started circling the wagons. Your emails, calls, texts, cards, flowers, donations to the 3-Day walk, and offers to help are all amazing. We cannot adequately express how thankful we are to have everyone pulling for us. We are humbled by your love and we'll continue take all we can get!

Sara's surgery is scheduled for Monday, May 24 at 11:15 a.m. We've assembled an incredible team of doctors to take care of her. We did all our research and footwork and feel like we've got the best people in place. We'll probably be in the hospital until Wednesday and then head home for a few weeks of recovery. As of now, Sara's chemo will likely begin in mid-June.

All of you have asked what you can do to help. One of our new friends (who went through this herself and now has a beautiful six-month old baby to show for it!) told us that she set up an on-line calendar where her family and friends could sign up to bring over a meal or two. We think that's a great idea, especially during the weeks that are going to be the hardest for us. Our friend Laurie has generously offered to host the calendar for us and I will post a link here in the next few days so you can have access. I'll also provide Laurie's email address in case you have any questions about it. This will be a huge help and we look forward to whatever you cook or order out for us. Sara's eating for two so we need to fatten her up!

Ok, that's it for now. Again, THANK YOU for being so wonderful and supportive. We are starting on a long journey and despite all the unknown, we absolutely know we couldn't do it without you.

All our love,
Brian and Sara (and Margo, of course)