Treatment Update

It's Adam again, I wanted to update you before the night ends.  Mom got a call from Dr. Jessica tonight, and it's official...they are going to start her treatment tomorrow.  They have decided to move forward with a higher-dose chemo regiment, mainly because they have to get the leukemia out of her body. 

Tomorrow morning Dr. Jessica will be coming in to meet with me and Mom and to go over the reasons as to why she chose this option.  We know there were a lot of factors that went into this form of treatment, so hopefully we will get some more clarification of that from her.

As you read before, today was quite a roller coaster of emotions...mainly coming from the FLT-3 surprise.  I wanted to let you know that there is positive news as well with the FLT-3 not being present in her genetic makeup.  A few years ago when she was being treated here at Northwestern, her doctors told her that because she has the FLT-3 situation that it will be harder to make the leukemia go away and it will also be more susceptible to it returning again like it has.  So we are taking it as a positive that the FLT-3 has not shown up on the tests, because it very well might be easier to get rid of the leukemia again and the chances are better that we will NEVER SEE IT AGAIN!!!  Pray for that, and pray for Mom's strength as she mentally prepares to take on this nasty chemo again.  The hard part is that she knows what it's like because she's been there and done that before...but this is what will make her better and she needs the strength to fight through it. 

I will post another update after Dr. Jessica leaves in the morning.  Dad was up here tonight and both Lane and Graysen Provance were able to see her again as well.  Grandkid visits might be over now because of her needing to be more isolated, but we are thankful that over the last few days she has been able to see every one of her grandkids, even the new arrival Cartlan!  By the way, Suzanne is doing very well and Cartlan's doctors appointment yesterday went smooth...Mom and baby BOY are doing great!! 

Side note...I will be going out to get Mom some cheesecake tomorrow because Bre and I went to dinner with the kids while Dad was here and we went to the Cheesecake Factory.  When I came back to her room and told her where we went she asked what kind of cheesecake did I bring her?  I know where I will be going after Dr. Jessica leaves her room!!!  Love you Mom, whatever you need I will get!!

"Assumptions"

Remember what they say about assumptions...well, the assumptions that the team of doctors here at Northwestern were making about the bone marrow biopsy results have surprised them once again!  This is Adam, Mary's son, and I have been with her since last night anxiously awaiting the team of doctors' visit so they could tell us that they would be moving forward with her treatment plan. 

The team came in this morning about 8:00 and told us that they would probably start moving forward with a treatment option that would include a low-dose chemo and a new drug called Nexavar (Sorafenib), and they asked me if I had been able to talk with the pharmacy in regards to getting the Nexavar shipped to us.  I then spent some time getting that lined up, and started doing some research about the drug and what we could expect.  That is when the assumptions started to turn into frustration, because one of the doctors came back in about a half hour ago to tell us some surprising news.

The doctors have been aware for quite some time that Mom has a condition called FLT-3, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CD135, and they were under the impression that when the results of the bone marrow biopsy came back, that they would find the FLT-3 present in her cells once again.  Well, they are completely shocked and somewhat baffled that they did not find the FLT-3 present, which completely changes the treatment plan that they had set up for her to possibly start today.  They are going to send another sample to test in order to see if the results might have been inaccurate. 

What they do know based on the bone marrow results, is that her Leukemia (AML) is officially back in her system, and that is what has caused her blood levels to be completely out of the ordinary.  Knowing that, they will need to start a chemo regiment, but because of the surprise of the FLT-3 not being present, they are still unsure as to what type of chemo she will be starting.  As you can tell, I'm trying my best to explain what the doctors have told us, but this is all very difficult for us to understand or comprehend, and that is to be expected when the doctors themselves were completely shocked by the results.  One thing that I am confident about, is that this team of doctors will do whatever it takes to find the answers, and we feel confident in Dr. Jessica and her team that they will put Mom on the correct treatment plan in order to rid her body of this cancer and get her into remission again.  Dr. Jessica has been on the phone with many other physicians around the country, and is looking at the data of some clinical trials to find out the next best steps to take.  She is the perfect fit for Mom, and we have no doubt that she will do everything possible to help Mom OVERCOME again!!!

Mom was initially upset by the news, because the treatment plan was set up and she thought her stay in the hospital would be shorter than what she experienced a few years ago.  Please pray for peace within her to know that we truly don't have any of those answers yet, and the length of stay has yet to be determined.  I am doing my best to let her know that only God truly knows the plan, and that no matter what, we have to rid her body of the Leukemia no matter how long that takes.  Just like before, Mom is strong, and she told me she is ready for the battle...and the doctors also told me this morning that her organs and body overall is very strong and can take anything that they decide to treat her with!  As they say in the movie Braveheart..."Are you ready for a war!!!"  Pray for Mom to be ready, no matter what the treatment plan, and no matter what other "surprises" are thrown her way!  I will try and send another update later today if we know more, but they told us it would probably be another day or so before they could give us more direction. 

Thank you all for your prayers!  And our whole family also wanted to say a special thanks to all of our family and friends who have made meals, dropped of gas cards, come up to stay with her or see her, and supported all of us and my Mom in so many different ways...you are amazing and your love does not go unnoticed....we love you back!  Just pray...then pray a little more,

Adam Provance

Happy Good Friday to you all,

We don't have much to update, but wanted to let everyone know what has been going on these past few days:

After being admitted to the hospital Wednesday, later that evening..Suzanne and Cory welcomed their first son, Cartlan Scott. He was a 6 lbs 9 oz, 20 in bundle of joy! Thanks to the technology of iPhones, Mary and Greg were able to FaceTime through the whole thing and witness the event :) It was definitely hard that they couldn't be there in person, but thankfully Suzanne had such a smooth and fast delivery, that by 10:30, we all got to meet and share in the joy together! It was a great lift of spirits!

Mary came into the hospital with such a spike in her white blood cell count..first thing they started doing was the fight to get them under control. The first night here, they pumped her full of platelets and blood and gave her oral chemo pills.

Yesterday, she underwent many tests and scans, had a pickline put in, and a bone marrow biopsy done. All these tests are what determine the plan of action that her doctor will take, but we won't know all the results until midweek. This is a prep weekend to collect all the data, do all the tests & scans, and strengthen her up for the fight to come!

We have complete faith in Jessica Altman, her amazing doctor. God has His hand in it and has blessed us by putting her doctor in our lives! She loves Mary as one of her own family and has a strong, positive outlook on getting Mary healed again.

Calling All Prayer Warriors

Hello all friends and family.  It is Bre, Adam's wife.  We do not have much information at this time, but were sure that the word would spread fast and wanted to at least let you know as much as possible.  Mary has been feeling sick for the last few weeks.  At first, she was told it was just her allergies and put on medication, which did help.  Then, this past week she was diagnosed with strep and began antibiotics to fight that.  This morning, she headed to Northwestern for her routine appointment.  They ran tests immediately as she was feeling so bad.  We are so sad to report that all tests completed so far show that Mary's cancer has returned.  She was immediately admitted to Northwestern this afternoon and has already started chemo and will get blood and platelets tonight in order to begin her fight.

As you can imagine, we are all trying to gather our thoughts and help Mary put her game face back on.  We need your prayers as our family walks this journey for a 2nd time.  We will again try to keep the blog as updated as possible.  We will also update you as Mary gets her permanent room at Northwestern in order for you to send notes / cards as this was something that meant so much to her the last time.

While you are praying for Mary, please also pray for Suzanne and Cory as they are at the Morris Hospital this evening preparing to welcome their 2nd bundle of joy into the world and make Tenley a big sister.

We are all filled with great joy and great hope and great peace knowing that God, once again in all things, is in complete control.

Until tomorrow...  Love, Bre

2 Years!!

My beautiful mom had her 2 YEAR stem-cell transplant anniversary on December 1st!  Praise the Lord :)

We were told before the transplant that that is an amazing milestone to get to and to see it come is such a miracle.  They said at 1 year she had such a better chance of not having a bad reaction to the transplant (with graphs vs host).  At 2 years the risk of the cancer coming back goes down substantially.  At 5 years they say she's "cured."  We look forward to each celebration ahead, but we are SO happy to celebrate this milestone with her!

Picture from the end of Summer at our family reunion, mom on the right with her 3 girls.  On the left is mom's sister, Sue and her 2 girls.

It still gives us a great feeling every time she goes in for a checkup (about once every 2 months or so) and gets results from her blood tests that everything looks great.  Looking back on our journey through the sickness it almost seems like a bad dream that never really happened.  We know it was very real, but it's good to see it as a faint memory rather than being in the midst of it.  Mary feels well most of the time other than the small sicknesses/allergy problems that come and go.  Her immune system is probably a little bit weaker since the cancer and treatments but it doesn't effect her on a daily basis.  She still visits her mom about every other day in Ottawa.  Grandma is always so happy to see her and Sue each day they visit.

Because God gave us this great miracle I'm blessed to live down the street from my mom as I raise my 16 month old daughter AND getting ready to welcome a new baby in April :)  My mom is also expecting her 8th grandchild in June from my brother, Adam and his wife, Bre.  She is and is going to be (even more) a busy grandma!

Thank you all for visiting our site to check in.  We hope that your Christmas season is joyful and that Jesus is on the forefront of your mind.  Thank God for sending His son Jesus to deliver us from our sins and for giving us hope through the trials of life.

Here's a music video that touched my heart.  If your life has been impacted by cancer, you'll appreciate it...

Summer

Things are still going great with Mary.  I know it's been 5 months since the last update, but thankfully, we haven't had much to report.  She was just up in Chicago to see her doctor yesterday and all her counts are great.  Her next appointment isn't for 2 months.  We are fast approaching the 2 year anniversary (December 1st) of her stem cell transplant and that is a HUGE milestone in her journey through this. God has continued to bless us and through Him, we hope to celebrate her 2nd birthday.

The picture you see is from our family vacation we just had last week up in Wisconsin.  It was a great week spent catching up, relaxing on the beach and boating, and playing games with the kids.

Thank you for your continued support and for checking in.

February Update

Hi there...thank you for checking in.  We've continued to get great reports from the doctor at Mom's checkups each month in Chicago.  Since her counts look so good Mom is now down to only ONE medicine!  What a major accomplishment from where she started a little over a year ago. 

Life is good and Mom continues to do everything she loves to do.  She visits her Mom in Ottawa a few times a week, does projects around the house, and is very much looking forward to Spring!!  Isn't everyone?  All of us kids keep her busy as well.  I'm living with Mom, Dad, and David as well and my husband and daughter until we finish fixing up our new house down the street.  So as you can imagine, we keep her busy here.  Amy is also around the house almost everyday with her 3 girls.  Julie visits whenever she can get away from Chicago and Adam and his family are going to be coming to visit from Pennsylvania in March.  We can't wait!  Dad has been very busy with work lately, as the season of outages starts this week.  He'll be working many 12+ hours over the next few months, but thankfully, he loves his job and feels blessed to have it.

We hope you're all doing well and getting through these last couple weeks of winter.  God bless you!