Update, June 30

Allison had her bandages changed and will be bandaged for another week, as things continue to drain. She hopes to be drain-tube-free at her next doctor visit. She had her "On-Q" pack removed today--it was a very smart device that sensed her body's pain response, and delivered pain medication accordingly. Isn't 21st-century medicine something??

The pathology reports are slowly trickling in. They are being very meticulous about testing all the different tissues and lymph nodes. Once the full pathology report has been delivered, her doctors will decide on the course of treatment to be pursued, and we will send an update.

Email Should Be Working Now

Comcast determined the source of my troubles, and fixed it over the weekend. Look for emails from allisonupdate(at)comcast.net to return this week. If not, check your spam folder and be sure to mark the address as "not spam."

I spoke briefly with Allison on Friday and she sounded awesome. Really perky and upbeat, having to take it easy to be sure, but she reported very little pain. Pathology on the lymph nodes on her right side should be in early this week, at which point I will update the blog and send out the news.

Technical Difficulties with the Email Address

Hi folks,

Sorry to report that Comcast is having trouble with the allisonupdate@comcast.net address. I will post updates to the blog but it could be 72 hours before Comcast has it fixed. I was just on the phone with a very nice technician for about 30 minutes and he could not figure out why it was not sending messages out.

Please stand by. This is not a good time to be without email communications, and I apologize. Please spread the word to people you know who may be interested in finding out about Allison's condition to have them check this blog for the time being.

Or, email me at my personal email, marie (at) 4cummings.net.

Surgery Report

I talked with Kirk, Allison's husband this evening at about 6:30 p.m. and he reports that everything went well, Allison is alert and resting comfortably, and will be staying overnight in the hospital. If all goes well overnight, she will be discharged sometime tomorrow. Her mom and sister are going to be here to help the first few days.

Because of a number of risk factors, Allison opted to have a bilateral mastectomy, or a removal of both breasts, even though cancer was only in the right breast. They expect to have the biopsy results Monday of next week.

We are currently setting up meals for June 29-July 10 and still have openings on July 8, 9, and 10. If you are in the area and able to help with this, please let me know.

On behalf of the Davis family, thank you for your support and prayers.

Thank You!!

It's been wonderful to hear from so many of you as we are getting the lines of communication established for Allison. It's truly heartwarming to know how many devoted friends and family members are ready to come to the Davis family's aid.

Bless you all!

Change in Email Address!

I've had trouble setting up a Gmail account for Allison's updates, so we will now be using allisonupdates(at)comcast.net instead.

Background

In early June 2009, Allison was diagnosed with breast cancer in her right breast. After a battery of tests, she was told she has both kinds of breast cancer, ductal carcinoma and carcinoma in situ. Hers is considered multifocal because there are 4 focal points, or areas of cancer in the breast. It is less-common to have both kinds of breast cancer. Right now, the cancer is at Stage 1. Allison found one of the lumps herself. One of the many doctors that she has seen in this whole process actually called it "divine intervention" that she found the cancer herself.

Allison will be having surgery on Wednesday, June 24, 2009, at Evergreen Hospital. We are beginning to build a list of those who are interested in helping out with the many things she will need during her recovery and subsequent treatment. If you would like to help out with anything, leave a comment and if there are certain things you wish to do, please specify that as well (i.e., driving Allison to appointments, driving children to activities, laundry, bringing in meals, cleaning, etc.).

Updates will be sent out via email and also posted here on this blog. Please remember Allison and her family in your prayers. Thank you for your concern and your help.

The First Post

Just getting the blog set up! Check back later for more info.