Carole's New Blog

Carole has started her own blog to keep family and friends updated. The link is below:

https://circlingsisters.wordpress.com/

Carole, I'm so glad to be able to call you my sister! I love you!

One Way to Help Carole and Her Family

Many times we want to help, but we don't know how. Here is a link to the Go Fund Me account that Carole's sister set up. This is one way that you can help Carole and her family if you can.

http://www.gofundme.com/tzbmxg?fb_action_ids=10153503717850348&fb_action_types=og.shares&fb_ref=m_d_ty

Carole's Challenge!

I absolutely love the community that I grew up in! They are so giving and kind!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Wow! Birthday blessings have been freely given! Carole was able to go home and be with her family. She also received the fantastic news that her PET/CT scan did not show any additional tumors!! It's such a relief! Prayers have definitely been answered.

Carole will be staying at home for a few days to heal from her surgery, then she'll start radiation treatments to shrink the tumors in her hip and vertebrae. After the radiation she'll start chemotherapy.

A Little R & R

Here is the latest update straight from Brandon:

Hello everyone! Well we have come to the end of day 4 in the hospital, and it has been a good day for Carole. She has been able to rest and recover and we are figuring out how to best manage her pain and healing. This will be important for the next week at home while we wait for the test results to prepare for treatment that will begin next week. Carole will be discharged from the hospital tomorrow morning at 10:00 am and the PET/CT scan is at 10:30. Then we will head home to celebrate her birthday! We have really felt the love and prayers from everyone today and appreciate all your thoughtfulness. It really helps to lift us! Thank you and God bless you all!

Carole Means Strength

Did you know that? The meaning of Carole is actually strength? I was guessing something a little more along the lines of music, but now that I know that it means strength it definitely makes sense.

This blog is an attempt to help Carole's family and friends stay up to date with all that's going on with her and her little family. I will give you this warning now... my teachers always say that my writing style is very succinct, which means that occasionally I may sound a little blunt. Sometimes the best way to say something is to just come out and say it. Carole has been diagnosed with stage four breast cancer.

There. I said it. Deep breath.........

Now for the actual updates. Carole had a double mastectomy on Friday. The doctors also removed two of her lymph nodes that were cancerous as well. She was feeling discomfort in her hip and back so the doctors decided to do an MRI. The MRI showed cancer in both her hip and L5 vertebrae. The tumor in her vertebrae has actually grown enough to the point where it caused a stress fracture. 

Tomorrow, Carole will be going in for a PET scan to check her organs for cancer. Carole's team of doctors will be meeting tomorrow to discuss their plan of action after they get the results back from the PET scan as well as a DNA test. It's actually a huge blessing that Carole has this particular team of doctors. They have a waiting list and weren't supposed to be accepting new patients, but somehow Carole was able to "sneak" her way in. Thank you Heavenly Father for tender mercies!

How do you go from feeling like a million bucks to stage four breast cancer?! I don't know. All I know is that Heavenly Father has a plan. I also know that Carole's friend had it right when she said that Carole, Brandon, and their kids have been prepared for this. Watching their little family today in the hospital helped me to see clearly that this is a family that can endure anything because they will rely on each other, their extended family, friends, and on their Savior.