wow... its been 15 years

Just a quick update for those who stumble across this blog... 

 15 years ago today,  we wrote this:   

  http://trishafaggiolly.blogspot.com/2008/11/final-pathology-report.html

Dr. Jeffrey's pathology report

No residual carcinoma is seen in the right mastectomy specimen. No tumor is seen in eighteen total lymph nodes (0/18); however, several lymph nodes demonstrate scarring and infiltration by foamy histiocytes suggesting possible involvement prior to therapy.

 

Today marks Trish's 15th year being cancer free! (11/21/23)

The journey has been long and immense, but fortunately I can say our family is doing great and we are surrounded by family and friends that are always here for us. 

Trish is/has been a full time mom with a full time job for years, and currently working in the Parkinson's space and volunteering with several non-profit Boards. 

The boys celebrated today with bringing Trisha flowers and giving many hugs... 

  

Our oldest (who was 2 years old when we began this journey) is a Senior in high school, a member of his NorCal Crew rowing club, and actively applying to colleges and enjoying his last year of high school. 

Our youngest, now 12 (born after all the craziness of this blog), is in 6th grade and loving his new Middle School... he just finished up his flag football season, as well as AYSO soccer.

Life can hit you hard,  but keeping positive attitude is part of the equation of getting through it..  

Its not simple, and its not quick... but staying strong and together as a family helps....

We thank everyone (friends, family, teachers, neighbors, strangers) who has helped us over the years, your support is much appreciated, and (un)fortunately have been able to give back to families dealing with similar issues over these past 15 years... 

Thanks for reading.

 

  

wow... its been 7 years

For those that have followed our blog over the years, I apologize for not keeping it up to date...

But its for a good reason, as we have been living our life and enjoying it.

Today marks the 7 year anniversary when we learned Trisha was diagnosed with Inflammatory Breast Cancer. 

On April 7, 2008 

- We were both 32 years old
- We had a 1.5 year old boy named Caden
- We were both scared
- ( and  SF Giants lost their home opener )

Today, April 7th 2015, 7 years later

- We are both less than 40 :)
- Caden is a super awesome 8 year old 3rd grader
- We were both at Caden's Little League game tonight (he went 3 for 3)
- While I coached on he field, Trish sat in the stands with our 3 year old boy, Griffen....
- (and yeah,  SF Giants lost) 

One reason why we have not kept the blog up to date in the fact that we have been fortunate to get past the the 2008 and 2009 years...  Years well documented on this blog..

Griffen is our 3.5 year old son, Caden's little brother.. the boy we naturally conceived a couple years after chemo/radiation...     

In 2010 after consulting with Trisha's Oncology Doctors... When we asked if we should try to get pregnant...  during chemo, Trish's body did go into what the doctors predicted as pre-menopause....
they all said "no reason not to..." so we tried for a month... and and it happened... and we cherish the decision we made to try


Caden and Griffen love each other... they are awesome boys... awesome brothers..

Trish is an awesome girl..  an awesome Mom...  awesome wife.

Our life has been pretty crazy since this time in 2007, but we have made the best of it...

While Caden and Griffen deserve a blog of their own,  this blog was dedicated not only to Trisha, but for those who have stumbled across while searching Google for keywords I wish no one to ever have to search for... (we hope this provides information and inspiration to you)

I would love to thank everyone.(family, friends, strangers) again for their help and support over the years...   its been 7 years...  we did not get through this alone.... but with your help...

As for Trish....  
She is doing great, and has coupled her Sales and personal experiences into employment opportunities where she can share her knowledge with doctors, nurses and patients.




Thanks for reading.... 
if you would ever like to reach out to Trisha or Oak, please contact us at the links on this page....   Thanks..




Griffen, Caden & Pancho the Cat relaxing on a recent lazy Saturday...
 

Our Angel

happy summer...

hey everyone, just wanted to check in and let everyone know things are going great.

the summer is flying by, and have been enjoying it as much as we can.
trish was busy shuttling caden to three different birthday parties this weekend, and this coming week is caden's last of his summer preschool class.

we have been busy bbq'ing, working on the house and taking little trips here and there.
a couple weeks ago we drove down to LA to visit family, friends and of course mickey and minnie, and we have another big multi-family camping trip planned for later in august.

trish has been doing awesome. she is feeling and looking great and is swearing by her daily juicing and vegetarian diet (which leaves more bbq tri-trip for caden and i ;)

we do have our regularly scheduled checkup with dr. carlson this tuesday, july 27th, and expect everything to go smoothly.

trish is getting the itch to go back to work, so she has been prepping herself for interviews. last week she was fortunate to have interviews with two different pharma companies. both went well and, and she was told she would be getting call back for both.

so i just wanted to update the blog and let everyone know things are great, we are all healthy, happy and enjoying the summer.

thanks for checking in

the weekend update...

trish woke up this morning feeling pretty good.
there is definitely soreness, but she can move around on her own just fine.


she didn't have a great nights sleep, but she has been up and about this morning.
walking around outside, chatting with the neighbors, picking up caden's toys, etc..


she will be able to shower and take off her bandages on sunday morning, and next friday we have a follow up appointment with dr. lee..


thanks for checking in

surgery update...

2:30pm update (that came at 10:00pm)

we got home at 2:30pm... trish is doing awesome. a little groggy as expected, but doing really well...

by the evening time, she was up walking around and getting some food in her.

trish got into bed by herself, and we both looked at each other, because she has not been able to do that in surgeries past...

things are good...


thanks for all the well wishes everyone..

ill give another update tomorrow evening..

12:30pm update

dr. lee came out at 12:25pm and let us know that he was all done, and trish did great. she is in recovery now, and hopefully we can see her in the next couple hours...

12:00pm update

trish's surgery officially began at 11:00am this morning, and is scheduled for two hours.

after surgery, she will be in recovery for ~2 hours, and then we will be able to bring her home.

so im hoping by 4pm today, we will be on the road back to our house, but things never seem to be on time around here, so im not holding my breath.


trish, ria and i arrived at stanford this morning at 7:45am. they got trish checked in, and prepped to be prepped shortly thereafter. ria and i were able to visit with trish from 8:40am to 10:20am when they brought her to the OR.

during those 100 minutes, dr. lee came in to visit with trish and to literally draw up the game plan on trish's front side. trish's nurses and anesthesiologist visited as well, and got trish prepped and the IV flowing.

at 10:20am they the anesthesiologist gave trish a little cocktail, and off she went to the OR and lala-land..


so about another hour to go in surgery, and then dr. lee will come out and give us the update..


stay tuned..

the last surgery... april 22nd

sometime tomorrow trish will go in for her final reconstructive surgery.

we will receive a call sometime today from stanford letting us know if we have the morning slot, or the afternoon slot.

either way, dr. lee said it will be a short 2 hour surgery, and trish will be coming home the same day.

we can expect her to be sore for a few days, but this surgery will be nowhere as intrusive as the previous two. basically the tissue expanders will be replaced with trish's final silicone implants.

dr. lee will also remove the healed up incision scars that have been radiated and stretched with the tissue expanders, and do his artistry by stitching trish up in a way that will reduce the visible scarring.

trish is ready physically and emotionally, and compared to everything else she has gone through, this will be easy. no drains, no deep wounds, easy recovery.


ill keep the blog updated throughout the day tomorrow for anyone peaking in..




evening update: surgery is scheduled for 9:30am, with us checking in 2 hours prior..

our angel...

two years...

wow...

two years ago today we received the results of trish's biopsy.

its baffles me how two years can pass by so quickly, and at times crawl to a snails pace.

things are good. things are different.

we had a small scare a few weeks ago, trish found a lump in her neck and worried it might be an abnormal lymphnode.
on march 23rd, trish and i headed down to the stanford cancer center for the first time since november 16th so dr. robert carlson could take a look.

a place we had spent so much time at, it was odd (and good) we hadn't been there in over 4 months.

but the trip was stressful. emotions and worries we have pushed down over the past two years began creeping back to the surface.

the 2 hour wait to see dr. carlson didn't help either.

when we finally did see dr. carlson and nurse jan, they were really happy to see how well trish was doing and how long her hair was.
i think dr. carlson even smiled when he felt trish's lump, because he knew it wasn't a lymphnode.

doc carlson assured us there was nothing to worry about.
trish's lump was a swollen salivary gland, probably due to her recent sinus infection.
he wants to continue to see trish every three months just on a checkup basis.
this is good... it will give us a piece of mind that trish will have some trained eyes on her every few months.


and like the days of old... we stopped at the dutch goose on the way home for some lunch..


so yesterday, april 6th, trish and i were back at the cancer center, but this time we met for a pre-operation visit with dr. gordon lee, trish's plastic surgeon.

trish's final phase of reconstructive surgery will be on thursday april 22nd, and yesterday's visit was to chalk up the game plan.
the surgery will be a couple hours long, to swap out trish's tissue expanders with silcon implants.

trish will get to go home the same day, and not need to stay overnight at stanford.
dr. lee says this will be the easiest surgery to date for trish, and trish should be feeling good a couple days after.


anyhow, thats the update from here.

thanks for checking in...

a quick update

hi all,

its been a while since we posted anything, but just wanted to assure everyone that everything here is great, and Trish, Caden and I are all healthy and happy.

trish has been enjoying life, and has her final reconstructive surgery scheduled for this april.

caden is growing everyday, and really enjoying his 3's nursery school class.

ive been back to work for a little over 3 months, and its been really exciting. we have added ~ 15 employees since i began working, so its great to be with a company that is growing and not shrinking

both trish and i have been spending a lot of time getting ready for an upcoming fundraiser at caden's school.

its the 15th Annual Redwood Parents Nursery School Janet Cocconi Dinner & Auction.
Janet was the Director and a Teacher at RPNS years ago, who unfortunately passed away from breast cancer. Janet's daughter, Jeannie, has been a close friend of trish's for 20+ years and is also a mother of two children at RPNS. Jeannie is the chairperson for the auction this year, so we have been doing everything we can to help make it a success.

10% of the proceeds of the fundraiser go to the Janet Cocconi Memorial Fund through Breast Cancer Connections in Palo Alto.

If you are interested in purchasing raffle tickets, making prize donations for the auction, or attending the dinner and auction event, more info can be found here on the RPNS website:

http://www.rpns.org/auction.html


thanks for checking in... all is great here...

happy holidays...

happy holidays to you all.. we hope everyone enjoying the holiday season.

i apologize for not updating the blog in a while, so i will try and get everyone caught up on the last couple months of our lives.

on november 16th trish went in for her 3rd round of expansion, and everthing went smoothly.
trish's 4th and final expansion was december 7th, and we can now happily say she is done with this phase of reconstruction.

the next phase will be surgery in ~6 months to replace the expanders with regular implants.

trish is continuing to do great, and is 100% healthy and cancer free.

on december 2nd, caden's class from Redwood Parents Nursery School took a field trip to Hillsdale Mall to decorate a christmas tree for the holidays.
this is something teacher kathy and her class has been doing for years, and all the other classes at the school pitch in by making ornaments for the themed tree.
this year the teachers at RPNS decided to decorate the tree in a breast cancer awareness theme, to honor the families at RPNS who have been affected by breast cancer.
obviouslly this is a cause close to our hearts, and it was a lot of fun to see 24 three year olds running around hanging ornamnents on a christmas tree.

i believe the trees will be on display through the new year... so if you find yourself on the second floor of hillsdale by mrs fields cookies, take a look at the pink tree that the kids from RPNS decorated.

on sunday dec. 20th, trish and i attended the FamiliesCAN christmas party in portola valley.
it was a dinner for the families who have been helped by FamiliesCAN. It was great seeing Jackie and Eduarda (founder and director), as well as our social worker from stanford, Bea Bravo.
We also had the opportunity to meet and thank Jackie's father, Ron Whittier, who provides funding so FamiliesCAN can help families affected by cancer.

in a small bit of irony, we were seated at the same table as the Musladin family.
Scott, Candy and their two daughters Lindsey and Madison were the other family featured in the september article in san jose mercury news article about FamiliesCAN.
they are great family dealing with a lot of simlar things we have gone through over the last 20 months.

on november 16th, i began my new job at Greenplum.
can't believe its been 6 weeks already, but the company is small and dynamic (and growing) with a lot of great people and energy in the building.
im really enjoying it here.

and with the new job, came new medical benefits for the whole family on december 1st :)

so thats about it from here... everything is going well, and aside from caden's little cold, we are all healthy.

we wish everyone a great holiday season, and a terrific new year to come...

thanks for checking in

The RPNS christmas tree at Hillsdale

expansion, part 2

trish, ria and i headed over to stanford today for trish's second round of expansion.


we met with nurse kathy, and now that we know the procedure, it only took a few minutes to complete. we spend more time in the waiting room than we do in the exam room.

during surgery, dr. lee initially filled trish's expanders with 200 cc's of saline.

last week nurse kathy added 50 cc's on the right side and 100 cc's on the left.

today, kathy added 75 to the right and 100 to the left.


so the current tally is:

left: 400 cc's

right: 325 cc's


the right side is the cancer/radiation/lat flap side, so they are expanding this side a little slower than the left side. trish really felt all 75 cc's in her right side today. its an odd pressure that is hard to explain, but it is discomforting enough for her to take a vicodin for the first time in a couple weeks.

all in all trish is continuing to do great. she is feeling better with each day, and aside from lifting heavy things and overreaching for something, she is pretty close to normal. she is back to taking caden to school by herself, and later in the week she has a third interview with Myriad for a sales position handling the BRACAnalysis breast cancer genetic test product.

trish's next expansion will be monday, november 16th.


thanks for checking in...

follow up with dr. j, a new lump and some relief...

trish has been doing really great with her recovery. with each day, she is becoming less sore and more active. for the first time since surgery, trish was able to bring caden to his nursery school by herself this morning.

i think it was a big mental boost for both trish and the little guy. she is able to do more independently each day, and for caden to see his mama at school really made his day and he seemed a little bit more chipper today than he has over the past few weeks. after school the three of us hit up the newly remodeled costco in redwood city, and then it was time for trish and i to head back to the stanford cancer center.

today we had a follow up appointment with trish's surgical oncologist, dr. stephanie jeffrey. dr. j was very pleased and surprised at how quickly trish is healing up. the incisions have all closed up nicely, and we took the last of trish's tape sutures off a few days ago. dr. jeffrey also had some good news for us, the final pathology of trish's mastectomy was back, and there was no signs of cancer (not that we expected any different, but its always nice to get some good news).

so... earlier in the week trish discovered a new lump in her abdomen.

trish asked dr. jeffrey to have a feel to see what she thought. after examining trish, dr. jeffrey believed the lump to probably be a lipoma (benign fatty tissue). but dr. j then said, with trish's history of cancer, she wanted to order an immediate biopsy.

back on the emotional roller coaster we go...

as we were waiting for the biopsy team to arrive, trish and i somewhat joked about our lives and if things aren't hectic, they aren't normal. but the reality of it, the waiting, the wondering... its stressful and wears on you.
you wonder how a body that has been hammered by months of chemo and radiation could produce a new lump. and you wait some more.

you try not to worry about anything until there is something to worry about. this sounds great on paper, but its much easier said than done. luckily for us today the wait was minimal. it wasn't an over the weekend wait like trish's first biopsy last year. the biopsy team arrived about 10 minutes after dr. j. called them. the team of three quickly set up and took two needle aspiration biopsies of trish's lump, and told us they would be back in 5 minutes with the preliminary results as soon as they took a gander of the specimen cells under a microscope.

so... we waited and we wondered.

it was only a few minutes, but it felt like a few hours. the biopsy team arrived back with the news...

everything looked normal.

they believed it was a lipoma, just had dr. jeffrey initially thought. the biopsy team took one more needle biopsy (third overall) to be sent off to the lab for final pathology, but from what they saw in the first two samples, all signs pointed to benign fatty tissue (not that we expected any different, but its always nice to get some good news).


just another hectic (normal) day... thanks for checking in

a, b, cc's...

back to stanford we go to see trish' plastic surgeon nurse, kathy...

kathy removed trish's final drain, but was gracious enough to give back more than she had taketh..

kathy is the nurse that will be filling trish's tissue expanders over the next month or two.

kathy brought in a demo expander for us to take a look at, and if you have ever have seen an implant, its basically the same thing, but with a "medi-port" built in to receive a needle full of saline.

kathy marked each boobie with the location of the port, gave trish some local anesthetic, put a needle into each port and injected them with saline (50 cc's on the right, 100 cc's on the left)
it wasn't enough fluid to actually see trish visually expanding like a water balloon, but trish felt the added pressure internally.
nurse kathy said trish (depending on the final size she chooses) will be back roughly 5 times (every 7-10 days) for these expansion sessions.

the highlight of the day wasn't trish kicking ass once again in the doc's office, but seeing christine leaving the plastic surgeon's office.

christine is Survivor buddy christine, formerly known as chemo buddy christine and radiation buddy christine.

christine was leaving the office after a session with nurse kathy finalizing her reconstruction, and she is now DONE with everything! congrats christine, your cancer "to do" list is now all checked off. `


so, trish continues to do great, and she really enjoyed getting caught up with christine for a few minutes.
the docs still want her to take it easy lifting heavy things, but she has been trying to stay as active as possible without overdoing it.
all her bandages are ready to come off, and everything is healing up nicely. now with her drains out, she can shower normally without worrying about getting anything wet.

trish goes back Nov. 2 for her next expansion session, and will get an additional 100 cc's on each side.

thanks for checking in..

checkup with dr. lee...

its been 9 days since surgery, so it was time to head back to stanford to see trish's plastic surgeon, dr. lee.

dr. lee and his staff examined trish, and felt she was healing up perfectly, there are no signs of infection and overall they are very pleased with her progress.

trish came home from the hospital with five (three on her right side, two on her left side) subdermal fluid drains. these are rubber tubes inside trish's body draining any excess fluid in her chest and back areas. there is a small incision under each of trish's armpits where the drains exit her body. these drains typically stay in 7-14 days post surgery.

the drains are bulky, and hard to make comfortable with while sitting, laying down and walking. she basically has five pieces of two foot long rubber tube hanging out of her, each will a rubber bulb attached on the end. even though she has a special tank top with internal pockets to hold the drains, they are still a pain in the ass (and the side... and the back)...

dr. lee felt trish was doing well enough not to warrant all the drains, so he removed four of the five. immediately trish felt more comfortable. the drain bothering her the most was the one placed in her back, once it was removed, trish had a much easier and comfy time sitting.

trish's next appointment is wednesday 10/21, and dr. lee will remove her last drain, and begin the expansion process of filling up trish's tissue expanders with saline.

the pain is slowly going away, and with four drains out, it should be much easier for her to sleep and get around. each day she gets a little quicker at getting up and moving around, and by this time next week she should be feeling great.

trish is resting up right now, but later this afternoon trish has a second job interview with Myriad, the company who makes the breast cancer genetic test, BRACAnalysis, trish took last year. trish looks forward to going back to work, but she has been very particular with the type of company she wants to work for. when this opening came up she was quick to apply for it, as she feels she can be very successful selling this product... hopefully Myriad will feel the same.

trish and i would to thank everyone that has dropped off food, flowers, cards, etc... it really has been appreciated, and has made it a lot easier around here the past week



one last note...
many of you know, after 10 years with HP i was laid off in late april, and spent the summer actively interviewing.

its ironic how life chooses to time things...

while i was in the waiting room during trish's surgery, i received a call from a company i've recently interviewed with, and they gave me a verbal offer!
i signed the written offer on tuesday, and will begin work at Greenplum (a small database startup) on november 16th.

talk about an emotional swing...
sitting there worried about trish in surgery, and i get a call that i dont need to stress over trying to find a job anymore. im really looking forward to starting next month, and who knows... maybe both of us will be employed by years end...


thanks for checking in..

home sweet home...

trish is home :)


after meeting with dr. lee this morning, she got the ok to get out and head home.. a couple hours later we were on our way out of stanford.

we walked through our front doors at 11:45am this morning.

trish continues to do really well.. still sore as expected, but dr. lee thought all her wounds are healing nicely and had no overall concerns.

trish's left arm had been hurting her ever since she got out of surgery, and to rule out a blood clot or infection, an ultrasound was performed... the ultrasound showed nothing out of the ordinary and it was deemed that a leaky IV was the cause of the swelling.

basically the IV needle was either was not fully inside trish's vein, or it penetrated through the other side of her vein, allowing the saline to essentially puddle in her arm. its harmless but uncomfortable, but does take a day or two for the saline to be naturally absorbed by the body...

so the pain has gone away and the swelling of her arm has subsided and things are basically normal. trish is napping in her own bed now, and caden is very happy to have his mama home..

thanks for checking in...

surgery... part deux

the night after update, 8:45pm

i just got home from the hospital and trish is doing great. she is asleep now, but she has been up and about during the afternoon. shes been walking the hallways, using the bathroom (no more catheter :) ) on her own.

both dr. lee and dr. jeffrey visited with her earlier today, and are happy with the results of the surgery and how trish is recovering..

we are hoping she gets released to come home tomorrow, but ya never know.. its up to the docs tomorrow, and we will see what they have to say

the morning after update, 8:00am

trish slept decently throughout the night..
the meds kicked in and helped with the pain, but the nurses were in every couple of hours so it made it tough to sleep.

dr. lee's four residents came in this morning at 6:30am to check on trish, and they said she was looking good. dr. lee is will stop by sometime in the morning to check on trish as well, but the plan is to get trish up and walking around this afternoon.

10:30pm update

trish is sleeping like a baby:)

trish has two great nurses, sofia and kristen, and they got trish all settled in (drained her drains, set up her IV's, got her some juice/blankets/etc.. ) to her private room overlooking the courtyard below.

trish is pretty groggy (she says feels pretty buzzed, but not drunk enough to dance... i call BS, she will dance anytime) but she is pretty sharp and not out of it, just sleepy.

she is really sore, and likens the pain to that of an elephant sitting on top of her, but i think the meds are finally kicking in and doing their job.

trish is hooked up to two different pain medications..
1. is dripping in the the IV they placed near her spinal cord for the paravertebral block... im guessing its on the weak side, as its a continuous drip

2. is the good stuff.. the kind they give you a button for, but you can only hit the button once every ten minutes... it must be really good, cause they literally have it under lock and key on the IV machine so you cant up your dose..

its been a long day, and as expected, she got through it without any problems.
im spending the night with her to keep her company throughout the night.

thanks again for all the thoughts, wishes, mojo and prayers...

we both really do appreciate it.

good night (once all this coffee wears off)

8:45pm update

just got out of recovery and headed to her room...

5:45pm update

dr. lee just called me, and they are done with surgery! trish is doing great, and they are putting the final bandages on her. no surprises during surgery, and everything went smoothly.

trish will be in recovery for the next 60-120 minutes, and then will be transferred to her hospital room. once she is in her room, i will be able to see her.

its been a long day, but i knew she had great doctors who have performed these surgeries thousands of times...

very capable hands for a very capable girl..

2:45pm update

i just spoke with dr. jeffrey... the mastectomy and port removal went perfectly. trish is doing great, and her vitals are strong and normal.

surgery began late, around 1:00pm and finished up around 2:15pm.

trish is now in the hands of dr. lee, and he will begin the reconstruction portion of surgery, which includes a technique called a latissimus dorsi myocutaneous flap (some graphic content). dr. lee will basically take skin from trish's back, and rotate it around to her right breast area (the previously cancerous side) to provide better (softer, thicker, more elastic) skin to work with.

since trish's right side chest skin underwent radiation, it left her with skin that isn't as thick and elastic as normal skin. by borrowing skin from her back, this will eleviate any potential issues of the tissue expanders breaking through her weak skin.

since her left side wasn't exposed to the radiation, her skin is fine on that side, and doesn't need any extra care.


anyhow, dr. jeffrey said everything went well.. trish should be out in another 4 hours or so.. (~ 6:30pm) we may get to see her in about 5 hours, after she comes out of recovery and wakes up..

all is well here.. thanks everyone for the phone calls, texts, emails, comments on the blog, facebook, etc...

12:00pm update

surgery has begun...

11:30am update

ria and i just left trish in the fine hands of the docs here at stanford. dr. lee, trish's plastic surgeon, came in went over the process again, and marked trish up with a game plan of where the incisions will be and whats going where...

the anesthesiologists came in to give trish her paravertebral blocks, a type of local anesthesia near the spinal cord that will numb the surrounding nerves in her back and up through to her chest..

so everything is pretty much on schedule.. the waiting game begins...

the next update will probably be in a few hours after dr. jeffrey has completed the mastectomy...

trish appreciates all the thoughts and prayers, thanks everyone

10:30am update

trish went in with the nurse at 10:30am to get changed, and prepped for her surgery.

she is a little nervous (cmon, who likes surgery?), but she is feisty and ready to go..

on the drive to stanford this morning, we were heading down 280 and there was a truck swerving across the second lane, slow lane and onto the shoulder. trish got on the horn and called 911 to report a possible drunk driver...

needless to say she has her game face on, theres no screwing around today.

ria and i will get to see her again in about 30 minutes before they take her to the operating room

8:30am update

hi everyone,

when we had our pre-op appointment yesterday, the doctors informed us surgery wouldn't be until 11:40am today, and we need to arrive at 9:40am.

this is much better than getting there around 5am, and it allowed us to sleep in a bit..

so trish is in the shower, caden is eating breakfast and getting ready for school.. another normal morning around here...

so far.


more updates later

uno mas tectomy...

trish and her gang of ladies finished up the 3 Day walk on sunday. the closing ceremonies on marina green were emotional and inspiring as 1500+ women and men paraded into the final celebration of the weekend. the san francisco walk raised millions of dollars towards breast cancer research, and the 16 girls of trisha's trailblazers account for nearly $39,000 of that total.

trish walked all 20 miles on the first day, and averaged 12-15 miles each of the last two days. she had a great time with her teammates and all the other walkers she met along the way. trish is proud of herself, and so am i.


tomorrow morning, 10/7/2009, we will get to the stanford cancer at at 5am to check in for trish's surgery. trish is nervous, but is comforted by the fact that is is essentially elective proactive surgery, and not reactive to cancer. trish had a mammogram two weeks ago just so the surgeons knew what they were getting into. just as we had expected, the mammogram confirmed no signs of cancer in trish's left breast. its always nice to have reaffirmation, even when you are pretty damn sure of something.

today we will head to the cancer center at 1:30pm for a pre-op appointment with the anesthesiologist just to run some checks to make sure trish is healthy enough for surgery. considering she just walked nearly 60 miles, im sure she will have no issues passing the tests.

we expect trish to spend two nights in the hospital (wednesday and thursday) and return home on friday. there is a chance she will be released on thursday depending on how she is doing, but we are expecting the former, but will be pleasantly surprised if the later holds true.

so if dr. jeffrey and dr. lee are reading this blog post, make sure you two get a good nights rest. i dont want to hear the two of you comparing notes on tonight's episode of sons of anarchy, because that's way past your bedtime... you have an important patient coming in on the morning, and we need you to bring your A game. ;)


ill keep everyone posted throughout the day tomorrow.


thanks for checking in...

the difference a year makes...

caden and i received a call from trish at 4:30pm today, and she successfully completed Day 1 of the Breast Cancer 3 Day walk and has the blisters to prove it.

20 miles down, 40 to go.

trish is looking forward to relaxing at the tent city set up on san francisco's marina green, and hanging out with the girls tonight. while she does plan on walking the next two days, it is not her goal to complete the 20 miles each day.

with surgery only five days away, she does need to conserve some energy for surgery and the subsequent recovery. needless to say, trish was determined to complete Day One of the 3 Day, and she did!

to everyone who was involved today, you should be congratulated...

the difference a year makes...

2008 3 Day Walk, a spectator



2009 3 Day Walk, a participant

the coming week...

sooo... since hectic/busy/crazy is basically normal around here, i guess we will continue on that way

on wednesday, october 7th, trish will undergo her next surgery. as mentioned in earlier blog posts, this surgery will include a prophylactic (preventative) mastectomy on her left side, and tissue expanders inserted in both sides. she is expected to spend two nights in the hospital, and will be in recovering mode for a couple weeks after that.

so.. before trish is cooped up in bed recovering, she is gonna for a little walk with some friends..


on friday morning, october 2nd, trish and her team of 16 friends & family, will begin the Susan G Komen 3 Day Walk in San Francisco. over the course of friday, saturday and sunday the walkers will cover 20 miles a day for a total of 60 miles through san francisco and marin counties.

Trish received a lot of support and motivation from watching the girls last year, and she was determined to participate this year. the girls have raised nearly $35,000 so far. They are currently at 70% of their team fund raising goal, so if you are interested in contributing to breast cancer research, please donate to one of The Trisha's Trailblazers teammates who have not yet reached their goal.

Trisha's Trailblazers 3 Day Website

i wish all the girls luck and hope they have a great time. caden and i will be heading up to san francisco's marina green on sunday for the closing ceremonies, feel free to join us if you like. (here are some pictures i took from last years closing ceremonies)


Good luck to the Trailblazers!

Trisha Faggiolly
Racquele Welsh
Kim Abbott
Kim Balsama
Amy Bloom
Ria Faggiolly
Rachelle Fochetti
Annamarie Franceschi
Felicia Hall
Jane Knynenburg
Ginger Mallas
Aimee Patten
Angel Salazar-Brooks
Judy Spooner
Stacie Starr
Vicki Webb