My wife Carmi just had two biopsy done on her breast. One came up as nothing. The other one is a ductile tumor. It is benign but over time it has been diagnosed that it will become cancerous. They cannot remove all of it because it is very close to a muscle. So she is going to have to receive radiation therapy every day for six weeks. The good news is that it is less than Level 1 cancer at this point.

Because this is the second ductile tumor Carmi has had (she had a mastectomy to deal with the other one), they want her to start hormonal therapy.

Another challenge is that in the midst of their exams they decided to do a cat scan of her upper chest. In the cat scan they have found some type of lump on the back side of her windpipe. They cannot determine what it is. Because of her having cancer in the past, they are very cautious and what her to have an MRI to see if they can determine if it is just a glob of fatty tissue or something to be concerned about. So, we are scheduling an MRI.

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It has been ages since I have posted anything in my personal category. Too busy to get to it. Then I started getting people e-mailing me to be their friend on their Facebook. I ignored and ignored them since it requires me having my own Facebook account. Just sounded like more work.

Well, I guess peristence pays off because I finally gave in and got my own account. I can see how someone could get addicted to it because of all its features. What is nice about it is the fact that you can connect with people from the past and see how they are doing. But at the same time, I am not sure if I like everything being so public.

Anyways, since my wife and I just signed up and took a quick 2 night trip to Mt. Rainier (we are only 2hrs away) for a Valentine getaway, I decided to use Facebook to track our time together, post pictures, etc.

If anyone wants to check out my Facebook, just do a search for Richard D'Andrea Dover on Facebook.

My wife, Carmi, and I will be doing a Short Term Mission Trip to Uganda, Africa. For all the details, go to:
Uganda Missions Trip

Someone has already contributed for the cost of lodging and meals while in Africa. Carmi and I will need to raise the funds for the airfare. If anyone like to help donate towards the cost of airfare, there is an option on the web site. You will receive a tax-deductible receipt from our church.

It has been a long time since I have posted.
Just wanted to make a quick post that my son Joshua is going to Iraq tomorrow. He is with the 1st LAR Batallion out of Camp Pendleton, CA. He is going to Ramwah.

His responsibility is to keep the electronic equipment working for the batallion.

I just read a post from a Marine that is stationed with the 2nd LAR Batallion. It is amazing what has been accomplished iin the last 6 months by the Marines in Ramwah. You never hear about it in the papers.

When Carmi went to her 2 week check-up her doctor told the resident doctor being trained that she is doing excellent for 3 weeks after the surgery. We reminded him that it was only two weeks. He said "then you are doing excellent in your recovery."

She has almost complete recovery in her arm and shoulder movement. She only had a couple of pain pills the entire 2 weeks.

Today is her first day back to work.

We have great news about Carmi-she is cancer free!!!

She saw the doctor on Wed and he handed her a report regarding her pathology report. They did pathology tests on her Sentinel lymph cell and all of her breast tissue. Other than the two lumps with cancer, there was no other cancer evident. They are confident that with the mastectomy of the left breast that she has no breast cancer in her body including her lymph nodes.

Carmi had her surgery on Tuesday night. It was a great success. Sad that she had to have a masectomy but thrilled that the doctor did not have to touch the lymph nodes. As of now he believes she has no other cancer whatsoever and she will not need to have chemotherapy, hormonal therapy, or radiation therapy. She is done with all treatment.

She was very dizzy and nausea yesterday, but doing great today and back home. She has had very minor pain so has not been on any pain killers at all-Praise God!