Gay's fight with Cancer

Dear Friends of the Strojny Family,
Those of you are unfortunate enough to be on our Christmas letter list know that I try to get out a yearly update on the Strojny Family around Christmas or Easter (if I procrastinate). I also try to be somewhat humorous and not too verbose. We now have "breaking news" as they say on TV and we decided that this would be the best venue to keep you advised.

For those of you who don't know, Gay (aka Gabby to the grand kids) is a two time breast cancer survivor. She was first diagnosed in her forties, had a lumpectomy and radiation (we used her as a night light) and SHE BEAT IT! Within a year this stuff came back and she went through a mastectomy and chemo. I lost more hair than she did during this bout but again, SHE BEAT IT! She has been clean for twenty-one years and is in wonderful health. Then we got the news this week that the cancer has returned. As her doctor says, "you can treat the cancer, you just can't cure it".

I won't attempt to sugar coat this. Gay's cancer is stage four (there is no stage five) and has metastasized into her skull, upper spine and scapular. Luckily these are very slight lesions and don't affect any major organs including the brain. We have a marvelous oncologist and daughter Heidi who works for Cisco health care has set up teleconferencing with the brightest and the best. We have a plan to fight this and, as of now, it will be done locally.

Right now Gay is on hormone therapy and will begin aggressive chemotherapy in two weeks. We've all read how tough that will be but I can attest to the fight in this lady. The kids are already picking out cool hats (Gay will not wear a wig) and she hopes to continue her beloved golfing and volunteering. She will be taking the chemo once a week for twelve weeks and then reevaluated. We hope to put the cancer to sleep and then knock the hell out of it. As an example of her "toughness" she had to have two upper teeth pulled prior to the chemo. Note the swollen jaw in the "Fightin' Gabby" picture. This was taken two days after the extractions! I'd still be in bed with my pain pills and some whiskey!

That's the news up to date. We have friends lighting candles at the Notre Dame Grotto (pretty powerful stuff here) and we'd really appreciate your thoughts and prayers. I'm just looking forward to to day when I can report again, SHE BEAT IT!!!

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