Lots to be thanful for

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. My Thanksgiving was bittersweet, it being the first holiday without my mother. Nonetheless we had much to be thankful for, family, friends & our health. You may think, health- well your not healthy. Actually I am very healthy even with my cancer, and it could always be much much much worse- so for that I am very thankful.

Doctor's appointment last week went fine, blood work showed some changes in liver enzymes- but still within the normal ranges. Tumor markers, which took a week to get, are basically the same. So it is again bittersweet- but could be much much worse. Last month they were 102, and this month they are down to 96. I was really hopeful that they would fall and I could have more confidence in this therapy, but once again I need to embrace the unknown. It is very very very encouraging that they didn't rise, and the doctor says that he is happy if they stabilize at this level and don't change. So for this I am very very very thankful.

So at the very least, I get another month on this therapy- and can relish in the lack of side effects and can be comforted that the therapy is working. Thanks!

Kristin's homerun tee-shirts

First off, I want to thank my brother-in-law, Chad Schwickerath and sister-in-law, Tammi Schwickerath for all the work they did designing, selling and participating in the breast cancer race in my honor. The tee-shirts are really cool, and I'm excited for Parker to proudly wear his soon! It was really touching to hear all the people who donated money or bought tee-shirts on my behalf. It means alot to me to know that there are people out there, wearing shirts with my name on them, that they are thinking of me, and are praying with me.

I had a most amazing dream the other night, in which my mother told me things would be okay and I got to hug her again, and my God- it felt so real. I like to believe that she is up there in heaven fighting for me too, that she is guiding my doctor's decisions and is beside me every step of the way.

I have my monthly oncologist appointment tomorrow and chemo on Wednesday. Really really anxious about this month's lab work. I have hip and back pain once again that coinsides with the locations of my bone mets. It's not as bad as it was when I was first diagnosed with bone mets, but it definately feels very similar. However on a positive note- it does not hurt to push on it, which makes new bone met activity unlikely. So I am going to cling to that rationale, and pray that it is just achy joints from the Gemzar and Carboplatin, combined with lifting Parker, not sleeping well and not exercising. I also have this new really weird pain in my arm on the mastectomy side. The arm pain is just above the elbow over my triceps and only hurts when pressed but feels fine when I use my arm. I'm thinking that its just tendonitis from carrying Parker with that arm, as the pain is worse after a long day of lifting and carrying him. And oddly it has moved up and down my arm so I'm really thinking it couldn't be a new bone metastasis. Plus with all the lymph nodes they yanked out and the radiation, infection, etc- there has to be a good amount of scar tissue on that side. This is still weird considering this area was not irradiated or touched during surgery.

Also in honor of the Packer's recent victory, here is the next Aaron Rodgers!

Two treatments down

Treatment on Friday went well- no real side effects. The worst was some bone aches that night and some fatigue on Saturday and Sunday. So all together not bad.

Also met with the doctor and discussed my lab work. My routine brain MRI (every six months) was normal and all my liver enzymes were at least alittle better than last month, and all within the normal range. Just got my tumor marker levels back today and they barely increased from last month, to my all time high of 102. This is good news, but not the change I was hoping for. I was secretly hoping they'd fall alot, but its not all that surprising that they increased slightly because it can take a month for the tumor markers to normalize after starting a new therapy. The Dr. said that within the first month it is not unusual for the numbers to jump as many cancer cells are dying and shedding the Muc1 protein into the blood. So maybe next month I will see the huge drop that I was hoping for.

House is coming along nicely- granite counter-tops and sod are in and down. Here are some pictures of the hickory cabinets in the kitchen.