Great infusion today! Still on i.v. herceptin and my anti-estrogen oral drug and oral chemo- same as I've been on for a few months now. Biggest complaint I have is the joint aches from the anti-hormonal therapy- but ibuprofen really takes care of that.
No doctor's appointment today- so no news on what the cancer has been up to in the last month, but it can't have done anything too horrible as I've been feeling great. Not much to report, thankful for every day.
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Great article on Pinktober
Friends,
I highly recommend this article and want to propose black ribbons for metastatic breast cancer awareness- because there is nothing pink about stage IV cancer-
Pink stands for prevention.
I want black to stand for battling.
Monday, October 8, 2012
Follow-up on interview
Friends and Guests,
I wanted to follow-up with my interview, as there was so much more I wanted to say but I forgot or ran out of time. Oh and yes that is my real hair ;)
First off, cancer doesn't discriminate based on age, race, education or family history. Everyone is at risk- but lets face it....we're all dying anyway. I had no family history and was perfectly healthy prior to my diagnosis.
When I said stage IV is the only one that kills, I was trying to suggest that stage IV needs more attention and research focus. Even when breast cancer is caught early (stages I-III), and women are "cured", 20% will become metastatic down the road. No one is cured until they die of something else. There are few advocates for metastatic disease because WE KEEP DYING! We need to spread the word that early detection does NOT mean cured- and although research on metastatic disease is complicated and costly- it is an area that needs more attention.
All cancers are different and some metastasize early and rapidly others are slow and lazy- everyone responds differently to cancer therapies AND absolutely NO ONE fights any harder than anyone else. Rather they had a different type of cancer that responded to their particular therapy.
Mammograms can work- but aggressive cancer can grow from nothing into something under 1 year too. It is my opinion that mammograms catch a more lazy and treatable form of cancer.
Here is the link to my interview:
http://www.kwwl.com/story/19767633/eastern-iowa-woman-speaking-out-about-metastatic-breast-cancer
I wanted to follow-up with my interview, as there was so much more I wanted to say but I forgot or ran out of time. Oh and yes that is my real hair ;)
First off, cancer doesn't discriminate based on age, race, education or family history. Everyone is at risk- but lets face it....we're all dying anyway. I had no family history and was perfectly healthy prior to my diagnosis.
When I said stage IV is the only one that kills, I was trying to suggest that stage IV needs more attention and research focus. Even when breast cancer is caught early (stages I-III), and women are "cured", 20% will become metastatic down the road. No one is cured until they die of something else. There are few advocates for metastatic disease because WE KEEP DYING! We need to spread the word that early detection does NOT mean cured- and although research on metastatic disease is complicated and costly- it is an area that needs more attention.
All cancers are different and some metastasize early and rapidly others are slow and lazy- everyone responds differently to cancer therapies AND absolutely NO ONE fights any harder than anyone else. Rather they had a different type of cancer that responded to their particular therapy.
Mammograms can work- but aggressive cancer can grow from nothing into something under 1 year too. It is my opinion that mammograms catch a more lazy and treatable form of cancer.
Here is the link to my interview:
http://www.kwwl.com/story/19767633/eastern-iowa-woman-speaking-out-about-metastatic-breast-cancer
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Going LIVE......pray I say something intelligent
Greetings Family, Friends & Guests-
As a member of the Metastatic Breast Cancer Network (MBN), and it being Pinktober, I was asked to do a live interview on KWWL; channel 7 (the local NBC) station about living with metastatic breast cancer (MBC). As there is not much I can physically do to support other women with breast cancer, this is my big chance to spread the word and debunk some myths about MBN. I will be airing live on Monday Oct 8th, and am the 5'oclock guest. Its only a 2 min interview and I will try to post links here and on my facebook page for those who miss it and want to view it later.
For those of you new to my blog, welcome- and I'm glad to share my journey with you. To get you up to speed on how I discovered my cancer- read my first post "Long story short" and it will cover most of the highlights (or should I say lowlights).
Update on my health- I feel great! But........ tumor markers say otherwise. Last month my tumor markers were 165, now they are 188- yikes. But all other lab results are good- most are even normal or on their way back to normal. So what does this mean, my tumor marker has been climbing for several months now, and I just switched to Aromasin? Next month we'll make a decision (maybe) to try something new. TDM-1, a Herceptin antibody hooked to a chemo drug (DM) may be our next choice. It will be FDA in November- so just in time. I've heard from cyber-friends that there are little to no side effects with this one, as it targets only the cancer cells that over-express Her-2. However I would have to stop my anti-estrogen therapy (Aromasin) because they haven't been tested together and could counteract each other. So I'd be down to 1 "chemo" and as a bonus I would get to keep my hair! This is great- but unnerving because the scientist in me says that the cancer will have a harder time becoming resistant to multiple therapies simultaneously, and this puts all our eggs in the one basket that is Her-2 over-expression. We haven't even tested my bone mets to see if they still overexpress Her-2 (fingers-crossed). But for now- I have no pain and life is good. I'll probably even take Parker fishing today- when it warms up that is.
As a member of the Metastatic Breast Cancer Network (MBN), and it being Pinktober, I was asked to do a live interview on KWWL; channel 7 (the local NBC) station about living with metastatic breast cancer (MBC). As there is not much I can physically do to support other women with breast cancer, this is my big chance to spread the word and debunk some myths about MBN. I will be airing live on Monday Oct 8th, and am the 5'oclock guest. Its only a 2 min interview and I will try to post links here and on my facebook page for those who miss it and want to view it later.
For those of you new to my blog, welcome- and I'm glad to share my journey with you. To get you up to speed on how I discovered my cancer- read my first post "Long story short" and it will cover most of the highlights (or should I say lowlights).
Update on my health- I feel great! But........ tumor markers say otherwise. Last month my tumor markers were 165, now they are 188- yikes. But all other lab results are good- most are even normal or on their way back to normal. So what does this mean, my tumor marker has been climbing for several months now, and I just switched to Aromasin? Next month we'll make a decision (maybe) to try something new. TDM-1, a Herceptin antibody hooked to a chemo drug (DM) may be our next choice. It will be FDA in November- so just in time. I've heard from cyber-friends that there are little to no side effects with this one, as it targets only the cancer cells that over-express Her-2. However I would have to stop my anti-estrogen therapy (Aromasin) because they haven't been tested together and could counteract each other. So I'd be down to 1 "chemo" and as a bonus I would get to keep my hair! This is great- but unnerving because the scientist in me says that the cancer will have a harder time becoming resistant to multiple therapies simultaneously, and this puts all our eggs in the one basket that is Her-2 over-expression. We haven't even tested my bone mets to see if they still overexpress Her-2 (fingers-crossed). But for now- I have no pain and life is good. I'll probably even take Parker fishing today- when it warms up that is.
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