While I've added my own words and experiences to the blog posts, the informative metastatic breast cancer graphics were created by Andrea Parker, who was born only a few months earlier than I in 1978. Andrea created the graphics with Ginny Knackmuhs offering the statistical information for them. Andrea’s life was stolen by MBC in … Continue reading Did you know? →

We survived. We got through Breast Cancer Awareness month. October aka Pinktober aka Crooktober aka Stinktober is my least favorite month of the year. Why? Because it isn't helpful to us who are living with Stage IV and then it ends and no one pays attention any longer. Living with Stage IV metastatic breast cancer … Continue reading Breast Cancer Facts, 10/31 →

It's difficult to find reliable statistics to definitively prove all of the statistics in this or some of the other educational posts I've posted because the people who are initially diagnosed at an early stage (I-III) and then progress to Stage IV are not counted. We do have two data points that are helpful, the … Continue reading Breast Cancer Facts, 10/30 →

I love my palliative care doctor so much that I wrote a whole blog post about my experiences. You can read that here. Palliative care is not hospice and anyone diagnosed with a serious illness, terminal or chronic, can benefit from palliative care. As I ended my blog post linked here, everyone deserves to have … Continue reading Breast Cancer Facts, 10/29 →

I have Invasive Ductal Carcinoma, which formed a hard lump in my breast. Inflammatory breast cancer is much harder to find. The bottom line is that if your body changes, if a part of your body looks different or feels different, go to the doctor. Don't stop until you have an answer.

We have the ATM mutation in my family. It is a germline mutation similar to BRCA and includes breast and other types of hormonally driven cancers. I don't fully understand the details of how it works, but we have seen in my family that the mutation seems to have a more aggressive affect in each … Continue reading Breast Cancer Facts, 10/27 →

The first time I saw this statistic, I was floored. I'm not a medical person, but the sheer number of factors that could lead to a breast cancer diagnosis is overwhelming. I know a lot of people who stay in this space, who search and search and search for the why behind their diagnosis. I'm … Continue reading Breast Cancer Facts, 10/26 →

This information demonstrates why we need more funding and more organizations involved in raising funding for research. The government is still a large source of funding for many trials, with Big Pharma a major contender. I'm a pretty big fan of capitalism and the freedom for people to work hard and succeed outside of the … Continue reading Breast Cancer Facts, 10/25 →

The amount of money and time that are necessary to get a drug to market is astounding. I'm well aware these numbers may be a little old since the cost of everything increases over time. Yet, this is our system, this is how it works in the US.

Trials are complicated. There are many hurdles that patients have to get over before they can participate. Not everyone is a perfect fit for a trial but the fact that people are willing to participate and put their own lives and quality of life on the line is truly amazing.