As most of you are aware, the treatment for Stage IV Metastatic Breast Cancer (MBC) doesn't end while we are still alive (with a few notable exceptions that we hope will become the rule). To determine whether treatment is working, those of us living with MBC undergo scans in various intervals (usually 3, 6, or … Continue reading Scans #3 on Enhertu
On August 2nd, I traveled up to the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville for the 2nd PET/CT since I started my 7th line of treatment, Enhertu. If you aren't familiar with the refrain: "treat, scan, repeat," let me just say that it's a vicious rollercoaster I've been riding since my de novo Stage IV Metastatic Breast … Continue reading Medical Updates after PET #2 on Enhertu
It’s been quite the few weeks! The first infusion of Enhertu happened on March 1st and we braced ourselves for the outcome. I’d armed myself with a ton of information from a variety of sources and marshaled a rather impressive set of meds to be used as needed. It wasn’t until the pre-meds wore off … Continue reading An update from the first infusion of Enhertu
As much as I hate the war metaphors as applied to cancer, I also very much feel as though I’m jumping from battle to battle as I prep for the next line of treatment. Perhaps that is unkind to healthcare workers who are probably doing their best (a mantra I repeat to myself over and … Continue reading Reporting from the trenches …
Whelp, I was planning to take a break, to regroup, and to re-evaluate a lot of things, but I'm back with a medical update. You might remember my post from January (Updates from the MBC Rollercoaster) about how my tumor markers were rising and the scans showed uptake, but my team was convinced those results … Continue reading And it Continues …
Let me first say that the metaphor of a rollercoaster has some of the same issues as "journey" or other typically positive things, but it has been a good way of explaining the extreme ups and downs of this experience. As I pass 6.5 years of living with Stage IV Metastatic Breast Cancer (MBC) and am … Continue reading Updates from the MBC Rollercoaster
If you haven't already read the first part of this topic, Language, Part I, you should go read that first. It gives the context for this post and some necessary background. In that first post, I talked about the first of two scenarios where the language utilized in responses to a vulnerable post was (or … Continue reading Language, Part II
As if I needed the reminder that I'm not as healthy now as before cancer, a unknown bug landed me in the hospital with sepsis a few weeks ago, the week Hurricane Ian hit Florida to be exact and I've been really sick since then. We are pretty sure that one of the two germ … Continue reading As if I needed the reminder …
When we discovered that the cancer in my body had spread to my liver back in January of this year, we had to make a lot of decisions rather quickly, which always seems to be the case in this experience with Stage IV Metastatic Breast Cancer (MBC). No matter how much we prepare or research … Continue reading Quick Medical Update
"Tumor Heterogeneity" (TH) is a phrase that often comes up in discussions with my medical team and with researchers as we all attempt to understand and anticipate the behavior of the cancer cells. From some of my discussions with other patients on social media, there does seem to be a lot of confusion about this … Continue reading Tumor Heterogeneity
No Half Measures 