2019: A Lengthy Recap

I don't have anything particularly wise or insightful to reflect on 2019. It was a year of waves irrepressibly pummeling our family - bad news following bad news. A year of absence, being torn from my life over and over, captive to the ever-changing treatments and side effects, each one worse than the last. And …

I Get Knocked Down, but I Get Up Again

Waiting for scan results is one of the most emotionally draining things I seem to do on a regular basis. On September 18, 2018, I had my last stable scan. My next scan after that, December 11th, (thanks, iCal), seemed to be the start of what became a pretty significant avalanche. That scan showed progression …

A Long Update

It’s not uncommon for estrogen-positive metastatic breast cancer to shift, to mutate, and to become resistant to hormone therapy. Truthfully, the cancer continues to mutate so as to evade all lines of available treatment at some point, including even the most harsh lines of intravenous chemotherapy. This is a critical, but poorly-understood, area of both …

Brain Fog

I'm currently writing this post from my back porch - there is just enough sunshine dappling my chair to be warming and soothing, but not enough to feel harsh on my sensitive eyes. It's been nearly two weeks since my SRS brain radiation, and barely a month since the brain MRI that set all of …

Brain Tumor Chat

I'm slowly digesting this news - yes, now my breast cancer is in my brain. But as I process this information, I also have to keep reminding myself that the lesions are very, very small. These spots are manageable. I've found some measure of compartmentalization that has allowed me to give this new development a …

Good News/Bad News

Clinical trials are always a bit of a crapshoot. On one hand, you have the opportunity to be treated with the most cutting-edge technology, medications, and treatments available. On the other hand, well, it's a trial. There's no truly solid data on its efficacy because you are the data. I felt fairly comfortable with my …