Finally an Update!

Well, I completed my third round of chemotherapy in March.  It was a pretty tough round, but as usual, once it was over I bounced back pretty quickly.  I am doing very well.  My last few scans have been clear which is a nice change.  I still receive Herceptin  treatments every three weeks, which is a drug that helps to block that crazy gene that likes to make my cancer go crazy.  I also take an oral medication called Tykerb that serves the same purpose but crosses into the brain to block the same gene.

For some time I have been dealing with chronic pain in my right ribs and back on the right side.  We know that it is not caused by disease.  It is in the nerves / muscle tissue and is most likely long term side effects of radiation treatment.  I'll be seeing a pain management doctor soon and will hopefully be able to get injection to block the pain.  That's my desire anyway so I don't have to take pain killers all the time.

Even with that, I'm keeping active and the summer has been especially busy with all kinds of things.  Hanna's busy with gymnastics, Andy had a pig in the fair which sold for a good price at auction, and I was the Honorary Chairperson at our local American Cancer Society Relay for Life.  Mike is busy following us all around, and enjoys a round of golf whenever he can.

April 2010

Hanna competing in Thousand Oaks

Andy & Herbert the Swine at the fair

After giving my speech at Relay for Life

Adventures in Writing

I have just completed writing a book about my journey with cancer.  What an amazing trip.  A friend of mine challenged me to write my story, and being an experienced editor and published author, she has mentored me through the process over the past nine months.  My hope is that anyone who reads my story, whether a cancer survivor, caregiver, or someone who has experienced anything really hard will be encouraged and find hope in their own journey.

Publishing is pending acceptance, and I will give an update on that as soon as I can.  If the publisher does not wish to take on my story, then I will take the steps to self publish it with the help of my editor.  However the publishing is done, I'm hoping it will open more doors to helping other survivors see the light of HOPE always flickering before them.

Words of Hope

God is working in my life all the time.  Although having cancer isn't exactly a path I would choose, I can say I wouldn't change it if I could.  I've grown so much in my faith and know that although I don't believe God caused this to happen, He will use it as a tool for me to grow in my life, and for me to be of service to others because of my experiences.

I recently came across the following scripture which is really encouraging to me.  Sometimes it's really hard to understand the Word of God, and other times it just makes sense, and the Lord reveals just what I need when I need it.

"For all things are for your sakes, that grace, having spread through the many, may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God.  Therefore we do not lose heart.  Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.  For our affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.  For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal (2 Cor. 4:15-18 NKJV)."

“For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees?  But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.  In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God (Romans 8:14-27 NASB)."

Diagnosis

I have stage IV breast cancer.  There have been many battles between being diagnosed in May of 2005 and now, and the list is very long.  I will always have to fight to hold this disease back, but life is good and I am not defeated.