Six Year Treatment Anniversary

Tomorrow is my chemo day and my second infusion of Kadcyla/TDM-1. Tomorrow also marks six years since I've been going in.  It is my treatment anniversary.

December 2nd, 2009 was my first-ever chemotherapy infusion. I remember sitting in the treatment room for the first time, nervous about the chemo I was being given and wondering how my body would react, and feeling like it was all so strange.

Loss of Appetite in Cancer Patients - Part Two

So, your loved one has advanced cancer, is not eating, and you want to help.

First, please read part one.  You must understand that what you think is a loss of appetite is more than that - it's a true physical inability to eat.  It's a symptom and a complication of disease and not something we control with willpower.  No matter how much you beg and cajole, eating regular, normal meals is a

Loss of Appetite in Cancer Patients - Part One

In some people, cancer causes "loss of appetite."  Only it's not really a mere loss of appetite; there is no good medical description for what really happens.  I know because I'm experiencing it.

From a site about this topic:

"..the inability to eat and the associated weight loss often causes conflicts within relationships. In fact, nutrition and nutritional status have a central position in

National Family Caregivers' Month - written by my husband

November is National Family Caregivers' Month.  My husband is the one who does most of what we know as "caregiving."Recently,  I asked him, "what is it like?  What does being a caregiver mean to you?"  Our plans for life and dreams for the future have certainly ...changed. Things we thought we'd be doing, we will never get to do. Tasks that I did happily and without thinking have fallen to him.

Lifetrak Fitness Watch - Contest!

Hearing I was going to have to go back on a harsh chemo made me nervous.  I'm not in good shape at all.  When I started all this funny business years ago, I had the strength to manage it.  Now, I wonder how much more I can do.

During my period of remission, I did try to regain my health.  I took the exercise class from Triumph Fitness and spent 3 months improving my balance, my strength, and my

Check Out

On the wall in one of my oncologist's exam rooms, near the door, there is a sign that says, "Check Out."  




This is not the real sign


It may have been there all these years and I never noticed. Maybe I've never been in that exam room before. I'm not sure what it is telling me - is it reminding me to check out with the doctor's assistant before I leave?  Is it a reminder for the physician?  

In the Stream

I was on a live TV, web streaming show called The Stream yesterday.  It was an interesting experience.  Perhaps not my best interview, as it was done via Skype.  I had so much more to say! There was some lag so I could not hear when the other women were finishing speaking, and I could not see the other women because I had to look at my camera and not the screen.  Looks like some had the same

Time

Over the past four years since being diagnosed with mets, six with cancer, I have had approximately ten PET scans, about 50 CT scans, 24 MUGA scans and a sprinkling of bone and other types of imaging tests.
Imagine the time that takes - the driving, the parking, the waiting rooms, changing, prep, lying in machine after machine. Hundreds of hours I've spent - no, thousands - not only waiting for

TCL Roku TV - Givaway!

I've been hinting on facebook that I had an awesome giveaway coming up - and today is the day it begins.  I cannot be any happier that I get to give away such an amazing prize. ::::drumroll::::

A 32 inch, TCL Roku Color Series Smart TV - with a colored bezel to match any decor!

I was sent one to review, and being a techie, I was tickled pink. (Hey, it's October.)  

I have a confession to make

Breast Cancer Deaths by Year. Simple Raw Numbers.

Here is a chart to start Pinktober:

 Overall Breast Cancer Mortality by Year - USA*



Year
Source
No. of Deaths


2015**
Cancer.org
40,730


2013-2014
Cancer.org
39,620


201l-2012
Cancer.org
39,520

2009-2010
Cancer.org
40,170

2007-2008
Cancer.org
40,460

2005-2006
Cancer.org
40,410

2003-2004
Cancer.org
39,800

2001
Wiley Online Library
40,600

2000
TCSG.org (ACS)
41,200

1999
Cancer Journal

Pity Party and a Breast Cancer Lesson

Six years ago, when first diagnosed with cancer, I did what many do, including you, dear reader, who is maybe finding my blog for the first time.   I searched online for breast cancer stories, to find other women like me.  The one burning question I had, that you have too, is "What is going to happen to me?  Am I going to die of cancer?"

We all think that at the beginning.  Every single one of

The Brobe - and a contest!

The Brobe

"It's my baby, just like your blog is to you," said Allison, as she wrote to me about her cancer-inspired bathrobe.

Her words caught my attention.  I have put a lot of time, energy and thought into writing this blog.  I am as protective of it as a 1950s teenager would be of the diary in which she wrote "Mrs. John Smith" over and over. Not that every word is perfection, of course;

Review: Suburban Turban, and a Contest

SUBURBAN TURBAN




I tried to tuck my hair up..


Now that you have saved some bangs using the Shebangz system, you need headwear.

When you think of hats, you think of the Queen of England, amirite?  Okay, maybe you are younger - so Kate Middleton?   Nobody does hats like the Brits, they have that particular thing all figured out.  Here in the US, in my personal experience, it is hard to find

Review: Shebangz, and a contest

SHEBANGZ




(I can't hear the phrase "She bangs" without thinking of William Hung from American Idol, can you?)

Like listening to Hung, losing your hair is truly every woman's nightmare, more so than most any other aspect of chemotherapy.  Being bald hits us in a primal place, one that you don't have to be vain to experience. Most women destined for neo-adjuvent chemo lose their hair and few

Cite Your Sources!

Does my title bring back horrible memories of high school, when the teacher wrote "cite your sources" in big red pen on your page?


Well, he or she was right.


I saw this graphic on my facebook timeline.  I sighed.

It's getting worse.









THIS IS NOT OK!

First of all, the commonly used (and incorrect) statistic is 30%.  As in, 30% of women with early stage cancer will eventually have a

Just little stuff because my brain won't function

I've been working on a post for about a month now.  I cannot for the life of me get what I want to say out of my head and through my fingers.  I don't think I can even blame that on chemo brain, as much as I'd like to.  Just sort of this blah, I can't write feeling.

So to let you know I'm still alive and kicking, I'll update you with some news:

1.  I have a book in the process of being

Full Circle, Squished Breasts

Unbelievably, at my last oncology appointment, my doctor ordered a mammogram - for me.   He said, "I think we've been neglecting your routine care."Routine care?   Me and routine care? Does not compute.In 2009, when I was diagnosed, I only had my diseased breast removed, keeping my other one as a souvenir. With metastatic breast cancer and the constant PETs and CTs, not to mention the years of

Sole Story

I spent the past few years thinking I had one perk - I wasn't going to get old.  Of course, the life I've lived would be a horror to most people, but being a silver lining kinda gal, I started imagining all the things I would avoid by dying:

Falling and not being able to get up
My face melting into my neck
My earlobes dangling down to my shoulders
Having to google "attractive hairstyles for 75

SXSW Part 2

One thing I wanted to do at SXSW was go to the Gaming Expo and visit Ryan Green, whose family was featured on one the Soul Pancake documentaries (as was I.)  Ryan is creating a video game based on his experiences with his toddler son, Joel, who tragically died of his cancer.  He had crowdfunded the game -That Dragon Cancer.  I financially supported him, as did many.  His game will be out this

SXSW, Part 1

On March 15, along with David Kopp of Healthline, I moderated a core conversation at SXSW. Being selected to do this was a great honor, and it wouldn't have happened without you, my regular readers.  So I obviously want to share some of my experiences with you.

What is SXSW?

South by Southwest, or "South by" as the natives call it, is a huge technology, gaming, music, interactive and film

Semi Colon: Book Recommendations from the Bottom of my Pile

A sad fact about cancer is it took away one of my life's most pleasurable activities - reading.  I've been a reader since I was a little kid; some of my best days were spent outside, holding a book as big as me, sitting in the cool shade of a tree on a hot summer's day with a glass of ice water and a slice of white bread.  I became immersed in the lives of people far away and in different

SXSW 2015

If you are not aware, in just a few days, I will be winging off to Texas to participate in the big interactive/film/music festival called South by Southwest. I will be moderating a core conversation, along with Healthline's VP, David Kopp.  We will be discussing Finding a Cure for Breast Cancer - What Needs to Change.  This is supposed to be a free-ranging conversation with ideas and input from

RIP Lisa Bonchek Adams

I've been gone all day today, volunteering at the regional Science Olympiad, an event I've been involved in for years.  I thought about cancer a lot today, recalling when I was a bald mom on my first chemo, whose child was a participant. As I relived those memories and thought about how long this road has been, I was dismayed to realize that somewhere on campus this afternoon I had lost my

Physical Fitness by the Decade

In elementary school, I was the last one picked for any team sport. Rightly so, embarrassing as the memory is.  I was short, skinny, wore glasses and was terrified of flying balls.  Consigned to the outfield during baseball games, I sorted through emerald blades of glass looking for ladybugs.  If a ball did come rocketing towards me, (and I noticed) I ran from it, pretending the sun had blinded

The Road to Health Starts with Getting off your Rear

Do you see what that says?

Yep, I'm still NED.  7 months since the last scan and still no cancer.  After all the torturous treatment of the past five years, I did the impossible.  Erm, I mean, my doctor and chemo nurses did the impossible.  To be honest, I just sat there.

And sat there.  And sat.  And sat some more.  Those barcaloungers at chemo are pretty damn comfortable, although

Sign a Petition

I am still NED.  It has been 7 months that cancer has not reared its ugly tumor-shaped head and attacked my liver.  It now feels like maybe it never will again, that despite the odds, I am going to be one of the few metsters to beat this, thanks to the new drug Perjeta.My world has opened up again, my perspective wider.  I think about the future, I plan and believe.  I am now working on regaining

"Just"

The word "just" got me in trouble the other day.

Deservedly.  I am bending over for my spanking now. Please be gentle.


Somebody had sent me a link to an article about an extremely attractive women with DD breasts who had been diagnosed with the BRCA mutation at age 19.  By 27, she had made the Sophie's choice to have a prophylactic double mastectomy.  I cannot tell you how much I

Time Passes...

When my son was home from college, we watched the "Up" series - 7 Up to 56 Up, one per night. It's a fantastic documentary series, but it made me realize how impossible it would be to capture what has happened to any individual in 7 years.

If I'd been in this series, last time they filmed me I would have been a school secretary, raising my kids, healthy and happy, hopes for the future - for my