December 2021 – The Metastatic Breast Cancer Journey

December 18, 2021

Scans in December

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Like I said in my last post…I wanted to wait until next year to get scanned. “Just in case.” I’m not anticipating bad news or anything. And I’m not worried. I’ve done this for a long time now. But, it seems whenever they find progression it’s always in December, right before Christmas. I really to find a way to schedule it differently in the future.

Have you ever wondered what it’s like on scan day? Today I decided to give you a little tour. So I recorded the various steps, just for those of you who take the time to read my blog. Feel free to leave a comment here or on the video!

À la prochaine…see you next time.

December 16, 2021

Last Infusion of the Year!

🎼🎶Christmastime is here! Happiness and cheer! Bringing lots of traffic jams from Interstate to here… 🎼🎶 Chemo’s in the air. Beeping everywhere. Nurses by their patient’s side. And many memories there.🎹🎵

Ahhh. The music of Christmas. 😁 After wrapping several Christmas presents for the Grandkids at home, Tim chauffeured me to MD Anderson in The Woodlands where I would get my blood drawn before chemo. I sat a while waiting for the lab to call before they realized I was not on the schedule. (Good thing I checked!😳😳) A new receptionist had checked me in for chemo, but didn’t realize my labs were missing. Things always seem to go wrong when Tim comes with me 🤪🙄.

After that — lunch. We often do this between labs and chemo, but it doesn’t usually take this long. The traffic was backed up all the way to the restaurants. I’m guessing it must be early-release day from school! Crazy…!

Panera Bread was packed, not a parking space in sight, so we ate at the Thai Cottage next door. I must say it was absolutely delightful! The pace was perfect. The chicken noodle soup was amazing, and I gobbled up the yellow curry with shrimp. YUM! And I had the satisfaction of beating Tim 2 out of 3 games of Yazy while we waited for our meal to arrive.

Coming back to the medical center the traffic was not quite as horrific. I arrived at my appointment early in hopes of an earlier chemo time. Well…no such luck. My appointment was at 2:15, which was exactly when they called me back. The drip didn’t actually get started until after 3:15. I ducked into the cafe to get an afternoon snack to take with me. I was glad to see they are finally stocked with some goodies that aren’t plant-based. I prefer the orange ones, but I’m not complaining.

Now, here I sit, getting my first bag of chemo (Perjeta), sporting my new t-shirt in honor of the Christmas spirit.

Last bag is now dripping. I am getting my last infusion of the year. It is treatment round number 73. That’s about how old I feel at times 😂😂. I’ve seen procedures changed multiple times in the nine years I have been coming here. All for the better, I’m sure. For example, Herceptin now has to be covered by a dark brown bag shown here, as they discovered it is light-sensitive. They can only bring one drug at a time. They used to be able to do all of them at once.

These little blue covers are new. They clamp over the chemo connector. Apparently there was some leakage (yikes!), so this makes the connector more secure. My nurse told me I should see them from now on.

I’m almost finished with the drip at this moments as I finish up this blog post. Tomorrow I will have the last scans of the year. Since they typically access my port for that, I asked my nurse to use the bigger gauge needle for chemo today. As soon as my machine beeps and she unhooks me, I’ll get to go. I will keep the line in until tomorrow, so I won’t have to get poked again and save time on the scans.

À la prochaine. Until next time…

December 9, 2021December 16, 2021

Five Years!

Here at MD Anderson for my oncology check-up. I was first diagnosed with breast cancer nine years ago this month. The second time (stage 4) I was diagnosed was five years ago this month. Always right before Christmas . I was secretly hoping to avoid any scans before Christmas, but he wants them done before the end of the year, even better since copays start over in January.

I come in to see the doc about every three or four months. Everything is still good right now. He schedules my chem and imaging, and refills my prescriptions. As of now, my blood looks good and imaging is good. It’s been about six months since my last imaging so we will do that before the year ends.

Update: Scans are scheduled for Friday, December 17th. Then, hopefully we will only receive good news Christmas week.

They are always very encouraging whenever I come in here. I love my doctors and all the people who see me at MD Anderson. Every time I come I see a lot of people, including the phlebotomist who draws my blood, the tech who takes my vitals, the nurse who knows me by name and asks lots of personal questions, the physician assistant who checks my heart and lungs, and the medical oncologist. They are like family and friends and they genuinely seem to care. I will be on round 70-something next week, so we’ve been connected for a while now. I am so thankful for my team of experts who are keeping me alive.

God is not a God of statistics…

FIVE years! FIVE! I’ve lived to see five more Christmases. We made it! God is good. My husband has been there beside me the whole time, and I couldn’t have done it without his support. To put it into perspective, only 20-30% of women who are diagnosed MBC live five years, with the average being about three. The numbers are hard to track, because there isn’t a good tracking system nationwide. So that’s the best we know.

Also as a point of interest (and a shameless plug), “only 2%-5% of funds raised for breast cancer research is focused on research for the already metastasized patient.” Much more research needs to be done to better understand this disease. Metavivor is my favorite organization, since 100% their donated funds go to research.

As a friend of ours reminded us nine years ago this month after I was first diagnosed, “God is not a God of statistics.” Only He knows the future. He is the supernatural healer and certainly defies the odds. I trust Him.