It is February 2024, and I am beyond grateful to be approaching the two year mark of my diagnosis for metastatic breast cancer. It is hard to imagine that two years ago today I was fighting a chronic cough that I believed to be bronchitis stemming from having Covid. I never imagined that around the corner it was going to be a complete derailment of my life the way I knew and within weeks I would fall head long into an entirely New World! The thought never crossed my mind that my nagging cough was metastasized breast cancer cells filling in my lymph channels inside of my lungs as seen here from my 4/22 PET scan. Those lungs should be pitch black, not fluorescent green!
So much has changed in these two years, and I am truly grateful for all of it! Beautiful friendships, excellent medical care, the new worship in my heart, the creation of a Gratitude Bell (now hanging in my own treatment center at Stephanie Spielman Comprehensive Breast Cancer Center)
the unexpected retirement from dental hygiene, and the gift of time to be with my new granddaughter,
adult children, loving husband, and all my beautiful family and friends that have surrounded me… All of these things are my miracles… My million little miracles!
This week I went back up to Columbus, Ohio, for my three week infusion. For the most part it was status quo, but there were a few slight changes to report. One is that my new insurance company denied paying for one of my drugs, Herceptin and required my oncologist, Dr. Johnson, to try a bioidentical drug and that I would have to fail two different bioidentical ones before allowing Herceptin again. As much as this concerns me, Dr. Johnson was not concerned at all and said this is par for the course when new and lesser expensive bioidentical drugs are available. He did give me the assurance that he would appeal the insurance company and try to have the Herceptin approved for next time.
The second conversation the oncologist and I had was about the spot that was noted in my nuclear bone scan back in December 2023. I saw it on the actual imaging for the first time this week and honestly it was pretty concerning as it looked like a very bright spot right in the middle of my femur (this image isn’t very clear but it was more visible than what I imagined).
It did coordinate with the PET scan from 2022 but Dr Johnson explained that it still could be a cancerous lesion. He suggested we get another PET scan as soon as possible to compare apples to apples so I am scheduled for February 20, 2024 to do that. This will indicate whether or not that spot is actually active cancer or if it is some kind of scar tissue from a previous trauma. If it is active cancer, he said that regardless of whether I have pain or not they can always treat it with radiation first and see if that helps. If it doesn’t slow it down, they will consider changing my medications altogether. Mentally, I’m not falling pray to fear, but rather trusting that God knows the plans He has for me, and they are to prosper and heal me and be Jesus’ hands and feet on earth while I am still here. That is my goal! No matter what the diagnosis…
Other than that report, my days are quite routine. I wake up and read 1-2 chapters in scripture, do 15 minutes of gentle yoga, eat a nutritious breakfast and prepare my food for the day. I still try and listen to a pod cast daily on the health and longevity benefits of a whole food plant based lifestyle!!
John and I usually spend most of the day at his shop building working on our WonderVan! This week I’ve been sealing and sanding our spalted maple ceiling boards.
John has meticulously worked on the very detailed and intricate custom cabinets that soon will have a beautiful veneer on the cabinet door faces but here you can see the skeleton at least with the drop down shelf on the underside!
I’m looking especially forward to an unexpected winter hiking and camping trip coming up next week in Wisconsin with my mountain biking coach and friend, Brenda! And great news is that my hiking buddy LillyMae will hopefully be joining me!! We are both stoked! We hope to hike 5-10 miles a day! Oh…I have so, so much to be grateful for!
2 comments:
Thank you for introducing me to the new technology of Asea. When we met in December I thought I was just going to talk to you about a whole food plant-based diet.
Now if I can change my lifestyle I feel it will give the Asea a much better chance at helping my body to heal itself.
So so happy I was able to go on that hike with you!! That was so fun, And I am looking forward to the next one!
Post a Comment