Summer is Officially Over

I have been back to work all week, but today was the first day with kids. I know some folks will say I'm crazy, but it was great to get back to work. I like the kids, I like the routine and so far my classes seem really pleasant (although that could change at anytime!). I'm feeling lucky to be one of those people who likes going to work.

I added a new thing to my anti-nausea arsenal and it seems to provide some real relief. I had a pretty good round really. Sunday was rough, but otherwise I've been feeling pretty good. So good that I considered taking all my pills today, but I was terrified of getting sick on the first day of school so I was an "noncompliant patient" today. My doctor is on board with my noncompliance, so I don't feel too guilty.

My doctor developed a plan for me at my last appointment. I'm going to do this current round and one more. Then I am scheduled to get scanned on 9/9. If the scans still look good, she will take my case to the tumor board. She thinks I might be a good candidate for a lumpectomy. If I get approved for surgery by the tumor board, I'd have a lumpectomy and then I'd go back on Herceptin. As much as I like a plan, I'm well aware that the plan may well change.

Hi, Keith here with a quick update on my mom; She continues to work with speech/swallow therapy in Duluth. My mom and dad are living in a hotel up there and motoring over to the rehab facility daily. She's improving but it's a real slow process. Long grind. There's talk that they might be able to get an acceptably qualified speech therapist in Ashland Wisconsin, which would allow them to get back home to Wakefield and then "commute" up to Ashland (about 50 miles away). My mom is on a particular drug that is supposed to kick-in at some point here....but it can take months to start working. That drug (imuran) would sort of knock some sense into her immune system so it returns to normal. We continue to keep our fingers crossed!

Oh, and we gave Red a bath recently. P-U he needed it!!

Touring...

I haven't posted lately because Keith and I have been busy being tourists in our own backyard. Our niece Hannah came out to visit for a week or so and we had to show her all around. It was nice to have an excuse to do some things we wouldn't normally do (and I managed to avoid going to Fisherman's warf - yeah me!). One of the things that was new to me was the Marine Mammal Center over by Rodeo Beach. It is definitely worth a stop and afterwards you can go for a hike.

Other than having sore feet I'm doing great!! I'm just starting my next round (oof it was tough to choke down those 12 big pills this morning knowing that they're gonna make me sick tomorrow).

So far so good today. I need to really try to imagine going to work this round and see if it is feasible... I think it may doable. I usually end up feeling better if I am out and about doing something.

I stumbled upon this article about the trial I'm on. It was interesting and encouraging enough to give me a push to stick with it for now...

http://bit.ly/rpzmq2

Dr. Moasser is the doctor I saw when I started this. He is a brain! And he picked up the phone right away when I called him with problems. My favorite bit is all the way at the end...

Although complexities of HER2-driven breast cancers have not yet been completely elucidated, these tumors may be less complex and resilient than many other cancers, Moasser says.

“In most solid tumors there are many signaling pathways that go wrong, and many genes that are mutated,” he says. “I think that this cancer is more simplistic, and that HER2 is the critical driver. I think we should be able to cure this cancer if we can shut down HER2, even in advanced cases.”

Keith's mom had a bit of a setback with a clot in her arm, which delayed her release. Other than that she's making slow progress and will get discharged from rehab as soon as they get her clotting numbers dialed in. After discharge she'll still need to be in Duluth for several days each week for speech therapy. The speech therapist works with her on swallowing. She still isn't able to eat, but yesterday she had 10 good swallows (this is way up from 1 or 2 just a week or so ago)!

Nothing but Good News!

Whew. We went to see my oncologist at UCSF today to get the results of all my scans from yesterday and to talk about how things are going. My scans all look good (unremarkable is great!). Still no cancer anywhere except the breast and the lump that used to have a volume of 1.7 cubic centimeters now has a volume of .12 cubic centimeters!! This shit is working! We talked a little about what comes next and at least for now I'm going to stay on the trial for 2 more rounds (a month or so). After that I've got to decide if I can work while taking this crap or not. Hopefully these next two rounds go as easily as the last one. If they don't, then we'll figure it out. My doctor thinks the logical thing to do after the trial is surgery to remove whatever remnants are left. After that it is back on Herceptin with vigilant monitoring. My birthday is coming up and this is a really nice early present!

Look Ma No Hat!

My hair is not long enough and thick enough for me to go hatless. It isn't super thick, but passable and I'm pretty tired of wearing hats at this point.

I'm hoping that the mousey gray color will be replaced with my normal dark brown (with a bit of gray) in a couple months. That's what happened last time anyway.

So far this round of Tykerb has been a little bit easier than the last one (knocking on wood as I type!). Not only have I gotten dressed everyday, but I've even made it out of the house everyday! I've actually been taking fewer anti-nausea meds this time around. I'm not sure how much they do for the nausea and they make me really tired.

Keith got a nice treat today; his mom called and talked to him briefly! They replaced her trach with a metal one that allows her talk a little bit. Her voice was a little weak but he was psyched to hear her after so long. Crossing our fingers that she continues to improve.

Here We Go Again...

Those nine days of no drugs feel so good. For the five days I take the meds, this stuff is way harder than the chemo cocktail I was on, but my recovery is much different than it was with chemo. I feel better as soon as I stop taking the Tykerb, Ketoconozol, Immodium, Zofran and Octreotide (there are a couple others I take when the nausea gets really bad, but those are the ones I have to take). With chemo every round I got a little bit more worn down. This doesn't seem to be having the same effect (knock on wood).
This is my last round before my scans on the 20th. On the 21st, I'll see my oncologist at UCSF to discuss the results of the scans. I also want figure out what my options are. I don't think I can work on this regime. It will be hard to quit the trial if it is working (fingers and toes crossed!), but I'm hoping there are other possibilities that would work well and won't be so damn hard.
During my 9 non-treatment days we got a lot done! We bought a truck! Keith has been talking about getting a truck again for years and we finally just did it. We walked over to the Toyota dealer on July 3rd and told them what we wanted and on July 4th (yeah, I can't believe they were open either!) we picked up a dark grey Toyota Tacoma. We're both excited about the new vehicle, but we didn't expect Red to be so excited. This is a 70lb dog that I have had to hoist into my car on multiple occasions...we get a truck and that fucker jumps right in every time. He LOVES the truck. So, who ever said "dogs love trucks" was definitely right!

Once we got the truck we used it to go bet a bunch of mulch and some stones to use as edging for the front yard. The yard looks much more pulled together. I can't believe we didn't do it years ago. We're joking that the new edging and mulch will make our neighbors think we're getting the house ready to sell! We also took a couple of hikes (local and out at the coast), went up the hill and watched fireworks from three different cities at once (pretty cool). There has also been lots of time for lazing around and enjoying summer!

Keith's mom continues to see some progress. She's working hard at rehab and if things go well could be home by August! I think the idea of being able to finally go home is really getting her excited.

On the Upswing Now

I made it through round three. This one was a little rugged. I was pretty miserable with nausea and headaches the first couple days and then I got a bad case of the runs yesterday. I'm feeling better today, but not 100% yet. I'm hoping to be back up and running this afternoon.

Despite feeling crappy we had a nice visit from my mom. We put her right to work! She did an amazing job weeding, planting and transplanting! We're really lucky to have a gardener who flies in from the east coast! Things are looking much more pulled together here. Now my job is to spread a bunch of mulch to keep the weeds down (all this rain means the weeds will keep coming for a bit here).

Keith is back in Oakland now (got back late Sunday). After he left Duluth, his mom took a turn for the better. She hasn't been on the ventilator for a couple of days now! And she was moved to a rehabilitation section of the hospital. They'll be working to get her back into shape so she do more things for herself.

Made it to Work!

It was a little touch and go this morning but I went to work. I was ridiculously tired but not nauseated and not feeling worried about diarrhea. It worked out fine. These last couple days are pretty easy for me, just show up and proctor exams from here on out. I hate to jinx myself, but I think I'll be able to make it. *knock-on-wood*

Keith is back in town and it's great to see him. It sounds like his mom is hanging in there. She got out of ICU yesterday and now she's in the step-down unit so that's a step in the right direction.