Friday, May 15, 2009


Hello everyone!!! I had scans at the end of April and met with the doctor at the beginning of May. I'm happy to report that all is stable in my world still. The cancer activity is about the same and nothing new is popping up which translates to something pretty spectacular from a medical perspective. So yay!!! Celebrate!

I received these amazing graphs from my doctor showing my tumor markers (numbers measuring the # of tumors flying around my body) dropping dramatically for the last year. There seems to be a problem with our scanner and if I can figure it out, I definitely will have it posted here. That visual following the treatment journey is priceless.

So, we are currently continuing with the same chemo combo--Tykerb pills in the morning, then an infusion of Ironitican/Avastin every three weeks. Manageable for now, I'm a lucky, lucky girl.

This week, I did experience some chest pain which was, to say the least, kind of scary. When you're in cancer treatment you have to alert your medical peeps right away if something changes. So I did. They ordered a CT scan (my personal favorite-NOT) STAT to rule out a pulmonary embolism. So there we were, rushy rushy freak out... to make sure I didn't have a clot in my lungs. And just as a tip, don't google "pulmonary embolism" if you're waiting for test results to tell you if you have one. Do as I say, not as I do. Heh heh.

So, I ended up at my primary doctor who is AWESOME!! And realized that I have something normal people can get which is not cancer related at all. Hooray!!! The constant sneezing (and other details I will spare you) from seasonal/all year round Florida allergies has stressed the cartilage around my sternum and inflamed the tissue. I got some new meds to get the allergies under control and I'll probably see some relief to the chest pains in the upcoming weeks.

So, let's pop some Advil in the meantime and if you see me grasping my chest in pain, don't worry. It's all good.

Muchos Smoochos!
Laura