It’s been a good news, bad news 24 hours. I went to Huntsman Cancer Institute to get my metabolic panel done again, still trying to get in to the CDK trial at Georgetown. Well, my liver enzymes are finally low enough for me to get in. But Terry called to alert me that my blood…
Chapter II
In September of 2013, doctors diagnosed me with a malignant 5cm mass, discovered during a regularly-scheduled MRI (which I have as part of my follow-up from a 2001-2002 breast cancer battle). After surgery and tests, I learned that I had thymic carcinoma -- a rare and fast-growing cancer of the Thymus gland. Usually, it’s not diagnosed until it’s already spread to the lungs, heart, or other places, because it can be fairly symptomless. I was blessed, as my oncologist said, that my regular MRIs helped catch it early. My outlook would have been much worse if this had been discovered months later.
I am documenting my journey through Cancer Part II in the hopes that it will educate and inspire others who are facing a difficult diagnosis. In the days after I left the hospital, I sat down with my colleagues at Growing Bolder to share my thoughts on this new challenge. As we say -- I am Surviving & Thriving.
Down The Rabbit Hole or What the??????
I checked to see if the moon was full (it’s not), Mercury was in retrograde (it’s not), or a menehune/leprechaun has been following me around making mischief (still a possibility). I consider my life pretty charmed, despite THREE CANCER DIAGNOSES, but my last two visits to Maryland have been more challenging than charming. Let’s review,…
Where’s the “Easy” Button?
The good news is I will get my sense of taste back and lose the worst case of cotton mouth I have ever had. Which brings me to the bad news. I had such high hopes for the immunotherapy and for PD-1. It seemed to work well against so many kinds of cancers. Except mine,…
Team Lance and Friends
Ride for the Roses Number 15 is in the books. Overall, it’s a fantastic book, as usual, but with a major plot change, and, for the first time ever, an ending. This has always been my favorite weekend of the year: Reconnecting with special people who are passionate about fighting cancer and about living…
Meh-dium
Not “Brilliant.” But at least I didn’t think, “well, that was unexpected.” My first CT scan on the PD-1 trial was…. medium. Hopefully. The biggest tumor looks slightly bigger (2.2 cm from 1.9 six weeks ago), as do a few others. But there are still others that are unchanged. As in not bigger. As in…
Plan B is in Play
I’m in. I didn’t get the port installed for nothing after all. On August 14 (I know, I’ve been slack), I started the PD-1 trial at Georgetown, with Dr Giaccone. I am lucky number 18 in the trial. That, of course, means that I made my Neutrophil number (1900!). Neutrophils shouldn’t be as big a…