Good grief, where have I been? I just checked, and I haven’t posted an update (besides the video cheater) in six weeks. That’s actually good news. With the exception of a few gnarly days at the beginning of my last Olaparib cycle, life has been, dare I say it, “normal.” I even flew to Orlando…
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.
YES! (Say it With Me)
I know I’ve been slack in posting posts, but in this case anyway, no news is good news. I’ll have a more in-depth report in a few days when I go back to Bethesda.. But for now, I stopped in at the new offices of my very good friends at Growing Bolder, and we made…
Back on Track
Two units of somebody else’s blood and three shots of Neupogen did the trick. I do think it took some creative interpretation on my medical team’s part, but I did make my numbers yesterday and I did get my infusion and my take-out drugs. Besides the trial drug, Olaparib, I am taking home a different…
Good News (Except for that Airborne Wrench)
So as not to bury my lead, let me say what I already knew (on the inside): The first CT scan of my trial shows mostly disease stability with potentially some shrinkage. I figured the drugs were working because the heart and rib pain I’d had for weeks (months?) is mostly gone. A few days…
Hair for the Holidays
It would be a really bad time for me to commit a crime right around now. I leave a trail of DNA everywhere I go, not unlike the witch in the Bugs Bunny episodes does with bobby pins. Whatever I did, I wouldn’t get away with it. The DNA is my hair. Despite all my…
And A(round 2) We Go
The rest of Cycle one of CRLX101 wasn’t as uneventful as the first day of infusion led me to believe it would be; I am not unscathed after all. (Did I really venture to say I was unscathed OUT LOUD?) There was actually a bit of scathing that went on as the days went on….