Catching Up

The leaves have not all turned yet, but maybe the cooler weather this weekend will help. Here are a few around my neighborhood and on the way to work. I love this time of year.

I've been a terrible blogger this week. For the past few days I've had a cold and just doing my normal activities is about all I can drag through!

Wednesday I had my 6-month check-up at Duke. Since I had breast cancer in 2004, I have been seen there first every 3 months, then 6 months, and Wednesday I graduated to a year! Yeah! I have to say everything about Duke is wonderful. I love my oncologist, surgeon, the chemo nurses were exceptional, and the nurse practitioners great. But, the drive and the wait for tests and doctors appointments makes it a long day, so moving to once a year is welcome.

I had a great check-up. Mammogram read "no sign of cancer" no better words for a survivor to hear. My bone density showed a 3.5% increase in bone in my spine which means I won't be getting too much shorter soon! It was all a great relief.

For BC month, volunteers had a table set up with lots of materials and give-a-ways and provided a delicious lunch for all the breast cancer patients and their families with appointments that day. I've been so fortunate to live close enough to Duke to have the opportunity to get all my treatments and follow-up there.

Last night I watched the movie on Lifetime about the doctor who developed the drug Herceptin, which has made such a difference in the diagnosis of breast cancer for some women. I fall in that group and was selected for a clinical trial for Herceptin. My clinical trial was to see if it would help prevent cancer from returning in women whose cancer had not spread. At the time I started the treatment it would have not been covered by my insurance so I would not have gotten the treatment had I not been selected. It was surprising to me in watching the movie how long this doctor had worked on Herceptin and hard it was to get support for it. I'm very thankful he kept trying!

Starting Thursday night I came home from work just wiped out - later that night my throat got sore and nose stopped up. I rarely have a cold and hope this doesn't last too much longer. I haven't been out of the house this weekend except for yesterday afternoon when we went to see The Secret Life of Bees. I had read the book and was not disappointed by the movie. It is wonderful! I heartily recommend it.

I have done a little knitting this weekend (when I am not napping). I am now on the sleeves of B's sweater. On yeah, an update on that. If you remember I was worried about the size. When she was here last weekend I had her try it on, and even though it was big, so wanted it that way so asked me not to make it any smaller. I hope it will work.

And I leave you with a picture of my little helper from last weekend. She loves to help her Mama clean, and she loves to dress up! She was a little diva with the knitted fun fur scarf.

Have a good week!

Breast Cancer Friends

Going through any serious illness is not a lot of fun. Breast cancer is no different. There are lots of down sides to it - realizing you are not immortal, going to the doctor's office a zillion times (unless you like that sort of thing), losing your hair (and in many cases one or more breasts), feeling tired & crappy a good part of the time, sitting or lying for hours getting chemo, getting a wicked sunburn from radiation, spending tons of money on treatment, drugs, travel back & forth (thank God gas wasn't as high then, I drove 140 miles every week for over a year for chemo and 80 miles every day for 30+ days for radiation).

That was the bad - but there was good - finding wonderful support and friends in unlikely places. I was very lucky and had two good friends at work, one had gone through the same journey a couple of years earlier and one went through the same time as me. They were teriffic.

One of the best things to ever happen to me was a great group of friends I met through the internet. Early after my diagnosis I found breastcancer.org, which has a ton of information and lots of support through discussion groups. Every month a new group started of people starting chemo that month. In August 2004, I waited for a group to form and when it didn't I jumped in and posted first. One by one a great group formed. Some posted for awhile and then dropped out, but several of us stuck it out, through all our treatments and after. Sadly, we lost two wonderful sisters during this time - Karen and Frances. They were so young (30's), both wives and mothers and I still miss them today, so can just imagine how much they are missed by their families. Eventually, the ones of us still hanging in there switched over from bc.org to a Yahoo group and there we continue today. We don't post as much or as often as before, but I still cherish their support and friendship.

Two years ago, four of us - Nela (from Portugal), Kathy (Connecticut), Clare (from Canada) and I (Virginia) were able to meet in NYC for a wonderful weekend. I hope we can again and hope next time Patti & Candy will be able to come also.

Clear for Another Six Months

Today was a long day! I went to work this morning, but ate a quick lunch at my desk and left at 12:45 to go to Duke Medical Center for my six month check up.

In May of 2004 I was diagnosed with breast cancer - had a lumpectomy and then chemo and radiation. I saw the doctor every 3 weeks at first, then every 6 weeks, then 3 months, and finally am now down to every 6 months. In addition to seeing the oncologist I usually have some kind of test too. Since I was in a clinical trial they monitor bone density and heart condition also so I have regular echo cardiograms, bone density tests, and of course the beloved mammogram. This time it was bone density - by far the easiest. I had good results from everything and even my blood pressure was lower than it has been in a long time. I started on a low dose bp med last summer, but even with that it has been just slightly elevated. Today it was actually perfect.

It takes about an hour & 15 minutes to drive to Duke from here so we didn't get home till after 7 pm. Like I said, a LONG day.