Please support us as we take the amazing journey in the fight against breast cancer! The Breast Cancer 3-Day is a 60-mile walk over the course of three days. I walked in the 2006 event as a 14 month survivor and it was a most amazing time for me. February 2007, I was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer. I vow to participate as a 28 month survivor of this wicked disease. I will have the gift of walking with my son, David, and several of my friends. David wants to help raise money so we can find a cure for me and anyone else with this horrible disease. I hope and pray I am well enough to walk with David. If not David will walk it with my friends. I argue David is my hero but he argues I am his hero! We can both agree we really admire each other.

We need to raise $4,400 ($2,200 each) for both of us to participate in the walk. Please join us in our celebration of life and God

I have just finished course one of chemo. It a combination of two drugs called Abraxane and Gemzar. It’s a very aggressive protocol and we have very high hopes for it. Next week I start course 2:1 with three weeks of chemo every Friday then one week off. I also get Avastin every two week. The plan is for a minimum of 6 courses of chemo based on effectiveness. Aug 20th we go back to Houston to see the progress we are making. The hair is thinning so I just had it shaved for a summer doo until it all falls out. I’ve done this before and it is certainly one of the easier side effects. Hair is way over rated. The new doo it much cooler and takes getting ready to 5 minutes. The chemo is a bit tough on the body and I just had my first hospitalization of 4 days. They left me on my steroids for the week to keep the GI group calm and happy. I hate taking steroids but all is well when it comes in beating this beast. My white count (wbc), red count (rbc) and platelets are very low. They gave me a shot to boost my rbc, and started me back on my wbc booster (once daily x 5 days). The only count I can’t “medicate” for is my platelets. I need those to raise another 20 points so I can get my full regiment of chemo next week. They could give me a transfusion but we really don’t want to do this. We are not afraid!!!! With my team of prayer warriors, we have this covered. Read the rest of this entry »

I had a small set back Sunday. I was having fever, chills, and severe abdominal pain. It increased all day to the point I called the doctor in the afternoon. They had me go to the ER. The ER worked me up and admitted me with a pain pump and medicine for the nausea. The team is great here at All Saints. I’m on the 7th floor of the building. They are monitoring me quite closely.

Monday afternoon the doctors came by. The fever and chills were better but the nausea, vomiting were more out of control and pain management still needed some tweaking. From my lab work it looked like either severe gastritis or a gallbladder problem induced by Friday

I had my lab work drawn Friday and then saw the nurse practitioner prior to my scheduled chemo visit. The good news is my red blood cell count and platelets are normal. The bad news is my white blood cell count was less than 1 with an ANC of 400, (YIKES… this makes them all VERY unhappy and nervous). They slapped a mask on me and sent me to get a shot of Neupogen; this will help raise my white count. It also means no chemo this week. I’m grounded and can’t be in public for a week: no fresh flowers, fruits or vegetables, no small children, no yard work or emptying the cat boxes. Read the rest of this entry »