Shooting for $$$

Thanks for all the emails and comments from last week's blog entry.   I know it was a bit controversial, but I had to get it out there.  Again, I have lots of Stage I survivor friends that are awesome, its just the crazy ones seem to find me too.  

Anyway, it's the end of September so it means it's Pink Pigeons time!  Pink Pigeons is a Sporting Clay tournament supporting Breast Cancer - specifically Pink Ribbons Project.  My husband, Clint, and his best buddy, Nathan Bane, came up with the idea and ran with it.  This was the 2nd annual Pink Pigeons Tournament.  There were 44 teams which was a sell out!!!  We raised over $108,000 for breast cancer.  Yes, that is correct!!!  $108,000!!!

I am so proud of my husband and Nathan as well as the Pink Ribbon Project ladies!  Also the supporting sponsors and all the shooters were just incredible...we couldn't have done it without them of course.  Here's some pics from the event!

Me and Clint being interviewed for a TV spot

My friend Georgette Jacob shooting with Matt looking on

My friend Michelle Norman hanging out with the gang and watching

Some guy with his tricked out Ranger...it was crazy!

So it will be 8 weeks since my surgery on Monday.  I'm really starting to feel good.  I started working out today and it's been way too long.  I finally went out and bought myself a pilates machine instead of paying out the rear for the lessons at a gym or studio.  Had a blast but I'm sore.  I'm gonna try to run tomorrow morning.  

Mentally, I'm really doing better than I was a couple of weeks ago.  Back then, I was struggling to get back in my "groove".  I don't think I was "depressed" just didn't know how to go about getting on with the rest of my life.  I think I was just mentally exhausted and just wanted to lie low for a while.  I'm still a little tired, but definitely making a come back.  I really thought I would mentally come out the surgery with a vengance.  I feel like its been more like a whimper.  I guess that's OK.  It's been good for me to get back to work and it was really good for me to get my hair colored.  YES!  it's now a golden blond color.  I LOVE IT!!! It's amazing how something so simple like hair color can bring me back to life.  It really is the little things.  Or maybe I just enjoy the little things a lot more these days. 

Until next time!

Moon shots and Competitive cancer

Yesterday I was honored to be a VIP at the MD Anderson news conference announcing the 8 cancers that are officially a part of the "Moon shot" program.  The program is a very aggressive initiative to go after cancer in 8 specific areas putting at least 3 BILLION Dollars behind the 10 year project that expects to find a cures for the various cancers.  The 8 cancers include acute myeloid leukemia and myelodysplastic syndrome, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, melanoma, lung cancer, prostate cancer, and breast and ovarian triple negative cancer.  There were various speakers at the news conference including the president of MDA, Dr. DePinho and a triple negative cancer survivor named Brie.  Again, I felt honored to be invited.  I am just thrilled with MD Anderson's commitment to fighting cancer and finding better treatments and cures.

What was interesting is that during the Q&A session there seemed to be more questions about the cancers that WERE NOT selected.  Of course these questions were asked by survivors and advocates of those cancers.  One question asked by a woman sitting next to me was about initiatives for pediatric oncology (her son was a leukemia survivor).  This brings me to the topic I have been wanting to write about for a while.  The sport that no one may have ever heard of...competitive cancer.  Yes, folks...it does exist and it exists in many different forms.  Here's just a few of the different types of competitive cancer:

1.  Fishing for funding

2.  Rumbling for research

3.  "I had it worse than you" storytelling

4.  The Blame Game...yes, even Bush can be blamed for cancer

5.  My all time favorite, "Embellishing and adding drama to my early stage cancer in front of a late stage cancer survivor."  

I think the first two are pretty self explanatory.  There is so much competition from just fund raising between cancers and then even within a specific cancer itself.  Also, the competition is fierce for research initiatives, who gets what trial, and even how much research goes to early stage vs late stage.  I saw that there is a lot of it that even goes on at a wonderful place such as MDA.  I can understand the disappointment for the survivors and physicians who's cancers were not selected as a moon shot, but I personally think that the moon shot initiative will help us ALL in the long run.  I don't have triple negative breast cancer, but can understand why that would be included as a moon shot.  It is the "forgotten" breast cancer, but can be the most aggressive and deadly.  I am extremely happy for triple negative breast cancer survivors and congratulate them on being part of this major initiative.  

The final 3 I listed may be more because I have a cancer that affects predominantly females and can sometimes have more of a "sorority" feel to it therefore the competitiveness.  The 5th one has gotten so bad that most times when I meet a breast cancer survivor that is stage I, I look for the first opportunity to run away.  

The most recent Stage I interaction came while I was standing in line at MDA to check in to see my oncologist.  There were 2 ladies talking in front of me.  The one that was doing most of the talking was a Stage I lady that had been 2 years out of diagnosis.  I was trying to do my best to act busy and preoccupied so they wouldn't ask me any questions, but talkative Stage I lady couldn't help her self.  She started out by saying to me how young I was to have cancer and how I'm just starting my journey since my hair was just growing out.  She was actually being quite condescending to me in my opinion.  I then informed her that actually I was not "new" to breast cancer and that I had been in treatment for 3 years since I have metastatic breast cancer.  

Here's her response, "wow, so did you just wait too long to get treatment once you found your cancer?"  

What I wanted to say to her was, "wow, are you just that stupid and insensitive to say such a thing to me?"  

But instead I just told her, "no, I didn't know I had the cancer in my breast until it was stage IV."  

Of course she then went on about how well I was doing and how great I looked so there is lots of hope.  

To all my fellow Stage I ladies out there, I don't mean to say all of you are like this.  I just seem to find every single lady who is, or I should say... they find me.  But here's something to think about,  please don't offer advice or condescending remarks to a late stage survivor...you have really no idea of what we are going through so just stop.  Especially those of you who didn't have to go through chemo.  

Then, again I have never been really good at getting along with other women so why should it be different now that I have breast cancer? LOL!!

Until next time!

I'm BAAAA-AAAACK!!!

So it's been a while...I'm still here, still hanging in.  Last blog post was months ago and lots has happened.  Here it goes:

I was in the new clinical trial for 5 months.  Let me just say that the Taxol/Aurora Kinase inhibitor trial kicked my ass.  I was neutropenic, anemic, and basically would sleep all the time due to crazy fatigue.  At one point I was doing 3-4 shots of Neupogen a week just to get me to the next weekly treatment.  It was crazy.  But it worked!  I had two great CT scans and then went back to see Dr. Curly to see if I could revisit the liver resection.

In the meantime, I had a biopsy on my right breast where I had a lump.  You guessed it...malignant.  So I had another primary tumor in my right breast, but luckily had not traveled to my lymph nodes.  I also had a small lump biopsied under my left armpit...malignant too!  Wow!  

Fast forward to August 6 at MD Anderson.  I had my liver resection, right mastectomy, and the left underarm lump removed (they also removed my gallbladder).  8 hours of surgery, 3 surgeons, and little ole me.  It all went well and I stayed in the hospital for 6 days.  Nothing exciting in the hospital except for lots of nausea, some pain, and LOTS of sleep.  So here I am today almost 6 weeks out from my surgery.

They seemed to have got all the cancer that we could find.  So now I'm considered NED which means "no evidence of disease".  Yay!  Do they consider me cured?  No.  Will the cancer come back?  Who knows.  If it does, when?  Anytime, except if I make it 3 years out from the surgery with no disease then my chances of it coming back diminish significantly according to MD Anderson statistics.  

So today I started my new, post-surgery treatment.  I will be on monthly Zoladex injections to put me in menopause and monthly Faslodex injections to prevent Estrogen from binding to any cancer in my body.  Faslodex is not a chemo, its an anti-hormonal.  I won't lose my hair.  Yay!  Hopefully this will keep the cancer away.  

Until then I get to live life and take things day by day.  My next CT scans aren't scheduled until December and until then I say, "ignorance is bliss."  

Sorry for being gone so long...I hope to be much more frequent about things happening in my life and with my non-profit, Suites of Hope.  I'll save Suites of Hope for next time!