Prayers needed

I will be brief today.  My family and I are in need of prayer.  This week I have my routine, every-3-month scans, and also a couple extra tests.  I've been having some new symptoms and have not been feeling well.  In addition, we are feeling God lead us in a new direction that could potentially impact our lives in a major way (as if worsening cancer symptoms wasn't enough!)  We know He is in control, but we are struggling to understand it all as we seek to discern His will.

Health & Office Update

Since my last post I've received a full cycle of Abraxane (Once weekly x3 weeks.)  Next week is my one week off, then I see Dr. Coscio and most likely proceed to another cycle.  Scans (CT of chest, abdomen & pelvis; whole body bone scan; and chest x-ray) are scheduled for February 25th.  In the meantime, I had tumor marker levels done, and I am concerned, although I viewed the results online and have not seen my doctor to discuss -- bad thing about being able to look at my own medical record.  For the past several readings, my CA 15-3 has been hovering around 11 or 12.  Normal range is 0-25.  The time before last, it was 16.  This time it is 19.6, so it appears to be trending upward.

Although hair and eyelash growth during my "chemo holiday" was exciting (I actually DID wear mascara last week!), it did make me worry that the cancer cells were also growing.  The tumor marker level seems to suggest that this may be the case.  :(((((  I am anxious to be scanned again and see what is going on, if anything.  I hope I don't regret agreeing to the chemo break.  Being a cancer patient sucks!

On to a much, much lighter note...
Our new office is nearly move-in ready!  Not yet complete, but complete enough for us to move in and get rid of our "temporary" piece-a-junk office trailer (which we've had for over 4 years!)  I have so enjoyed designing the new space and seeing my ideas and vision come to life.  IT. IS. GORGEOUS!  Nothing fancy.  Just a tiny, country-rustic, former 2-car garage plus addition, that's been transformed into our own place that includes an office for two, dining counter, mini-kitchen, half bath, and two generous workstations for our Pink Ribbon Shop worker bees.  It also includes some smart storage to (hopefully) help keep us organized and neat.  Can't wait!  So thankful that Danny and his Dad are able to do all the work, saving us $1000's. Actually, if not for that fact, we wouldn't have been able to take the project on at all.  I will post pics once it's done.

In preparation for the big move, I've been doing major cleaning out of the trailer ... throwing out a bunch and reorganizing what's left.  So liberating!  We seem to have a LOT of pink ribbon sample items lying around. Stuff that for whatever reason, didn't make it into our product line, but is still nice.  I am thinking of creating a "Bargain Bin" department on our site to sell off some of these miscellaneous items.  Like a pink ribbon dollar store!  Hmm, going to have to think some more on this.

And also...
A new year means I am now a 14 Year Survivor!  Eight of those years with stage IV breast cancer. I want to take this time to say that I appreciate all the well-wishes and positive feedback I've received from our customers all these years.  And thanks for reading.

Happy New Year, Y'all!

Happy New Year!  The holiday season is over, and so is my chemo holiday.  This week I resumed my weekly Abraxane and monthly Zometa infusions.  It was great not having to think about my chemo treatments over the holidays.  Actually, I had high, high hopes of this period being a utopia of pre-chemo energy levels, healing fingernails, totally improved neuropathy symptoms, and just overall NOT feeling like a cancer patient.  Why I did this to myself, I don't know!  I did feel a little better.  My fingernail and toenail issues didn't improve, but they didn't worsen.  The numbness in my fingers didn't improve, but it didn't worsen either.  And my hair started to grow back, which was exciting.  I currently have a pretty full fuzz on my head (although Danny says that it is still thin -- even thinner than his!)  It's a huge improvement over the chemo fuzz (as I call it) that I have to shave periodically because it's so icky/ugly and sparse.  And I swear, in a couple of weeks I'd be ready to wear some mascara!  Whootwoot!  Eyelashes are growing in nicely.

Sounds great and all, but my excitement quickly faded to disappointment, as a realized that wait, this is just a chemo break.  I will start back up on January 7th, and all of these improvements will go away.  Wah, wah, wahhhhhhh!  I am thankful for the break, but reality sure is a bummer.

My family from Louisiana and Dallas visited over Christmas, then we took a trip to Louisiana 12/27-31.  We had quality visiting time with Dwayne & Lisa (my brother- and sister-in-law) who were excellent hosts, as usual.  We also spent lots of time with my parents and sister and ate some delicious home-fried shrimp ... yum!  I took the girls to the riverfront, Café du Monde & the French Market in New Orleans, and got to meet with a dear old high school friend whom I hadn't seen in a long time.  The guys went hunting -- David shot his first deer with the rifle my dad gave him for Christmas.  We had our fill of all our favorite foods and restaurants, and probably gained more than a few pounds in the process.  Overall it was a great Christmas!  Oh, except for the fact that we waited until the weekend before Christmas to get a tree, then it rained that whole weekend, so we decided to forgo getting the tree and decorating because it was only going to be for a couple of days since we knew we would be travelling just 2 days later.  I will never do that again!  Everyone was disappointed that there was no tree or decorations or stockings.  And that made me sad, although I must admit that I felt liberated (and also Scrooge-like) not having to take it all out, put it all up, then dread taking it all down and putting it all away again.  We actually had a "Christmas chair" where we piled all the gifts.  How sad is that!?  From now on, Christmas tree time is right after Thanksgiving!

And now, it's back to work at The Pink Ribbon Shop.  Lotsa goings-on here.  Will catch y'all up later.

Thanks for reading!

Thanks Obama!

Just thought I'd throw my two cents in ...

For the past 7 years, my health insurance has been through the Texas Insurance Risk Pool.  It's insurance for people with pre-existing conditions who are unable to obtain an individual health insurance policy through regular avenues.  Since we have our own business, and it's a small business, we are ineligible for a group policy.  So the pool has been a godsend!  The premiums are about double what a healthy person would pay, but thankfully we have been able to afford it.  Well, let's say we have made it a priority in our lives because we can't afford the alternative of having cancer and no insurance.  We have always "played by the rules" in that we have never been without health insurance, always doing what we had to do to have it for our family.

Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, the Texas Insurance Risk Pool will no longer exist as of 1/1/14.  It makes sense.  Now that insurance companies can no longer exclude people with pre-existing conditions, there is no need for the Risk Pool to exist.  We can get insurance elsewhere.  I've been very happy with my policy, but I can't keep it.  However, now I have lots of options and my premiums should be much lower than they are currently.  I think I am in the small minority of people who will be helped by Obamacare!

Aside from the inconvenience of having to go find another policy, I thought all would be good.  I decided to stick with the same insurance company who handles the Insurance Risk Pool.  I've been a satisfied customer, and they have a large network of providers.  But, recently I received a letter from MD Anderson (my primary and only healthcare provider) stating that although they accept this company's insurance now, because of the instability of the health care market, they cannot guarantee that they will continue to do so!  WHAT???!!!

Sooooo, even though I thought that the ACA wasn't going to negatively affect my healthcare issues, but in fact help me out financially, now it appears that my doctor and healthcare facility MAY OR MAY NOT be "in-network."  The creation of the Affordable Care Act has caused my insurance program to be cancelled, and may even cause me to have to leave MD Anderson and be treated elsewhere for my Stage IV breast cancer!  Talk about my life being turned upside down!

I credit MD Anderson for keeping me alive.  I would not be alive today if I had not decided to seek my medical care there 7 years ago.  I can't stand the thought of going anywhere else!!

THANKS OBAMA!!!

Test results and chemo holiday!!!

I consulted with Dr. Moulder, another breast cancer oncologist at MD Anderson who is working on the "Clearinghouse" research study.  This, as I mentioned earlier, is a database of patients' tumor tissues/cells that are tested for genetic mutations or irregularities (totally different than BRCA gene testing.)  The findings help determine which drugs or kind of drugs the cancer cells would be most sensitive to, and will be available in my medical record for all time, much like tumor characteristics such as hormone sensitivity (ER/PR positive/negative) and Her2Neu status.  It's very personalized medicine -- the future of cancer research.  And the future is NOW at MD Anderson Cancer Center.  So happy to get my tumors in the study!  Also glad that all it takes for me, now, is another blood draw and signing papers authorizing them to use the tumor tissue they already have from my previous biopsies and mastectomy.  Easy peasy, but such valuable information!  Amazing what they are doing nowadays in cancer research.

Thankfully, the direction of my CURRENT treatment does NOT depend on the results of this genetic testing.  According to my latest CT scans and bone scan, overall my cancer is STABLE!  Yayyyy!  The bone metastases has all been stable (not growing yet not going away) for some time now.  This is where the majority of my metastases are --fairly widespread in the spine, ribs, femurs, etc. They are closely monitoring metastases in my lungs and liver, and they see very slight growth on those small tumors.  I am told that the minimal growth noted on the scans could be related to the way the tumors were "sliced" during the imaging process.  I trust that this is all it is, and not some really slow-growing tumors that are difficult to treat.  Regardless, even if it IS ever-so-slight tumor growth in the lungs and liver, the changes are not significant enough to warrant changing my treatment plan.  And, none of the metastatic lesions are affecting my level of health (from the medical personnel's point of view, that is.  I can feel that my lungs are not operating at 100%.)  My move to Abraxane over a year ago was prompted by slight tumor growth AND a pleural effusion.  I have no pleural effusion (fluid around the lungs) at present.

Soooo, great news, right?  Even BETTER is that Dr. Coscio is allowing me to have a "chemo holiday" over the holidays!  The plan is that I will finish out the 4-week cycle that I'm on now (last infusion on 11/20,) and then instead of taking only a week off and starting up again, I will have 6 WEEKS OFF!  Honestly I don't really know anymore how it feels to not be on chemo.  Surely I will feel better!  I think I have adjusted to this "new normal," so I am hoping to feel different/improved not having poison infused into my body on a weekly basis.  The holiday season is usually packed with family activities, and this year we are planning to squeeze in a visit to our family in Louisiana as well.  Should be FUN!!!!!

Thanks for reading!

October Craziness is Settling Down

October craziness is settling down here at The Pink Ribbon Shop.  Our little league football season is almost over, as is high school marching band season.  That means more family time for us, at least for the next few weeks!  Yay!  We enjoy being active and busy, but it's good to have some down time, too.

This week, I am scheduled to have my every-3-month scans and tests.  Whole body bone scan, CT scan of the chest, abdomen & pelvis, and labwork including tumor marker studies.  I have some anxiety, as usual!  I know that God is in control (of everything!) but being human, it is difficult for me to not worry about what the results might be.  Not sure if I've mentioned it here before, but for the last 4-week cycle of Abraxane, Dr. Coscio reduced my dose by 10%.  This will be a permanent change ... well, for as long as the Abraxane is working I guess.  The peripheral neuropathy symptoms were getting more severe, and I was just plain tired of being without energy.  And also the chemobrain ... I can't remember anything!  It is frustrating to be a (relatively) young woman and to have such a bad memory. It's like I have this cloud of fogginess in my brain.  I feel like I can never be totally sure of whatever facts I'm trying to communicate.  It's a very bad feeling.  And I feel sorry for my family who has to deal with my fogginess!

Next week, I am scheduled to see a new doctor.  Dr. Moulder is a breast cancer oncologist who works at the main campus at MD Anderson.  She is one of the investigators on a research study being conducted that Dr. Coscio wants to get me signed on to.  Although the Abraxane is working for me now, she wants me to get set up to participate in the study, so that when I need to, I will be good to go. I don't know all the details, but the way I understand it, they will run some additional genetic testing (I've already had BRCA-1 & 2) on my tumor cells.  They will then use information gleaned from that testing to determine which treatments I would most likely benefit from and which ones I would not.  High tech, cutting edge stuff!  I am SO, SO thankful that I'm being treated at the #1 cancer treatment center in the world!

Pink Ribbon King Cake

It's breast cancer awareness month!  Time for all the pink ribbons to come out, time for the NFL to turn pink, and time for pink ribbon king cakes!  What's a pink ribbon king cake?  I'm glad you asked!

Simply put, a king cake is a New Orleans-style pastry that's popular during the Mardi Gras season.  A melt-in-your-mouth Danish dough, braided with cinnamon and sugar, is baked to perfection and topped with fondant icing adorned with colorful sugars.  But unlike traditional New Orleans king cakes, the pink ribbon king cake is breast cancer awareness ribbon-shaped!  And unlike the traditional purple, green & gold coloration of Mardi Gras king cakes, the pink ribbon king cake is topped with pink sugar and sprinkles.

I am excited to announce that for the second consecutive year, world-famous Haydel's Bakery in New Orleans is offering their pink ribbon king cakes in support of breast cancer research.  For every pink ribbon king cake sold during October, Haydel's will donate $5.00 to The Pink Ribbon Shop Fund for Breast Cancer Research.  Woohoooo!  Thank you, Haydel's Bakery!!  (As I write this, I am watching my New Orleans Saints take a big lead in Monday Night Football ... WhoDat!)

This partnership is a huge honor for us.  Growing up in the New Orleans area, Haydel's was our go-to bakery for the best king cakes, chocolate doberge cakes (my personal favorite birthday cake,) and other sweet goodies such as petit fours and eclairs.  So to have the Haydel's family create the pink ribbon king cake and have its proceeds benefit our research fund, well ... it's just plain wonderful.

And I'm not done yet.  This is my blog and if I want to talk more about the pink ribbon king cake, I will, LOL.  I personally think that it is one beautiful cake!  However, last year, a Facebook fan of The Pink Ribbon Shop commented that it wasn't a very pretty cake.  I was highly offended!  Who, in New Orleans, would EVER think that a king cake was unattractive?  I get it, though.  If you're not FROM New Orleans, you may think that the only cakes that are pretty are tailored and fondant-rich.  You just don't understand.  Pretty cakes (on the world's standards anyway) don't have the back history of the Mardi Gras culture.  There's nothing tying their flavor to a lifestyle, to a particular time of year, to the sights & smells of Mardi Gras.  If you don't know about king cakes, if you haven't experienced Mardi Gras as a New Orleans native, you don't GET it.  And that's OK ... just don't talk bad about my king cake, before you try one!

And now that there are pink ribbon king cakes in honor of breast cancer awareness month, it's the perfect time to try one.  Not only are Haydel's king cakes the BEST, but you don't even have to live in NOLA to get one.  They ship!  Geaux get you one before October is over.

Lastly, Haydelicious (Haydel's Bakery blog) posted a very nice feature last week on the pink ribbon king cake and ME.  Check out the favorable press from our home town!

Our New Office -- Coming Soon

Quick little update of what's going on here at The Pink Ribbon Shop...

For the past several months, Danny and his Dad have been working on renovating a "shack" on our property that is to become our new office.  By renovating, I mean even replacing all of the studs, windows, doors, and making everything new except for the truss-style ceiling/roof structure.  I wish I had taken photos that accurately capture the dilapidated condition this building was in!  Termite damage, wood rot, mold & mildew, critter infestation ... it was quite a sight.  Not to mention it was filled with its previous tenant's moisture-soaked furniture and interesting "collection" of 80's headbanger records, memorabilia, and beer steins.  Aside from all that, it's been an exciting time for me, planning the space and all the details, even with our barebones budget.  Finally we can see the light at the end of the tunnel and it is all coming together nicely.  We hope to be moving in in the next couple of months, which means "Bye bye, mobile rental office trailer!"  Our 12x60 rental trailer was to be a temporary fix until our new warehouse/office could be built.  That was over 4 years ago!  As many of you know, stuff happens, and things don't always work out like WE have planned.  It's all in God's hands, and His timing, too!  Our new warehouse was not meant to be, at least not yet, and we settled into our small warehouse and made do with that and the "temporary" office trailer arrangement.  Once the new office is completed, we will no longer be paying rent, and our property will look SO much cuter without the big honkin' trailer on it.  Can't wait!!!

I will definitely post pictures of our new digs once it's completed and we are moved in.  :)

Fundraising Milestone and Great News!

Well, first things first ... Scans showed mostly "stable" findings.  There was slight increase in size of 2 nodules in the lung, but the increase was only about 2mm, which was considered insignificant.  All of the bone metastases, widespread though they are, appear to be just hanging out -- not going away, but not getting any worse/larger either.  The pleural effusion has not returned, and no enlarged lymph nodes are visible in my chest or other places.  Tumor marker (CA15-3) is holding steady at 12.something, well within the "normal" range of 0-25.  YAY ME!!!

I am approaching one year of being on Abraxane, and I guess you could say that it's been a huge success overall.  It's certainly not fun being on chemotherapy, and it has its ups and down, but knowing that it's working to keep me alive, makes it worthwhile!  The plan is for me to remain on Abraxane for as long as it's doing its job.  In the short term, that's at least another 3-4 months, after which I will have my scans and tumor markers repeated.

Speaking of being on Abraxane for the long haul, here's a funny story ... NOT!  A couple months ago, the receptionist at my doctor's office asked "You should be just about finished now, right?"  She was referring to my chemo course.  Most cancer patients go on chemo for a prescribed, set number of treatments or rounds, then they're done.  They "ring the bell" and celebrate being done with chemo!  Not the case with me, since I have stage IV cancer.  I answered something like "Actually, no, I'll be on this chemo until it stops working."  Then, with a big smile, SHE said, "Well I hope that happens real soon."  WHAT!?  That's got to be tops among stupid things to say to a cancer patient!!!  There is so much I could have said, but I just stood there, speechless, with my mouth open and my brow furled.  I very quickly determined that it would be futile to respond anyway to someone like this.  Danny and I got a big laugh out of that one.  Only it's actually kind of sad that someone could be that ignorant.  Especially someone who works at the patient reception desk at a cancer center!

More BIG NEWS  If you've been a regular reader here, you may know or remember that at the end of 2011, we established The Pink Ribbon Shop Fund for Breast Cancer Research at MD Anderson Cancer Center.  We are still working to find just the right breast cancer research study to fund, but until then, the Fund continues to grow.  We are VERY, VERY excited to announce that the Fund's balance is nearing $50,000!  We are simply amazed and awed at how God has worked through our little family-run business to make this happen!  We are so thankful to all of our customers who have helped us get this far!  Being so close to the $50K mark, we thought it wouldn't hurt to celebrate a little early and ask everyone to chip in and help us reach this milestone in a BIG way!  There are several ways you can help:

• Purchase our Funding the Cure with The Pink Ribbon Roundup bracelet bands.  Wear one, and give some to spread the word!  100% of your purchase goes to the Fund.
• Make a donation at The Pink Ribbon Shop's Pink Ribbon Roundup Donation Page.  It's an easy way to donate $1.00, $5.00, or $10.00, without feeling obligated to make a purchase.  Of course, 100% of your donation made here will benefit the Fund.
• Make a generous, tax-deductible donation of $25.00 or more at our MD Anderson MyGiving Page.  The money will go straight to our Fund, and you'll receive a nice thank you from MD Anderson.  (Note:  The MyGiving Page shows only the total amount donated via the the MyGiving page, and does not accurately reflect the Fund's actual balance.  At this time, the actual balance is approximately $10,000 more than shown.)
• Shop at The Pink Ribbon Shop and make a $1.00 donation using the "Donation Opportunity" checkbox @ checkout.  These $1.00 donations really add up!

THANK YOU, THANK YOU in advance for helping us reach the $50,000 mark!  We couldn't have done it without you.

And thanks for reading!

Awaiting scan results, and other happenings

Today, I anxiously await a call from my doctor regarding last week's bone scan and CT scans.  Usually I would have a follow-up appointment with the doctor to get the results of these tests that I have done approximately every 3-4 months.  Since my doctor is out of the office this week (stay-cation, per our conversation last week,) she said she would contact me with the results either Friday (3 days ago) or Monday (today.)  Danny asked how I felt about that -- getting results by phone or email (actually MDA's messaging service.)  I feel fine about it as long as it's good results!  It's a time that all cancer patients stress over.  Waiting for test results.  No matter where you are in your cancer journey, it's normal to worry.  I know this from LOTS of experience, and also from relating to other cancer patients and survivors.  Of course my mind tends to dwell on the possible negatives.  Is she not calling me because she's contemplating how to break the bad news to me?  If so, is she now regretting that she agreed to contact me without a face-to-face appointment?  Has she forgotten to look up my results in the first place?  Oh, the power of negative thinking!  I am busying myself with setting up The Pink Ribbon Shop's Summer Sale, working on sports pictures for my son's youth football team, and making sure the girls' paperwork and supplies are in order for band camp which started today.  I went to the grocery.  We have family coming for dinner tonight (fried shrimp, YAY!)  But I know, that today is the day that I'm supposed to find out, and I am making sure my phone is with me, on my person, at all times.  It's just a layer of stress, or a cloud of stress, hanging over me.

I am feeling pretty good today.  My pinkie nail that was previously infected and had fallen off is coming back nicely... woohoo!  And I am healing up from my pass-out that occurred a few weeks ago.  Shortly before that, I had started doing some exercising.  Around the house, with weights.  Squats, lifts, etc.  Taking it real, real slow.  Went bike riding a couple times, me and David (my 10-year-old.)  I was feeling SO good!  On our way to bring the girls to Camp Lone Star (a Lutheran church camp a couple hours away,) I was telling Danny just how good I felt to be exercising again.  Love the feeling of getting stronger.  The endorphins were flowing, and I even thought that I already was looking better.  (probably not the case, as it hadn't been that long, but still, exercise will make you feel that good!)

I kid you not, later on THAT SAME DAY, I developed a fever and started having diarrhea again.  And I had no appetite whatsoever.  The fever got up to 101.8, late in the evening, and I just went to bed.  I couldn't bear the thought of making another trip to the emergency room.  Well the next morning, the fever was gone!  And never came back!  Thank goodness I decided not to rush to the ER since it was over 100.5 as the clinic advises.  However, the diarrhea continued, and I worried that the C. diff was back.  I had read that it has a high risk of recurrence, and since I am still on chemo, I was still at risk.  I laid around the house all weekend, not eating or drinking much, but feeling so-so.  I'm pretty sure I've covered this before, but maybe it's been a while.  I am a huge snowball fan.  Not snow cones, but snowballs.  Chocolate with cream, oh yeah!  Anyway ... I try to limit myself to snowballs only on the weekend, because if I don't, then sadly I am weak-willed and will get several a week.  Well, it was the weekend, and I figured what better time to get a large chocolate snowball when I am fighting against dehydration caused by diarrhea.  Right?  So I drive my weak & sick self and my 16-year-old daughter Christa to the snowball stand not far from the house.  It's about 100 degrees outside, give or take a few degrees.  There is no line, so thankfully there won't be a long wait.  We place our order.  I started to not feel well, so I sat down on the bench.  Then it was about our turn to pick up our snowballs, so we proceed to the pick-up window and stand in front, waiting.  I started to feel a little weak, then blackness came over my vision.  I remember saying "I don't feel good."

The next thing I remember, I open my eyes and say "I'm on the ground??"  I did not know why I was on the ground, or how I got to the ground, but I was on my back and there were several people standing over me.  Christa was on the phone with 9-1-1, clearly very shaken and worried.  My hat was gone and so were my sunglasses.  (Ahhh!  I'm in public, bald!)   According to Christa who witnessed the incident, I didn't respond when she was saying "Mom!  Mom!" and then I shook, then did some sort of weird and grotesque backwards lean over the railing of the snowball stand.  Luckily I did not continue over the rail backwards and head first, but went forward again and landed on the stand's porch, clunk-clunk-clunking my way to the porch floor.  It was only later that we pieced together all the clunking noises into a sequence of my injuries.

I awoke but still didn't feel up to getting up.  Sorry, Tropical SnowBalls, for passing out on your front porch then staying there for a while!  Surely that couldn't be good for business!  I did have the wherewithal to tell Christa to cancel the 9-1-1 call and just call her Dad to come get us.  Everyone around, which included the employees and customers of the snowball stand, was great -- very helpful and caring.  They applied cool wet rags to my neck and face and talked to me the whole time we waited for Danny to get there.  He got there real quick, helped me up and we headed to his truck to go home ... but I did make sure that one of us had my chocolate snowball in hand.  You know ... for later!

We went home and I went straight to bed.  I didn't know the extent of my injuries, or else they probably wouldn't have let me get in bed.  I started having pain in various places and we discovered that on the way down to the ground, I had hit my lower back, head, shoulder, and tailbone.  I had bruising and brushburn on my lower back (thank you railing.)  I had a bruise on my right shoulder, and a large red and sore area on the right side of my head.  The tailbone pain would "rear" its ugly head (I'm so punny) later.  I seemed to be fine, neurologically, and I recovered at home and took it easy the next few days.  The tailbone proved be the longest-lasting of all the injury's effects, and still today, about 5 weeks later, it is still bothersome.  But it IS improving, so I am happy for that, especially after reading that some tailbone injuries take weeks or months to heal, and some turn into lifelong pain issues!

Since all seemed to be healing up, and the diarrhea went away on its own (must not have been another bout of C. diff,) my chemo treatments continued as scheduled.  Didn't miss a one!  (Um, yay?)  At my next follow-up visit with the nurse practitioner, I detailed what had happened.  She was unmoved, and in her notes, proceeded to document the event with several inaccuracies such as  "Last week, she passed out during exercise." and "She did not hit her head."  Clearly we are not communicating well!!  At least she didn't say I had a "flat affect" like a previous note.

On another, yet bizarre note ...  one of my MD Anderson physicians was placed on administrative leave after allegedly POISONING HER LOVER with antifreeze!  I had only seen Dr. Gonzalez a couple of times, as she was my replacement main-campus doctor after Dr. Green left.  Danny forwarded me the Houston Chronicle article with the subject line "You've got to be kidding me!"  His dad had asked him if he heard of the MDA doctor who was arrested for allegedly poisoning her boyfriend.  Danny replied that no, he hadn't, but there are 100's if not 1000's of doctors at MDA.  A quick look-up and there she was, Dr. Gonzalez's mug shot and the story of how her physician boyfriend (with whom she had a "casual sexual relationship") had nearly died of kidney failure after she served him two strangely sweet tasting cups of coffee, even though he liked his coffee black!  His medical and lab findings were consistent with ethylene glycol poisoning.  Wow.  Just wow.

Needless to say, she is no longer one of my doctors, nor any other MDA patient's.  It's OK, because really, I didn't need two doctors.  Dr. Green, on the main campus, had been my primary oncologist for several years.  Dr. Coscio is my doctor at the Woodland's satellite location, and she mainly had been following my chemo schedules and infusions.  When Dr. Green left, she handed me to Dr. Gonzalez.  Since starting chemo last Summer, I was only seeing a doc downtown to get test/scan results.  All other times, usually about every 3-4 weeks, I was seeing Dr. Coscio.  And I really like her and am happy with her.  The decision to switch all of my care over to Dr. Coscio was now an easy one!   Honestly it was a bit awkward seeing her so often and developing a rapport with her, yet seeing a doctor I hardly knew (Dr. Gonzalez) for my test results every 3 months. Additionally, although Dr. Coscio is practicing as a general oncologist as one of just a handful of doctors at the MDA satellite campus @ the Woodlands, she explained that she is mostly seeing breast cancer patients and that breast cancer is her main specialty and interest.  She attends the weekly roundtable of breast cancer specialists where they meet at the main campus to discuss patients course of treatment and care.  So I feel a lot more comfortable knowing all of that about her, even though she is a relatively young doctor.  This little change uncomplicates my healthcare somewhat, which is always good!

Well, still waiting on results.  My only little worry is that I'm feeling a little discomfort just next to the sternum, on the right side.  This is how it felt when I had the enlarged lymph nodes adjacent to the sternum on the left side.  Hoping & praying for the best!  Want to stay on Abraxane for a long, long time!  I recently posted on the inspire.com forum for advanced breast cancer patients, asking how long others were on Abraxane.  The record:  8 YEARS!  Hope I can beat that!

Thanks for reading.  Be back soon.