Hello family and friends -

I hope you are all doing well and ready for football Sunday. I can't lose with today's game! :-)

In case you were curious, I'm doing well with respect to the medication. I'm still taking the same: Ibrance and Anastrazole (both daily oral) and Lupron and Zometa (monthly injection & infusion). I'm experiencing very few side effects. The hormone medication makes me a bit stiff and achy (and I have a lot of hot flashes). I get tired more easily and occasionally have some GI challenges. Other than that, things are pretty much "normal". I'm not losing hair.

As some of you know, when my bloodwork is done they run a test called CA 27-29 as a potential proxy for metastatic breast cancer (MBC). The lower the number the better. My number continues to drop which is an indication the medication is doing what it is supposed to do! We don't know for sure, but it is encouraging. (I started at 122 and have dropped to 72; ideally we'd like it below 38).

More info on the CA 27-29 test and what the numbers mean is available from the this website.

My blood work has been good and I am able to stay on the highest dose of medication.

Life continues as normal as possible. Evelyn participated in homecoming and was the Sophomore representative to the homecoming court. Maddy is immersed in dance 9 hours a week plus working on her solo. Glen and I are working on the house (mostly him). I'm sharing some photos of the amazing work he did in the basement. He insisted we get a treadmill so it is easier for me to walk in winter. In preparation he redid the entire floor! It looks great and I'm so grateful. As you probably know Glen is the best ️.

Future - I will go for checks monthly going forward. Mid-October I see the nurse PA. I'll have another CT/PET scan after that and will see the oncologist mid-November where he'll give me the results and plan for future treatment.

We appreciate you all and miss you.

Donna (& Glen)

p.s. October is "breast cancer awareness" month. Later this week I'll share my favorite resources and groups to support. We really don't need more awareness - we need research (and a cure).