April 30, 2020

Dear Friends and Family:

Apparently April gets 2 updates. With visits every 4 weeks like clockwork that is bound to happen. We hope you and your loved ones are safe, healthy and managing ok. I think sometimes being "ok" is all we should shoot for. That being said, we are fine here. I've said before we are fortunate. Glen and I are still working and the girls are old enough to take care of themselves.

My monthly visit to the oncologist went fine. I continue to have minor side effects from the medications and I've felt ok but not great lately. My blood work looked ok, not as great as I'd like. My tumor marker number rose a bit which was disappointing. It rose from 48 to 52. (I started at 122, ideally it would drop below 38.) I'll stay on the same medications as before.

My next appointment is the end of May. Right before that appointment I'll have scans repeated (CT scan and bone scan). I feel like I just had these done, time certainly does play tricks on your mind. Anyway, the scans are the real deal to see if the medications continue to work. I'm trying not to get scanxiety but it's hard.

In an effort to keep information in one place, I put together a simple Google site where I'll archive these monthly emails as well as share other information about metastatic breast cancer that I've learned over the past 10 months. I hope that I'm able to help people understand what breast cancer really is and how it's not the "good cancer" to get because it can be cured (yes, people have told me that). I'm always happy to answer questions or to share more information with you or anyone you think might be interested. I'd also love to be able to advance awareness and research issues more nationally. Right now all legislation is essentially stopped because of COVID-19. Anyway, take a look if you'd like, feel free to share.

Eventually on the website, I will share a few blog posts. A few from advancedbreastcancer.net are below. They provide a little peak into life with MBC.

All this being said, I am grateful that I have access to treatment, we have health insurance, we are working, and we are all well enough to enjoy each others company. We hope to be able to enjoy your company - in person - sometime in the not to distant future.

Much love,
Donna & Glen

I want a cure, but I'll settle for chronic

Cancersplaining Princess Bride style

Overcoming scanxiety