Dear Friends and Family -

Here we are in October of 2020. It's been a tough month for me (physically and mentally) and I think the challenges of 2020 are wearing on all of us in our house. Healthwise, I'm doing ok.

It is breast cancer awareness month and October 13 was Metastatic Breast Cancer Awareness Day (yup, we get one day in the entire month). We went to Denver on the 13th to view a few landmarks that were lit in the breast cancer ribbon colors (pink, teal, green). More on October and MBC here and also here.

My oncologist appointment last week was pretty uneventful which was nice. I have difficult veins and this time the nurses were spot on. Often it takes longer to get an IV in for me than it does for my 20 minute Zometa infusion. I'll see the oncologist again in November and then I'll have scans again in December before that appointment.

I've had some consistent discomfort/mild pain in my neck near the base of my skull - kind of on and off, but persistent. Mild headaches too. That worries me a bit; I can't do anything about it other than document it. If it continues I will likely ask for an MRI to get a closer look at my head. The doctor agreed that was a good plan. This continual mild pain coupled with my messy bone scan last month takes a toll mentally. Cancer, in general, takes a toll mentally as many of you know.

My bloodwork last month showed a continual increase in my CA 27-29 tumor marker number. I track my bloodwork and you can see this chart visualizes that this tumor marker is not headed in the direction I'd prefer. (I know you are SHOCKED that I made a chart with the data.) Also, for the first time my neutrophils were low, dropping below 1. This means my white blood cell count is low and it is harder for me to fight off infection. If it stays low, they might reduce the dose of my Ibrance.

On the non-medical side, the girls have started their second quarter of school. Maddy opted out of in-person learning. Evelyn will go back this week only on Thursday (she is done at 11:30 with only 2 classes). Maddy continues to dance, although at home for 2 weeks while the studio quarantines out of an abundance of caution (thankfully!). Glen has been leading efforts on home projects, I help when I can. I've attached a few recent photos. We had the flooring on our main floor replaced and we repainted walls and painted our "honey pine" banisters. I guess we had enough of looking at our tired decor (mostly circa 1997). Anyway, it's been a distraction (and a lot of work).

We are safe from the fires in Colorado although they are very close. There is an incredible amount of fuel due to trees decimated by the beetle-kill (mostly related to changing climate). It's extremely unusual to have fires burning in late October. It is snowing as I write this and we are all hoping that 12" of snow on the fires will help the hundreds of firefighters get them under control.

Be well, stay safe.

Much love.