anyone starting chemo in Nov 2005

I saw the very end of that show just after I checked into the hotel near the hospital. I didn't really know what was going on, only that the young woman had recently gone through cancer treatment, had a very young family, etc. She was very very beautiful and touching, and I probably would have melted into a teary mess if I had seen the whole show.

I agree, Odalys, some days it all seems like a bad dream.

I hope cervical biopsies are as easy as uterine biopsies. I had one of those just a week before the fateful mammogram last year, and it was not bad at all. Yes, please keep us posted about the biopsy and everything else.

And Kim, I hope all is well with you.

Debbie, how did the sleep study go?

Hugs to all of you,

Anna

Debbie - OMG, my heart shrunk reading your post. Poor baby, did the tech not know how to handle a toddler? How traumatic for a 2 year old. Please give him a big hug for me. He deserves extra TLC after that ordeal. When will you have the results?

You are right, enough of the medical stuff!!!!! What a long journey this is for all of us. Thanks for the prayers, lately I haven't felt like praying much...too tired.

Tonight I plan to have fun watching my favorite show - Dancing with the stars. I'll worry about the biopsy tomorrow.
Love and hugs to all my sisters,
Odalys

Hey everyone. A little update. The biopsy came back triple negative. I figured it would. I didn't get my hopes up but Anthony did. I will most likely start the Doxil on Tuesday w/ the Zometa. I have been having really bad back pain this week. Radiation Onc. said it is from the radiation. He gave me a pain patch, nausea pills (which I needed yesterday) and pain pills for breakthrough pain. So needless to say it has been a hard week. I am nervous about the Doxil and the side effects, but whatever it takes.
Thinking about all of you. Odalys, thinking of you today. Anna, it must be nice to have dh home. Debbie, my Samantha was 2 when she had the sleep test done and the tech was wonderful. I wish it would have been that way for Daniel. She did have sleep apnea and had her adenoids and tonsils out. She is such a better sleeper now. Best thing we could have done. We were allowed to sleep. Daniel was on a monitor so why wouldn't they let you sleep?

Hope you are all having a great week.

hugs,
Kim

Hi sisters!
My best friend and I talked for the past hour while our kids have been napping-it really felt good. We've been friends since our first day of HS, and we've gone through it all!
Of course, the house is still a shambles. That's ok.
My little pumpkin has recovered well from the terrifying sleep study. Kim, they wanted us to stay awake because they'd then be able to compare what we saw to what they saw on the test readout.

Anyway, he has been giggly and his normal self.

I still will carry guilt in my heart for hearing those cries and not being able to make it better for him.

Odalys-I just said a prayer for you. Kim, I'm praying the new meds cooperate with you!

Finally, Anna, I am sorry about losing a dear friend, but I wanted to tell you that the simple beauty of your message struck me.....

"I can even love the rain."

You said it, sister!
Love and prayers, Deb

ACK! Odalys, we just posted at the same time!

Kim, I'm sorry your test results were triple negative. I agree with Margerie, things move so quickly in the research arena. I hope you have lots of choices in your treatments, and I hope the Doxil is really touch on the mets but soft on you.

Odalys, my mother tells a story about a very rainy day when I was little. I was standing at the window watching the rain, and I asked her where the rain went. She says she answered that it went into the ground and got absorbed there. Then I apparently asked: if the rain goes into the ground does it put out the fire in hell? I guess I must have been listening to some church sermons more than they realized.

Today is a sunny sunny day. Absolutely beautiful, and the air smells yummy. I am making a chicken pie to take to the widower. Yesterday I heard that he doesn't know how to cook, mow the lawn, pay the bills, or take care of himself in any way. He's got a lot to learn, but at least some of us can help with food for a stretch.

Debbie, I am glad to hear Daniel is back to normal. He sounds like such a sweetie.

Love to all my sisters,

Anna

Anna- somehow I missed that your friend passed away. I am so very sorry. It is so nice of you to remember her husband.

Kim- I have been watching Tykerb like a hawk. It just got fast-tracked by the FDA and will be available mid-march. Maybe your onc can test for Her-1/VEGFR.

"multikinase inhibitors have one distinct advantage over Herceptin. By targeting multiple pathways, they all show potential to treat a range of tumor types, particularly lung cancer. Some people also hope that these drugs will show activity in breast cancer patients who aren't HER-2 positive.

"By no means are we limiting our development program to only HER2-positive patients," GSK's Stein says. Though the most advanced trials for Tykerb are focused on HER2-positive patients, Stein says there is evidence that the drug could find use in the wider population of breast cancer patients. "Although the response rate was higher in the HER2-positive population, there were responders in the HER2-negative population as well," he notes.

To date, drugs that inhibit only HER1, such as Iressa and Tarceva, have not been shown to be active against breast cancer. The inactivity leads oncologists to believe the HER1 pathway does not play a major role in the disease, Gralow says.

Yet evidence is emerging that the HER1 pathway is critical in a few smaller HER2-negative groups of breast cancer patients. Multikinase inhibitors show promise in patients with inflammatory breast cancer, and some data indicate that pankinase inhibitors may be effective in treating a rare and aggressive subtype of breast cancer known as "triple negative," because patients are estrogen-receptor-, progesterone-receptor-, and HER2-negative. In these patients, the cancer cells tend to overexpress HER1, a pathway knocked out by the drugs from GSK, Wyeth, Exelixis, and Array.

GSK is interested in studying Tykerb in that subpopulation, but the company also acknowledges that a lot of firms are also eyeing the role of HER1 in triple-negative breast cancer. Already-approved drugs such as Iressa, Tarceva, and ImClone's Erbitux could be used to target the disease.

In the end, having a variety of small-molecule drugs targeting different receptors is "really exciting−a huge advance," Gralow says. With the range of treatment options opening up, Gralow believes that in just a few years, breast cancer will be treated in different, much more specific ways. "We'll be using less chemotherapy and getting less toxicity," she says.


MORE ON COVER STORY
Personalizing Medicine
Taking The Guesswork Out Of Breast Cancer Treatment

Chemical & Engineering News
ISSN 0009-2347
Copyright © 2006 American Chemical Society Articles By Top

Why don't families get along?

Why is family the hardest part of my life?

All I want is love all around.

Thanks for the information Margerie. I am going to mention it to oncologist.

Anna, many hugs for you.

Wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. God Bless you and your family.


Love and Hugs...

Wishing you all a very Happy Thanksgiving!
LAT56

Gobble, gobble.

Sending my love,
Margerie

Mary Lou.
Awsome sight! Great shot, did you take the picture? Sounds like you've been having fun. We had a very nice Thanksgiving weekend. Yes, I ate way to much. Hopefully I was able to burn some fat/calories since Steven kept me on the go all weekend long. Being an only child, he is always bored so I end up having to entertain him. His best friends moved out of state so now we need to find him another palymate(s). I'm so grateful to be able to keep up with him again. This year we plan to celebrate with friends and family. I'm hoping we can host Christmas (traditional noche buena on 12/24) in our house this year. Tree is up, started to decorate the house and even planted some annuals in the front yard. Christmas cards are next. What a difference a year makes.

Love and hugs,

PS: Last year DH had to rush me to the hospital after Thanksgiving dinner because I was in such pain from the FEC 100 chemo cocktail. I slept through the rest of the weekend thanks to Oxycotin (sp?). Thank God for getting me(us) through that.

Yes, life goes on for better and worse. Those family issues- not for the faint of heart. We are lucky that we were able to distance ourselves from our problem family members. My diagnosis gave me the courage to say enough! Life has been good on the family front ever since.

Anna- so sorry about your horse. It is a hard decision to make- putting an animal down. I bawled buckets when we had to put our senior cats down. I knew it was the right thing to do, both were suffering, but it was still hard. And compound that with the fact that humans are not allowed the same compassion for themselves- makes for an emotional time (for me anyway).

I hope all my sisters do well this holiday season. I know a lot of you have treatments/decisions ahead of you and it is hard to find peace and joy!

I have exciting things going on- in 2 weeks surgery- oh boy another one. Thyroid coming out, chemo port in my upper arm going in. I elected to do another year of herceptin and my veins are crapping out, going under the knife anyway............ Not looking forward to 2 more scars- will wear scarves for awhile (neck). Hopefully thyroid pathology will come out benign.


Then, hopefully, I will be flying up to Seattle for my first Her2 vaccine. We are going to Lake Tahoe Christmas week. In January, I get to decorate my new breasts and get some much needed thigh lipo. I can not wait to get all of these surgeries (5 in 16 months) over with. Maybe I will muster up a cartwheel or two after that last one.

Oh, and I had to get on the scale at the onc's office yesterday!! Decided my new shoes must weigh 10 pounds.

Take care friends and angels,

Margerie

Yeah…Hurricane Season ends today without any major storms.

Have a great day. Love and hugs to everyone