My most recent update - LuAnnH

I'm sorry I don't keep up here like I used to.  When I was first dx with Stage IV it was July 2, 2006 so I am not 10 1/2 years with mets.  I just had scans and the results had all of three lines.  The first line was wording to the effect of my name and this study was compared to my last scan.  Line two was the best news and it said exactly "there is no evidence of metastatic disease"!!!!!  Then line there was the kicker, it noted that a new fracture on the sternum was noted.  All in all I have to say that was one great scan!  The sternum fracture is something to discuss with my onc on Wednesday when I go in for tx.

I can't say these past 10 years have been a breeze but I am not complaining.  I do have a lot of side effects but I am managing them. The most recent issue are my feet, I've always had bunions but recently they became very painful and I had what they call hammer toe on both feet.  I had surgery in June to correct the problem on the right foot, they put a new joint in my big toe and cut away all the bone spurs in the area.  The surgery failed and the joint was coming apart, the reason being the bone growing to the big toe was deformed and growing in the wrong direction.  In September they went in again and put in a new joint and then they had to fracture the bone to put a wedge in it.  I was in a cast for 6 weeks and had to use crutches for 6 weeks not allowing me to walk on it at all.  I am now in a walking boot with one crutch for another 4 weeks before I am allowed to walk in my regular shoes.  Hopefully everything will be healed and they can then repeat this procedure on my left foot.  In the meantime my knees have been giving me fits, I have osteoarthritis and my orthopedic doc said there is not much more he can do for me without knee replacements.  Both my knees are currently bone on bone, so I have that to look forward to when the feet are done but hey I will be half way to becoming the bionic woman!!! LOL

Currently my tx is Herceptin once every 3 weeks and aromasin daily.  I have been on this course of tx since Dec 2013 when I was first told I was NED.  Over the past few years there were always little notations of possible uptake in different areas but no reason to believe it was cancer.  This was the first time it actually said NO disease!

I know from experience about how many sad stories you can find on here and I hate them.  I really wish everyone would respond to tx as well as I have.  At my worst I had bone and lung mets which resolved after 6 months of Navelbine and then onto Afinitor for about a year.  That is what cleared up all my mets.  I want women and men to know there is the possibility of surviving this disease and living with it as a chronic illness.  The down side though is with my immune system compromised and I get sick very easily.  I will take that over the alternative any day.

I have been trying to get a life back again and have started to date finally.  I was afraid that no one would want to date me if they found out I had stage IV cancer.  So far that has not been an issue but I haven't found anyone that I seem to click with yet.  I took a volunteer position at the hospital I get my tx at as the treasurer of the ladies auxillary.  I start in January and this should start getting me out and around people other than my family again.  I was considering going to college but I would be 58 by the time I could get a degree and I am not sure anyone would want to hire a college graduate at that age so I decided to start studying what I want to learn on my own.  I have been working on learning how to write programming code.  I used to be a financial analysis and always wanted to be able to code and make my own databases and programs rather than have it contracted out when I couldn't design reports on my own.  Who knows if I will ever use the knowledge but it makes me feel good to know how to do something I always wanted to do.

Long story short, there are good stories and successfully treated people.  The problem is most people that have successful tx tend to move on and try to get life back on track and disappear from the boards only to drop in occasionally like me.  I do try to drop a note once or twice a year to let everyone know I am still alive and that things are going well so there is good news here.

I miss the friends I have made here and did say goodbye to a lot of wonderful friends I made here.  I try to spend as much time with my grandkids and children as I can so I can enjoy every moment I can.  My first grandson was born July 2, 2007 and I never thought I would see him make it to 3 and he is now 9 years old and almost as tall as me.  They are the light of my life and keep me going!  I have 3 grandsons 9, 8 & 3 and on granddaughter who is spoiled rotten at 2!    Maybe next time I drop in I will find a man the lights up my life again.  It has been 16 years since my husband passed and I think I am due to find someone special again.  I guess that is me in a nutshell for now and I will try to drop in more.  I really hope and pray for everyone that has to deal with cancer!