NED and I Can’t be Friends
I need to let NED go. Stop hanging on to him, wishing he would ask me for a dance. With how extensive my mets were, being where I am now is nice. NED is no evidence of disease, meaning no visable tumors – not cured when you have Stage IV metastatic breast cancer, but when you beat them back that far, sometimes it can take the cancer extra long to come back swinging. It is also rare. This is my first scan after kicking back the...
Fifi, The Police and The Injections of Doom
The last couple of weeks have been a bit of relaxing, time with friends and just living life. We have taken Fifi out several times this summer. We have more Fifi adventures tentatively scheduled and I have been working my way through #TheMandiList, our trip to Europe is mostly booked. I am super excited, and I am nervous I won’t be strong enough for our AirBNB room in Florence that involves 5 flights of stairs, but it has a...
Taxotere Numero 8
So, here it goes into my system. Drip by drip, Taxotere number 8 – I have been on chemo for over 6 months now. It is exhausting. I can’t pretend like it is anything but exhausting, and I am having what is considered a considerably good response to this regimen, considering. That and it is hard to get me to sit still. Trying to keep active, have a life, make the most out of each day. Which means I am still somehow...
No Disassemble Mandi 5
As I move into my 6th month of chemo this year I am getting pretty exhausted. Each one compounds over the last. I am missing about 50% of my fingernails, my skin on my hands is peeling off, I can’t feel half my feet. I wake up in puddles of sweat when I do manage to fall asleep after getting my back pain under control (cancer is a blast). I am also discovering that I am living life as 50% of myself. I am 50% of myself at work....
Chemo Land
Today is the big infusion 6 of the Taxotere/Perjeta/Herceptin combo. After three infusions we saw BIG things. Tumor markers took a nose dive and my spine and tumors in my lymph nodes disappeared in the night like a ghost (we did call this #chemohauntingof2015). Now we have 3 more infusions under my belt. The tumors in my lungs were shrinking, I am not completely sold on the fact that they are HER2+ like my spine tumors were. I think...
Mandi Got Hair, Flying High and the Big Race!
Last week was a culmination of “ZOMG I can’t get out of bed” and this week was the antithesis. It was an amazing week of busy things, but it was awesome. My week started with the hole in my jaw now being CLOSED. No hole. Bye bye. Healed. Yay! Thursday was the evening I spent with While You Heal. I got a makeover and had a real human hair wig fitted, cut and styled. Many of my friends and family came to see the big...