What's New With Me

What's new with me? Very little, I'm pleased to report.

I saw my oncologist this past week and got the results of the latest series of tests. The Herceptin can harm my heart, so I need an echocardiogram about every three months. I did the test earlier this month and my "ejection fraction" rate is just fine. I had also had a CT scan, the first since January, I think it was. My GP likes to be able to deliver good news, so he had already let me know that my tumours are stable. The remaining liver spot appears "treated." There is nothing new in the rest of the abdomen and pelvis. The bone tumours are still there but stable. My oncologist's colleague, who I saw last visit, had ordered an MRI of my axillary skeleton. The previous MRI, to which it was compared, was from May 2012, about halfway through my chemo. As a result, there were some new spots that showed on the MRI. Nothing to worry about. More importantly, the MRI showed fatty infiltration, which in English means the bones are healing.

I asked the oncologist to check out my right breast. That is where the lump was, the lump that started shrinking after the first chemo treatment. Until recently, the lump was gone and the remaining fullness was barely perceptible. That has changed. Now it feels like a lump to me. I have had some pain in that breast as well, off and on. I was a little worried. I had always felt relieved that I hadn't needed a mastectomy. For the first time, I wish that breast was gone. My oncologist, who I trust very much, didn't think it is worrisome, he said it felt "stringy." We will keep an eye on it. If it changes further, a mammogram may be needed.

In other news, Dad and I have been busy all month dealing with financial advisors and the lawyer, settling Mom's estate. There are some forms still needing to be signed. And we haven't even started cleaning out her room.  This will take a while. Meanwhile, I try to call Dad daily and see him a couple of times a week. He is coping well, but is lonely. I miss her too.

A Milestone: 20,000 Page Views

Wow! Sometime in the last couple of days, this blog has hit a milestone I never anticipated: 20,000 page views. This is something that merits celebration, and gratitude.

I started my cancer blog after a short career as a geaneablogger (about family history) mostly as a way to keep family and friends aware of how my treatment was going. I knew many were getting the info through my mom and their parents. I'm sure some details got lost in translation. It was also difficult to tell the whole story over and over. My blog gave me a chance to write it down, once and for all.

My secondary purpose for the blog was to raise awareness of breast cancer. For a while, I gave my readers a monthly reminder to "check your boobs!" I think I felt that I might have caught my cancer earlier if I had done regular self-examinations. Then, as I became more educated about breast cancer, I realized that self-exams and mammograms aren't the be all and end all for finding cancer. That's when I dropped the words "breast cancer awareness" from the blog's title and went for the straightforward "Kate Has Cancer."

I received some criticism for the change. Is it defeatist to call myself Kate Has Cancer on the blog and Twitter? No, it's realistic. Remember, I have Stage IV breast cancer. I have had advanced cancer since they found it. Chemo, radiation and the other therapies have shrunken my tumours -- you can't even feel the one in my breast -- but many of them are still there in my liver and bones. My blood tests are fine. so I figure, if my liver can live with these tumours, then so can I!

Over time, another purpose for my blogging has emerged. I hope that others with advanced breast cancer can find, in my blog, some peace, some information and some hope. I don't focus on the latest news from clinical oncology. I talk about my treatments and the resources available to me here in Ottawa. Judging by the Blogger Stats, my most popular post, with nearly 600 page views, is perhaps my most practical one, on PICC line covers. I hope my link to a crochet pattern helped someone with cancer or even someone who wanted to help someone with cancer. I've had 800 views of my About Kate page, which I imagine could use an update. Almost 400 read my early post about how I started onto this cancer roller-coaster. Around 300 read two of my glimpses into the terror of Stage IV cancer, Reflections on Recent Deaths and Someone Took the Monster Out of the Cupboard. I have seen my readership rise to, on average, 200 page views per post. I never expected this. I may be Italian, but I don`t have that many cousins!

That brings me to the grateful part. I thank you readers for continuing to read and support me. Your comments on the blog have given me new perspectives and great support. I also thank God that I'm still here to write! Every day, every post is a blessing. I must also express my appreciation to my fellow bloggers who have directed considerable traffic my way: Ann at Breast Cancer? But Doctor....I Hate Pink!, Nancy at Nancy's Point, Jenny at Putting the GRRRRR in Grimes, and Nancy at The Dirty Pink Underbelly.

I hope to be here many more years. And I hope you stick with me. Thanks for coming.

Openning Our Eyes about Metastatic Breast Cancer

I know I give you a monthly reminder to "check your boobs" and I frequently remind you to get regular mammograms.  The truth is that self-examination and mammograms won't prevent breast cancer and they won't prevent cancer from returning or spreading.  I keep up my reminders because they just might catch this damnable disease early.  Truth is, I keep up my reminders because I'm still struggling with my guilt, my feeling that surely if I had been taking good care of myself I would have caught my cancer before it spread.  I need to work on that.  And you need the truth.

No one says it better than Ginny at the Metastatic Breast Cancer Network in this post from last month.  You should read it.

And I guess I should let myself off the hook.

Check Your Boobs! July Reminder

OK folks, this is your July reminder to check your boobs for breast cancer.  For more information on what you're looking for when you check, have a look at my June reminder or any of the following excellent sites:

• from Susan G. Komen for the Cure
• from the National Breast Cancer Foundation Inc.
• from the American Cancer Society
• from BreastCancer.org

And don't forget that regular physicals and mammograms are an important part of keeping you healthy. 

Like it or not, October won't be the only month we think about breast cancer... if I have anything to say about it!