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Old 03-28-2007, 10:56 AM   #24
StephN
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Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Misty woods of WA State
Posts: 4,128
Oprah, better audience

Don't get me wrong. Continually fighting my way through over SIX years of cancer treatments from head to toe has not been easy, but getting through it meant keeping a forward-looking perspective while enduring those clinic visits.
Looking forward does not mean we have to be upbeat all the time, just keep in mind that there IS more to life than our cancer, even though we now have some limitations that were not there before.

The beauty of our bodies is that we are able to "forget" severe pain and traumas to our body as time goes by. Otherwise, what woman would want to have more than one child, if the pain was the main issue? What happens after the birth wipes that out for most of us.

The ability to heal is a wonderful thing, and "the negative crap" is a hindrance in my opinion.
__________________
"When I hear music, I fear no danger. I am invulnerable. I see no foe. I am related to the earliest times, and to the latest." H.D. Thoreau
Live in the moment.

MY STORY SO FAR ~~~~
Found suspicious lump 9/2000
Lumpectomy, then node dissection and port placement
Stage IIB, 8 pos nodes of 18, Grade 3, ER & PR -
Adriamycin 12 weekly, taxotere 4 rounds
36 rads - very little burning
3 mos after rads liver full of tumors, Stage IV Jan 2002, one spot on sternum
Weekly Taxol, Navelbine, Herceptin for 27 rounds to NED!
2003 & 2004 no active disease - 3 weekly Herceptin + Zometa
Jan 2005 two mets to brain - Gamma Knife on Jan 18
All clear until treated cerebellum spot showing activity on Jan 2006 brain MRI & brain PET
Brain surgery on Feb 9, 2006 - no cancer, 100% radiation necrosis - tumor was still dying
Continue as NED while on Herceptin & quarterly Zometa
Fall-2006 - off Zometa - watching one small brain spot (scar?)
2007 - spot/scar in brain stable - finished anticoagulation therapy for clot along my port-a-catheter - 3 angioplasties to unblock vena cava
2008 - Brain and body still NED! Port removed and scans in Dec.
Dec 2008 - stop Herceptin - Vaccine Trial at U of W begun in Oct. of 2011
STILL NED everywhere in Feb 2014 - on wing & prayer
7/14 - Started twice yearly Zometa for my bones
Jan. 2015 checkup still shows NED
2015 Neuropathy in feet - otherwise all OK - still NED.
Same news for 2016 and all of 2017.
Nov of 2017 - had small skin cancer removed from my face. Will have Zometa end of Jan. 2018.
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