Going through a difficult time

[Sheila]

Thank you to all of you have kept me in your thoughts and prayers this past month…it has been a difficult road for me.

It started with a treatment change due to serious shortness of breath, progression of disease in the chest nodes and axillary nodes, and a drop in my Muga…to 46%…last one was 63%. Now I am under the care of a cardiologist, taking Coreg to strengthen the heart, & double the B/P med Lisinopril as Avastin has been added again to the Herceptin. I truly questioned the Herceptin with my muga drop, but both the oncologist and the cardiologist feel it was the combo of herceptin and Tykerb, since I have never had a problem on Herceptin in over 7 years.

To add to the difficulties, my Father suffered a heart attack at the beginning of February, and was life flighted to a major heart center in the State Capitol for immediate angioplasty. He is soon to be 86, but has always been so healthy & youthful…truly just gave up his motorcycle riding days this past year. Saying goodbye to him when they were preparing to load him in the helicopter was overwhelming on my Mom, myself and my whole family….we were blessed that by the time we traveled via car to the hospital 3 hours away, he was in ICU and truly a new man.

As if this wasn’t enough, 1 week later, my Mother collapsed at the grocery store…vomiting blood, taken by ambulance to the local hospital. After 5 days in ICU, she was transported via ambulance to Loyola in Chicago where she was diagnosed with Stage IV Liver Cancer with mets to the lungs….at her age and health status, traditional chemo is not an option. She will start on Sorafenib this Friday. We were hoping that it was possibly breast cancer mets to the liver, as she is a 22 year survivor, but learned it was a new primary in the liver. The prognosis is 3-4 months, with the chemo, but then we all know that prognosis is not an exact science. It was so heartbreaking so see her and my Dad receive this news…I have always said they have been married almost 64 years, they are truly a team….when one starts a sentence, the other finishes. My prayers are that she does not suffer, she has been my role model for so many years on my breast cancer journey. Regardless of age, we are never prepared to lose a parent.

The rest of the month was filled with my little granddaughter Jasmine, going in for her every 6 month back surgery, and ending up in ICU with respiratory problems and she is now back on oxygen and a pulse ox alarm at night to keep her O2 level up. She had been totally off the oxygen for 4 years, so this came as a big setback. She continues to be a fighter, and has taught me so much about acceptance and unconditional love. She is truly a miracle child.

My eighth year on this journey occurred mid February, and I am living proof that there is hope for those who are battling metastatic disease….I am now a 7 year Stage IV survivor….still in treatment, probably always in treatment , but a survivor no less.
This past month has taught me to be thankful for each day, as none of us knows what tomorrow will bring. They say God doesn’t give us more than we can handle, but at times lately I have felt he is pushing the limit.
Until my life resumes some sort of normalcy, I wont be posting much, but know that you are all in my heart and in my prayers, and you are so much a part of my journey and my survivorship. I appreciate all the prayers and thoughts! Thank you ALL!