[Believe51]

I did not want to post to the other thread since Ed is not officially dancing yet and he may not even get there. He is extremely close to NED and I think this in itself is inspirational since this IBC has shown to be stubborn getting a grip on. In the beginning he was diagnosed stage IV with organs shutting down, we stopped that and with very very little organ damage remaining; it helped that his organs were in remarkable shape since he did not smoke, take medications, ate right and worked out daily. They gave him 6 months, 9 at the maximum.....well he beat that and received the time we were petitioning for and shall continue to petition for.

When beginning our journey here at Her2support the first thing we did was look for survivors and people whom made it to remission. To us it did not matter if they reached that point in their journey yet, it was important to see that they were still fighting the odds. It is my pleasure to be the one writing that Ed is still fighting those very bad odds, it is also my pleasure to be able to sit here and inspire others in their quest to find some more hope.

The average amount of time that I kept reading when I looked up Inflammatory Breast Cancer was 21 months. Well Friends, June marks 21 months for the Mighty Oak!! Still thriivng!! Not dancing but practicing for NED if that day shall come. In the mean time we will take every moment of every day. We will fight the best way we know how. My poor 'lil Sweetie did a chemo regime of Taxotere/Herceptin and failed. Second regime was Tykerb/Xeloda and failed. His recent treatment was 10...yes...10 Adriamycin/Cytoxan. He also had Whole Brain Radiation along with Pelvis radiation.

He had mets to the bone and brain. The bones had both lytic and blastic lesions....Zometa has drastically improved these lesions.

Before I turn this post into an autobiography (smiling) I want to just say that our journeys are all unique. Having a great medical team, wonderful caregivers (a-hum!) and being a knowlegeable patient has great advantages. We have remained as positive as possible BUT I am a realist and know just what this disease can do. Either way, this disease can get bigger than the person affected. This does not make you less my hero, nor less a Warrior, nor less an Angel!! We all have the same goals, to fight, to succeed, to buy time so we may finish the stories called our lives.

Taking day by day, doing baby steps...look at where we are. This site has been the largest part of helping us to to cut up this journey into bite size pieces. Our life is better than it ever was and for the first time in my life I have felt complete. It is almost like our life makes sense, a giant puzzle that is being put together and that everything was meant to happen this way. Does that make sense??

Now Ceesun, how is that for talking?? Hahahaha! Hope this inspires the HOPE I intended it to. May we delve forward into our journeys with passion. May we all live long enough to see a cure or something close to it!

Love You All>>
Believe51