Beautiful Weather - Conducive to Writing?

We are having some beautiful weather here in the Pacific Northwest. It got up to 90 yesterday, but it didn't feel like it was too too hot. Absolutely blue skies - I would say clear, but the Willamette Valley has developed a haze over the past 15-20 years, unfortunately. On my drive to Portland yesterday, I could see Mt. Hood and Mt. St. Helens, plain as day.

The weather makes me want to play, but I do have some writing I need to get done. I finally completed a revise and resubmit yesterday and sent it off. YAY! Today, I will do some reading about ivory carvings and Happy Jack (an Eskimo ivory carver around the turn of the 20th century) and then attempt to write two 250-word descriptions of two ivory carvings for an exhibit that will be at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, DC in 2010. That's my chore for today. But at least I will get to maybe sit on a patio at a coffee shop while I do that. Either that or hang out in Powell's.

Have a great week-end everyone!

Oompa Loompas and Others Doing Their Job

I saw the wound care nurse yesterday and there is continued improvement in the wound. For months, it had what she called a "yellow eschar" but what the radiation onc called like this pre-skin membranous tissue. The area of the yellowish/whitish membranous tissue was about 9cm x 3.5-4cm and now, it's 8cm by 3cm with an island of good tissue that seems to be growing. In the area where the yellow tissue has receded is a nice pink color.

So, yes, there is progress that can be seen on a weekly basis. Yippee! The oompa loompas, flower faeries, elves, and the Fantastic Four are doing their job! (See my earlier post about this.) I told the nurse about my visualization, so each week, she'll say something like, "Those little guys are working hard" and then chuckle.

Criminy. It'll be nice not to have to wear a dressing, ya know? I've had to wear a dressing of some sort in that area since late March. Imagine the time and money I'll save when the damn thing is healed.

Then, I might actually be able to go swimming or get wet.

I would like to go to a beach somewhere over Christmas break - I may not have boobs, but at least I could get into the water. A goal to look forward to, anyway!

A Nice Chat With My Oncologist

My oncologist called me Sunday afternoon to talk about the CT scan and how the wound was healing and, I guess, just to assess where I'm at in all of my treatments.

He asked how the wound was healing and whether or not I saw any signs of cancer in the skin. I reported that the wound was healing pretty well and I didn't see any signs of cancer (I double-checked this morning).

I then asked if he'd had a chance to compare the CT scan from Feb and the one from Aug and he said he did and there was definitely no signs of any new spots on my bones. He mentioned again that a couple of them were bigger, but that it could be because they are healing. I need to ask him more about what that means- the biological process behind it.

I told him about the Zometa side effects I experienced (only a few hours of fever/flu-like symptoms) and he said that that was typical, but shouldn't be quite as bad the next time. He said that Zometa should certainly help the bones.

I asked where the rib fractures were and he mentioned that they were in the 4th, 5th and 6th ribs.

Then, I asked his opinion on how he thought I was doing. He said that he was actually quite pleased. He admitted that he'd been afraid that while we were busy trying to eradicate the cancer in my skin, that the cancer would crop out somewhere else. So, the fact that it didn't made him happy.

So, overall, it was a good report and a good chat. I promised him that I would not dive for any more volleyballs for awhile! He chuckled at that.

I figured it's always a good thing for an oncologist to laugh.

Zometa Side Effects

I had my zometa injection on Wednesday and felt fine the rest of that day. Felt fine when I woke up Thursday morning. Now that my son's started school, I'm starting to walk regularly again - it's about a 10-12 min walk from his school to my office. We're having really nice weather - clear and sunny, so it's a nice walk especially when I get on campus, which is beautifully landscaped. I then walked to my acupuncturist's office - it takes me about 25-30 min but I took my time, strolling through neighborhood streets and enjoying the weather. I walked back to my office later and then I picked up my son. All told, I think I walked almost an hour and a half yesterday, which is more than I'm used to.

So, I felt fatigued yesterday afternoon. Figured it was all the walking. But I also wondered if I had a fever as my forehead felt warm. Had dinner at my folks' house and then got home about 5pm or so. I just felt really tired and warm again, so I took my temp and it was 99.8. Sigh!

Started to worry about that - wondered if I was getting an infection from the wound and then it hit me. Ah! Zometa does have fever as one of the most frequent side effects. So, I got out my little info packet on Zometa and there, underneath fever was the sentence "flu-like symptoms, such as malaise, fever, bone and joint aches, and fatigue, but this usually only occurs the first time".

Hmm. Okay. That explains it. I also felt some achiness and had a couple of chills.

So, I rested most of the evening. Played Trouble and Uno Spin with Eddie. Went to bed early.

And, woke up feeling normal again. When I realized that the symptoms had gone away, I started feeling a bit feisty, a bit giddy, and a bit silly. I guess I don't take feeling normal for granted much anymore.

Feeling normal makes me happy. There's something to be said for that, huh? : )

With that in mind, here's a new joke a friend sent me:

A Friend Is Like A Good Bra...

Hard to Find

Supportive

Comfortable

Always Lifts You Up

Never Lets You Down or Leaves You Hanging

And Is Always Close To Your Heart!!!

Why am I not interested in Stand Up 2 Cancer?

Twice today, tomorrow's TV event, Stand Up 2 Cancer, came up. My dad mentioned it and so did the Cheeky Librarian.

Teri (the Cheeky Librarian) made some good points in terms of why she doesn't plan to tune in and I happen to agree with her.

But for me, there's something more going on that I'm still trying to put my finger on. It has to do with the fact that I've never participated in Race for the Cure, even when I was diagnosed six years ago, or Relay for Life. Three of my friends and colleagues either participated in these two events or donated money on my behalf and I really don't mind that. Others donated directly to the American Cancer Society on my behalf. Again, more power to them. A friend of mind mentioned getting a team together for Race for the Cure in Portland later this month and I said I wasn't really interested.

Our local breast cancer coordinator recently mentioned an annual event here called Puttin' on the Pink and I told her that I'm not really interested in that either. Part of it has to do with the critique against "pink ribbon marketing". (I think Breast Cancer Action has a lot of material on that.)

But on a personal level, I don't really want to participate. I think it might have to do with the fact that I LIVE cancer all the time and I also tend to think about it more than the average person (uh, ya think?). So, when I do have leisure time, I want to have fun and live as normal a life as I possibly can, one in which cancer doesn't take center stage. I'd rather be doing different things that define my life more.

Like my son and my family.

Like my friends.

Like my work.

Does that make sense?

Some more on Zometa

I found this site about how Zometa might work. You know what I say? Cool! I think I like it already!

http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/medicines/100004910.html

The way I understand it is that your bones are always being rebuilt and reformed by two kinds of cells called osteoclasts and osteoblasts. Osteoclasts take away the old bone and osteoblasts help rebuild new bone.

But when there are bone metastases from breast or prostate cancer (according to this report), it's like the osteoclasts get carried away and take away too much bone. Zometa binds to the bone and stops the osteoclasts from breaking it down too much.

Also, breastcancer.org had this to say about Zometa and bone mets in May 2008 - see the sidebar to the right. Early results of Phase I studies suggest that Zometa makes it harder for cancer cells to survive, grow, and reproduce in bone.

http://www.breastcancer.org/treatment/chemotherapy/new_research/20080516b.jsp

A news report states the following:

"Tumor cells are continually being released from the primary tumor," Dr. Rebecca Aft, of Barnes Jewish Hospital and Washington University in St. Louis, said in a statement.

"It is thought that the bone marrow harbors these cells and that these cells are likely to evolve into metastatic disease. We think that zoledronic acid changes the bone marrow so that cancer cells are unable to lodge there."

See why I think I will like this drug? Now that I think that the little cancer cell factory has been shut down (the primary tumor), that leaves those little buggers hiding out in my bone marrow. The researchers felt that Zometa changes the bone marrow so that cells cannot stay there.

Take that, you little buggers!

Zometa and Zoladex Tomorrow

It's official - I will start Zometa tomorrow. I haven't had a chance to properly discuss this with my doctor as I don't see him for two weeks, but I have done enough on-line research to know that it's probably going to help. I had already scheduled my Zoladex appointment (that's the abdomen injection that shuts down my ovary production) for tomorrow, so I called my doctor's office and asked him if he also wanted to order the Zometa at the same time.

As I understand it, Zometa helps the bone-building process since caner that's metastasized to the bones either takes out or uses some parts of your bones (not sure exactly what the process), giving you less bone mass, or else, it adds extra bone to your bones. But in any case, both tend to weaken your bones and make you more prone to fracture. This helps makes your bones stronger.

There was apparently also some research that says that Zometa helped premenopausal breast cancer patients by making it somewhat less likely that cancer would metastasize to the bone. The reports say by 36%, but it had to do with a study of 1800 patients (I think), in which half got Zometa and half didn't (all were premenopausal, early stage breast cancerpatients). 6% of those on Zometa ended up with bone metastases versus 9% of those who didn't get it. 6% of 900 is 54 patients with Zometa, versus 81 patients without Zometa.

There are side effects (fever, nausea, dizziness, bone and joint pain), but the average percentage of folks who did were relatively low. So, it seems like a good thing to do.

This brings my total western medicine drugs up to four:
Xeloda - an oral chemotherapy
Tykerb - an anti-Her-2-neu targeted therapy
Zoladex - shuts down the ovary production
Zometa - builds bone

And, for acupuncture, I am on the following herbs:
5-mushroom blend - three of which have been scientifically shown to have anti-cancer properties
Paris 7 - a variety of herbs that fight toxic heat with one that may have anti-cancer properties
Gynnostemma - a variety of herbs that helps support your blood and help one of your energy systems

I also take turmeric in pill form (which has helped against melanoma) and also melatonin which helps sleep and which has also been shown to be affective against breast cancer cells in mice.

Take that, nasty cancer!