Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog

Memorial Day Weekend, 28-years ago, Wynn and I married each other:   For richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health.   Then ... Dancing to "Shout ," from the movie Animal House . Remember that?! ...and now.

...my pal.  We met each other the first day of graduate school at UC Berkeley, over 30 years ago.  We stay together whenever we go to genetics conferences and I get to see her when she comes to Chicago for work meetings.  I got to see her last week.  She is among my dearest friends and I wanted you to know her.  She's a real gem :)

     Soon I will mark 18-months since I was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer.  Oddly, it feels like it was just yesterday at the same time it feels like it's been years.  Time is often a topic of my thoughts...how it ebbs and flows depending upon how things are going.       When I was diagnosed and for the first six months, or so, I was not optimistic that I would live beyond the (now outdated) statistic of 6-12 months for folks with stage 4 adenocarcinoma of the lung.  I don't know if it's common for others with a terminal illness to feel the way I did, but I suspect there is often a sense of urgency to do things before life ends. Most of the items on my bucket list are not necessarily 'tasks' but rather organizational processes, (which speaks to my personality.)      Here are a few items, (rational and irrational), that were on my short list of things to deal with before my time was up:   ...

     A few months ago, I noticed that a fellow lung cancer blogger, Tori Tomalia, had a logo on her blog site:  Best Lung Cancer Blog - 2013 .  I wondered how one is recognized for this distinction.  This morning I learned that my blog was included in the 2014 group.  I still don't know exactly how this happens, but check out page 12 on the link below: Best Lung Cancer Blogs of 2014 The stories that emerge from the lung cancer community can be inspiring, heartbreaking, hopeful, and thought provoking. Some of these blogs convey the raw emotions and day-to-day realities faced by patients enduring treatment. Others focus on encouraging news from researchers. A few blogs are simply calls to action from activists. Whatever their purpose, these brave and talented reflect the shared experiences of everyone touched by lung cancer. These bloggers� perspectives on life give everyone reason to appreciate today and be hopeful for what tomorrow may bring. http...

     One of the more difficult aspects about being a stage 4 lung cancer patient that is "doing well," is knowing that my medicine won't work forever.  The average Xalkori patient sees benefits for about 8 months and I've already surpassed that by nearly two times.  I hope to be an "outlier" who will benefit from Xalkori for years, but in the meantime, the thought that my medicine can stop working at anytime weighs heavily on my mind.        Last week I attended a lecture at The Wellness Place near my home.  The speaker, Melissa Johnson, MD, is a thoracic oncologist from Northwestern University Medical Center.  She was an excellent lecturer and her talk turned out to be a great launching point for me to gather more information so I can figure out a plan for when Xalkori stops working.  Several ill-defined questions I've been perseverating over, started to take shape.       Earlier acco...