Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog

The Preamble:      For the past 22 months, I've been taking Xalkori, an oral targeted chemotherapy, to treat stage 4 adenocarcinoma of the lung caused by a ROS1 mutation.  Since being on Xalkori, cancerous tumors in my lung, liver and bones have not only regressed but have stayed, miraculously, stable.  I know this because every month I have blood drawn for tests which measure tumor markers, (CEA and CA19-9,) and every three-four months I have CT scans.   In the past, I've also blogged a lot about the uncertainty of how long Xalkori will work for me and how incredibly nerve-racking it is to not know when it will stop keeping my cancer at bay.         Last September Wynn and I flew to Boston for a patient forum to learn about the next steps in lung cancer treatments for folks with ROS1 mutation driven disease.  The information we learned was supposed to be the foundation to build the framework for a plan - what ...

     Last month was a busy one.  From the beginning of December through yesterday, we hosted five gatherings in our home.  Wynn and I love welcoming our family and friends - sharing food, drinks, games and laughs.  All were wonderful get-togethers which I hope we can continue to have for many years to come.  Lately Nathan and Nina have taken very active roles in helping us prepare for our parties.  Everyone likes to cook so there's no shortage of sous chefs in this house.      An unfortunate part of being so busy is that I'm not able to get to everything I'd like to.  This year our New Year's greeting cards were sent out nearly two weeks into the January and I haven't been able to blog for several weeks. So, I'd like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a HAPPY and HEALTHY 2015!         In general, I feel fine.  Most of my days are good, with not-so-good ones interspersed among...