My first Enhertu Treatment

I had my first Enhertu infusion on August 5th (the day after my port placement on August 4th, after a hot mess attempt at a picc line placement on July 31). Here's a little video update on how that went.

My first Enhertu infusion seemed to go well. I had a port placed on Monday (I had previously had a port back in 2012 that was removed I believe in 2014). So, I needed a new one. They tried to put a picc line in on the Thursday before, but it was a hot mess at the hospital and it turns out I couldn't get the procedure. The radiologist recommended a port instead, which we honestly preferred anyway. God worked it all out for us. I ended up having a bad reaction to one of the drugs they put into the port before the Enhertu, so we had to quickly get a bag of saline, Benadryl and steroid and Ativan into my body before beginning the Enhertu. It knocked me out and the rest of the infusion went well. The Enhertu infusion was supposed to be longer than the future infusions, at 90 minutes. Instead, we went even slower and did a smaller dose over 2 hours. Between that and the reaction, we ended up not leaving until 2pm. We were there from 7a-2pm. SO it was a long day, and so far, no nausea or other issues. Just pain in the neck area where the port was placed. But, it gets slightly better with each day. Thanks so much for your prayers friends! Excited to share upcoming miracles with you!

A little cancer backstory...

A couple of weeks ago, I posted this video on youtube. Being on the comouter has been difficult, so I apologize for the delay in posting this. But I am trying to catch up now. I figured some are new and may be curious about the backstory. So, here's a little bit:

Here is the description from the youtube video, with the actual video just below:

I was diagnosed with Stage 3C breast cancer (ER/PR+, Her2-) in September 2012, At the time, our youngest was an infant and son was only 2 years old. It was a very tough time in our lives, with lots of suffering and trials, but God brought us through it all. Then, in October 2021, unfortunately, I caught Covid and my health sort of went downhill from there. Covid wasn't a hard illness for me at all, it was just the aftermath that got me. I got some respiratory viruses easily after that and in December/January had a cough that just wouldn't go away. It seemed there was a lot of inflammation in my body. We went on a trip to Colorado in early May, and I struggled with the elevation and hiking (I was super fit so this really alarmed me), When I returned back home, I went to the asthma/allergy doctor and he said my small lung capacity was terrible. I tried to show him a hard lymph node in my neck and he refused to touch it saying to go to the oncologist. He said I showed all asthma symptoms and prescribed some inhalers. (While I waited to see my oncology team, I decided to go back to juicing and eating ultra healthy, while researching all the natural treatments--the cough finally went away and I went back a month later to the allergy doctor and retested my lung capacity and it was practically normal--this was before starting any oncologist's cancer treatment. This told me these God-created, natural healing methods would be important in my treatment). I had just seen the PA at the oncology office in March and she didn't seem as concerned about my lymph node, which was hard and immovable. She said to just continue to monitor it and it could be from the cough. After researching, I saw that lymph node was not connected to the lungs, but rather the liver and other areas. So, I went to the oncologist in May after our trip to Colorado and to the allergy doctor ( I was REALLY hoping it was related to the cough), they scheduled me for a biopsy and in June 2022, I was diagnosed with Stage IV breast cancer that had spread to my Liver, Bones, and lymph nodes above and below my diaphragm. That's the short backstory and I will tell details in upcoming videos.

A Time of Suffering

 I apologize for the amount of time it has taken me to write this post. The idea of being on any sort of digital device has been extremely difficult for me this past month. I'm not sure if it is due to the effects of the whole brain radiation, medication, the cancer in the brain, or a combo of all. As I lie awake at night, I have written out a blog post in my head many times---I just can't bring myself to sit at a computer to type it out. But, I REALLY want to update everyone and I know so many are praying, which I am extremely grateful for. So here's what's happening.

On Suffering:

Never have I dealt with the amount of suffering I have been through this past month. Drew and I have often said, that we wish we could just have one bout of suffering at a time, instead of the storm that has been pounding down this past month. But, I know in the end, the Lord is going to use it. I already have SOOOOO much more compassion and empathy for others going through such difficult pain and trials as this, so I am sure the Lord will be able to use that in the future. For one, I had no idea that the whole brain radiation would cause this much difficulty. When I went through the 10 treatments, it seemed like it would be easy peasy. It only took about 5 minutes each time. But the aftermath has been quite awful. First, the dexamethasone side effects (apparently I have all of them) have been brutal. They have you take that to help with the brain inflammation. I didn't get any sleep for about a week and a half. I am being weaned off it now, and am finally beginning to get some sleep. I have been getting about 4 hours each night recently (which feels amazing), but last night I got 5. So, I feel like that will continually get better. But also, the effects from the brain radiation, are not what I expected. I have a really bad sunburn-like thing going on on my forehead--it feels like it is on fire, blistering and peeling. But honestly, that is the easiest of all the things happening. The muscle weakness/fatigue is unreal and is probably the most difficult issue for me right now. When I try to move my body, it feels like I weigh about 1000 lbs and am trying to move through thick molasses. I know part of it has been due to being extremely active just in June, to barely being able to get out of bed for a month. Today I have been determined though to move as much as possible. At the time of typing this, I have 5000 steps, which is crazy amazing right now. I am praising the Lord for that.

I had a spinal tap two Fridays ago. They told me one very rare potential side effect would be a cerebral spinal fluid leak. It ended up happening to me, and that was the most misery I have ever been in. Basically, it felt like (even when in bed), the entire room and bed was spinning. The nausea was unreal and I was literally begging for Jesus to come back. I am so thankful for all the prayers that were going up for me during that time. By Tuesday, which was when my appointments at MD Anderson were scheduled, the symptoms of that miraculously went away. We had decided if they hadn't gone away by that day, I would get a blood patch between appointments at MD Anderson. I am so thankful that wasn't necessary. I couldn't stop praising the Lord for bringing me out of that. 

I am not going to type out the list of all the suffering happening right now. I just want to say I have such a different perspective for it all. And I have been through a LOT (If you go back to September 2012 in this blog and start reading, you can see what all the Lord has brought us through). I don't want to complain though, and I am trying to focus each day on the little joys throughout the day. I am just SOOOO thankful for prayers.

Joys:

I have felt so extremely loved by my friends lately. So many have texted and sent cards. Please know I have read and treasured each one. I know I have missed replying to so many. My brain isn't working at optimal level right now and to be honest typing on devices is so hard right now. I am so dizzy. On Thursday, I had a birthday and so many made me feel so loved! Friends and family dropped off cards and gifts and texted. Also, a couple of my friends delivered the most amazing gift baskets I have ever received, with cards, gift cards, extremely thoughtful gifts, handmade gifts and so much more. I could not control the tears that poured out of my eyes as my friends showed me the list of people who contributed and showed me all the EXTREMELY generous thoughtful gifts. Literal streams of tears. And my friends know me very well---one of the things that I look forward to lately is very specific food--it is definitely one of the things that brings me joy. And the gift basket included gift cards to all of my favorite restaurants. I love the tea, bath stuff, I have been slathering on the lavender body butter on my forehead, and just love it all. Seriously this was the most thoughtful gift I have ever received.

Friends organized and drove me to my daily radiation appointments (I can't drive for at least 3 months), brought delicious meals, a church friend made a blanket/quilt that is so soft and cozy and dropped it off and more. Y'all don't know just how much joy you have brought and I can't type enough words to relay my gratitude for your kindness and generosity.

An aunt sent me voice texts with encouraging scripture and words, as well as an email with healing scriptures.

Diagnosis:

What's happening in my body is the breast cancer is now in my brain. It's in the dural space, the falx cerebri and in the actual brain. It sounds really bad, but the stuff in my actual brain is pretty small. It's what is in my dural space that caused the seizures. I have had SO many tests lately and more are still being scheduled. I have seen neuro oncologists both locally and at MD Anderson, as well as my regular oncologist and radiation. The plan going forward is to start a new drug, that crosses the blood brain barrier. It is a drug that requires infusions every three weeks. It's called Enhertu, and the plan is to start it on August 5th. Before then I will have an echocardiogram, and a PET scan. I will have a PICC line installed for the first couple of infusions, and then eventually get a port. The MD Anderson doctor said that the MRI definitely looks suspicious for leptomeningeal disease (LMD), but at this point, the treatment will be the same. Often you get a port in the brain and receive drugs that way too, but we are just going to start with Enhertu first, since many have had success with that. Prayerfully, the treatment will be effective, with low side effects so I can stay on the drug as long as possible. The good news is the the MRI of the spine didn't appear to show cancer. They tell me I am going to need MRIs every 4-6 weeks to monitor my brain to see if it is responding to treatment. They said that the Enhertu will probably take about 6 weeks to being to show response in the brain. I have already lost my hair due to the brain radiation--otherwise, I would lose it with Enhertu anyway.

Alternative/integrative cancer care:

For those who know my journey and know me, you know I have researched exhaustively about my specific cancer. I have tried about every natural/alternative treatment there is. I say this because after my first post, a lot of people sent me alternative treatments, supplement recommendations and more out of love. With my brain already overwhelmed, it was stressful and difficult to go through everything, but I know it is totally out of love and I know I would feel compelled to do the same thing. It has been a very lonely and overwhelming time since my stage iv diagnosis in 2022, trying to figure out how best to get rid of this cancer researching all by myself. I have read SO many books, read a ton of scientific papers and research, gotten opinions at alternative clinics in Mexico (and replicated those treatments locally) and done so much of my own research. I am a research fanatic. I have seen functional medicine doctors, do hyperbaric, PEMF, red light therapy, saunas, cryo, ozone, off label drugs, supplements, high dose vitamin C infusions and more. It gets very time consuming and expensive to be honest. But, if someone wants to spend the time and do research to send me a detailed protocol of what they think I should do (just keep in mind I have likely already done it), I am willing to do another look and start over again. I haven't been able to do High Dose IV Vitamin C all month due to all the appointments and the way I have felt, but honestly I feel like out of everything I have done, it is the most helpful. So, my plan is to start that back up ASAP. I have an ozone machine and hyperbaric at home and am planning on beginning that daily again. My cancer is breast cancer (stage IV, ER+ her2 low, with metastasis to my liver, bones, and brain) for those wanting to research. Some have sent me things specific to various brain cancers, like glioblastomas or others---that is a different cancer than what I have.) I have even put everything I have done into ChatGPT and asked for recommendations. It basically recommended what I have already done. Just wanted to put that out there, because I know there are people who love me who are thinking about this sort of stuff.

Prayer requests:

When friends ask if there is any way they can help, the biggest help for me right now is prayer. I have experienced the power of prayer and know that in this time of need, it is the most helpful. I know many like to pray specifically, so here are specific requests:

• That I can begin to move my body more and feel less weak/lethargic. It really scares me, because I hope it is just side effects from radiation and medication and not my body trying to shut down.  :-(  I need to focus on these verses: 

Isaiah 41:10: "Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.". 

Philippians 4:6-7: "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.". 

• 
  

2 Timothy 1:7: "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind."

• That this treatment works, I don't have the bad side effects that I have read about, and that I can stay on it a very long time due to its effectiveness.
• That the Lord heals my body of this cancer completely and miraculously. I want to share a testimony of God's healing.
• That I can get back to being my normal active self, working out, having an awesome diet, and gradually get back on my supplements and integrating alternative treatments again.
• That none of this stuff negatively affects Drew's ability to work. 
• That all these drug and brain radiation side effects go away, so I can get normal sleep and movement.
• That is the Lord has another miraculous treatment I have not yet tried (or maybe even that I have tried, that he wants me to re-implement), that it is made clear and known.
• That the kids' faith is made even stronger through all this, and they feel peace, knowing the Lord is sovereign over all this.

Thanks so much for your continued prayers friends and family!!! We love y'all.

Not great news--new cancer diagnosis

It's been a while since my last post and I have been trucking along. This is going to be a tough post that may not make a ton of sense since my brain is not functioning at 100%. On Tuesday last week I ended up having a seizure at a local water park while my brother and his family were visiting us. This hospitalized me for several days while we underwent testing. For the past year, I have been have strange symptoms in my left leg, where it sort of goes numb and then my foot begins spinning. This is actually what happened just prior to my seizure on Tuesday and is apparently a symptom of a very rare cancer, leptomeningeal disease, that can happen to 3-5% of metastatic breast cancer patients. It is a cancer of the brain and cerebrospinal fluid with an extremely poor prognosis. It is something none of my PET scans would have picked up, and although I mentioned it to my oncologists' office several times over the past year, no one has pursued it surprisingly. Since my hospitalization on Tuesday, I have had multiple brain MRIs and will also have a spinal cord MRI tomorrow to further diagnosis. Not only did they find cancer in the dural space of my brain and falx cerebri in the hospital, but they also noticed cancer that had metastasized to my cerebellum in my brain. I began whole brain radiation on Thursday last week and will continue for a total of 10 treatments. In addition, I have begun anti-seizure medications and other meds that have basically made me feel like a zombie. I struggle with walking, as my left leg feels very weak and numb. I don't like the way I feel and I honestly feel like I am dying. I am hoping and praying it is just from all the treatment and I really want to maintain hope of complete healing.

So I truly beg of everyone to not stop praying for a miracle. I homeschool our children and have so many plans for our home. I just can't imagine leaving earth already, but I am feeling very doomy right now (again hopefully part of this is from treatment).

I have appointments scheduled for various neurologists, scans and at MD Anderson coming up in the next two weeks and I am hoping I can find some sort of effective treatment for this. Due to the seizures, in Texas I am unable to drive for at least 3 months after my most recent seizure. Life is looking very different for me right now, as I have always been extremely energetic and active and my brain has worked well. Right now even trying to type this post is difficult. Thankfully friends have offered to drive me to my appointments that are nearby each day. Luke has his driving permit, and when he gets back from the mission trip he is on this week, his driving will be ramping up as well so that he can drive me to the store, errands and such while Drew works.

At one of my brain radiation treatments...

I beg of all of my friends and family to pray without ceasing. I know the Lord can heal if He wills and miracles are possible.  Here is another prayer request:

We have a rental property in Round Rock that tenants notified us they are vacating. If anyone has a good recommendation for a realtor that could do a listing for us to help us get it rented asap, that would be amazing. The timing is just really bad and we are feeling very overwhelmed. Thanks so much for your prayers and help during this very difficult time for our family.

My Final Radiation Treatment

I had my final radiation treatment on Monday. I was so glad to be done with it. The combo of that plus the new chemo pill that I started the previous Monday really caused a lot of fatigue. But, I was able to combat it by constantly moving. As soon as I sat, my body wanted to stop. So, the solution was to just keep moving. They told me that my symptoms from radiation would probably get worse after stopping treatment and then eventually get better over the next month. So I'm looking forward to that. I brought the kids with me on Friday to my radiation appointment so they could learn about the jobs of radiation technologists and see what was being done to me. I love finding every opportunity I can for the kids to learn about different jobs.

I have a huge praise though: thanks to prayer warriors the nausea, vomiting and diarrhea never happened last week, aside from a couple of days at the beginning of general queasiness. I was told by the pharmacist and oncologist that those side effects would most likely happen-- so that's a huge praise. Thank you to those who are praying. Now, let's pray that I continue to not have these drug side effects and that the cancer gets eliminated for good!! (I will say I had vomiting on Tuesday morning while brushing my teeth and also a lot of vomiting today during my high-dose Vitamin C infusion, but perhaps that had more to do with infusing it too quickly.)

I have no idea whether the radiation accomplished its goal. The radiation oncologist said they just go by how you feel and eventually a future pet scan (which I have approximately every 3-4 months). So how do I feel post-radiation? The pain in my hips is still there but I am hoping it's at least partially due to the inflammation caused by the radiation. Hopefully, it all gets better as time goes on. In addition, the radiation has caused new muscle pain in my hamstrings and quadriceps that will hopefully eventually subside--that is also likely due to the inflammation from radiation.

We are just pushing through, trying to add back in supplements as my stomach adjusts to the new drug, and praying and hoping for healing! My next appointment with my oncologist is on March 14. We will see what she says about future pet scans and her opinion of my tumor markers. 

Thanks again for all your prayers. 

First Radiation Treatments and MD Anderson Appointment

Last week on Wednesday and Thursday I had a couple of appointments to get me all set up with Radiation at Texas Oncology. At my first appointment, the radiation oncologist went through the images of my PET scan with me and showed me the cancer spots. I didn't know the cancer was actually in both femurs. I was surprised to find out there is also some in my lungs (just a little). She also showed me the spots in my ribs, right shoulder, vertebrae, a lot in my liver, lymph nodes and left acetabulum (hip area). As far as radiation is concerned, we are going to focus on my left and right femur and left acetabulum. I was hoping to start on Friday afternoon, but they needed a bit more time to prepare the radiation plan. Thus, Monday was my first appointment for radiation treatment.

This is the radiation machine that treats me.

Radiation treatment:

Immediately following the treatment, we drove three hours to the Houston area because I needed to be at MD Anderson at 8am Tuesday morning. Drew's parents were awesome hosts and the kids stayed there with them while we headed to the appointment on Tuesday morning. I was surprised to already be having negative side effects from my radiation treatment when we arrived to their home. As I walked around Drew's parents' house to try to get some steps in, I had intense cramping down in the pelvis area where I had the treatment. I also awoke the next morning feeling that achy flu-like feeling where the body is just exhausted feeling. Perhaps that is just my body getting used to things. Also, I did have treatment and then immediately sat in the car for three hours.

MD Anderson:

The appointment with Dr. Ibrihim at MD Anderson confirmed we are on the right track for treatment. I will be taking Orserdu (alecestrant), beginning Monday and continue the radiation treatment (10 total treatments, every day until finished). He said it is very likely if the radiation treatment zaps all the cancer in the areas it is treating, it won't come back there. The drug, Orserdu, will hopefully work at getting rid of all the other cancer systemically. If not, we will move on to Enhertu (not looking forward to that). We did pursue a possible clinical trial that Dr. Ibrihim had in mind for me that combines Orserdu with another drug, but unfortunately that trial was full.

New Drug:

This afternoon before my radiation appointment, I picked up the new drug that I will be taking. After speaking to the pharmacist at Texas Oncology about it, I am very nervous, to be honest. I would love prayers that I don't struggle with all the side effects she mentioned. She said the first week I could struggle with vomiting, diarrhea, nausea, flu-like symptoms and more (those four are the symptoms I am least looking forward to so that's why I listed those. :-) ). It should get better as my body gets used to the drug. But, to be honest, my body hates drugs, so, again, I would appreciate prayers on my ability to tolerate the drug and low side effects.

Prayer requests:

 Thanks again, prayer warriors! In summary, here are my specific requests:

• That my body can get through this radiation treatment with not too much pain/issues. I am sitting here in pelvic pain as I type this.
• That my body can handle the new drug with minimum to no negative side effects.
• That the radiation, drugs and all the alternative treatments work to eradicate all the cancer. That God would heal me.
• That I can find more time. :-)  Today I was away from home all day from 8am-4:40. Basically sitting in the car, laying down at appointments and waiting in waiting rooms. All the sitting just makes me feel horrible. I need time to spend with my family (my kids are leaving the house at 5p tonight and then I won't see them until 8:30 due to attending youth group and playing in the worship band), homeschool the kids, work on things for the class I teach at our homeschool co-op, edit photos, work on our co-op yearbook, work out, plan healthy meals, go to the grocery store, cook meals, fit in all the treatments, do my landlord duties and find contractors for maintenance issues and schedule those contractors, etc. I know everyone has busy schedules and deals with this every day, it just feels like a lot daily with cancer on top of it. Otherwise, normally I thrive with lots to do.
• Please also pray for my dad. He had another heart attack this past weekend and also is having stroke-like symptoms. In addition, he fell in the middle of the night last night at his independent living facility, where there is no nursing staff on duty. He is in Oklahoma, where there is currently a very bad ice and snow storm, with treacherous roads. So, it is difficult for my siblings to get to him. The ambulance took him to the hospital due to the fall, but then my siblings had to pick him up at 2:30am from the hospital to take him back to his apartment. A lot of decisions need to be made about how to get him the best living situation for his current condition.

I will try to keep everyone updated as things change. I'm guessing I will have another PET scan in 3 months or so. I will begin receiving weekly labwork beginning Monday to hopefully see tumor markers come down as time progresses.

Life Updates

It's been SO long since I last updated this blog. I just saw my last post was in August 2023, when I was on a drug for my cancer called, Kisquali. I believe it was my 2nd line of treatment for Stage IV Metastatic breast cancer. Unfortunately, my most recent allopathic treatment, a chemo pill called Xeloda, seems to be failing and thus I will be moving on to a 5th line of treatment. More on that later.

We now have two teenagers. Abbey turned 13 in January and Luke turned 15 in October. I love these kiddos greatly. They are amazing! Drew is also amazing as always. he works hard at everything he does and is such a huge support and rock in our family.

Luke has been practicing driving since he has his learner's permit. He is also really busy with basketball, taking classes at Austin Community College and our Co-op in addition to homeschooling, and playing piano in the church youth worship band. He is excited to help lead worship at a church in South Austin this upcoming weekend for that church's DNOW (Disciple Now, an awesome event for students).

Abbey has been in many plays and musicals since I last posted. She also has been playing basketball, singing in choir and sometimes in the youth worship band at church. She loves creating--art, music, crafts and more. She continues to enjoy homeschooling--her favorite class is logic (Drew and I often say she would make an excellent attorney some day!) She has been taller than me since this summer; so, I am now the shortest person in our family.

I try to keep things as normal as possible for our family, despite having stage IV cancer. I don't want the kids to look back at our family time together and think mainly about the cancer. I try hard to plan fun adventures and give them lots of interesting experiences to enrich their lives. At times it can be really difficult because I have to be gone a lot to try to squeeze in all the complementary treatments I like to do for the cancer. Honestly, it is at many times overwhelming. For example, ideally, this is what I would do:

Hyperbaric Oxygen therapy: one hour in the chamber at least once per day (it actually is at least an hour an a half process though by the time you get up to pressure and then release the pressure). Ideally I would do this twice per day.

Ozone Insufflation: about 20 minutes per day

Red Light Therapy bed, PEMF, Cryotherapy and Lymphatic Massage at Upgrade labs: Would love to do this at least 3 times weekly. However, it takes about 3 hours each time with driving time. Thus, i can only do it when we I have a solid three hours of time block.

High Dose IV Vitamin C: need about 3 hours of time (including the driving time). Ideally this would happen three times per week.

Daily juicing: 45 minutes-an hour

Exercise: Daily, 30-60 minutes

Daily walks: 30-60 minutes

Infrared Sauna: an hour and 20 minutes, including driving time.

Supplements: Too many to name all throughout the day.

You get the picture. It can be overwhelming trying to do all this, as well as plan and prepare meals, homeschool the kids, take them to ALL the activities and things. All this on top of the most recent drug I was on, Xeloda, making me just feel terrible. Initially, I had so much nausea that I began dropping my supplements, because it was just too hard. I began Xeloda back in June 2024. It also caused the very painful hand and foot syndrome. My church home group began praying for my nausea and it worked! I could now think of food and eat. (Still the thought of taking supplements made me feel super nauseous, so I remained off of all of them.)  My feet then started feeling terrible---blisters, red hot, and peeling. It made it difficult and painful to walk, but I still pushed through and was able to continue walking every day. I visited MD Anderson for a second opinion on things in August 2024. The doctor there specializes in patients with breast cancer that have become treatment resistant. I felt like that was me, since I was already on my 4th line of treatment in just two years since being diagnosed stage IV. He recommended a different drug as my next line of therapy after Xeloda, vs what my local oncologist recommended. I would prefer to move to that drug, vs the Enhertu, which is an IV drug, administered every few weeks (my hair would all fall out and other patients have reported other nasty side effects). So, I would prefer another pill vs moving on to all the IV drugs.  

My October 2024 PET scan showed Xeloda was working overall, which made me very happy. My doctor moved me to a 7 days on the drug, 7 days off the drug schedule (vs two weeks on, one week off). My home group also prayed for my feet. Miraculously, my feet improved drastically. However, now my awful pain was in my hands/fingers.

Fast forward to my most recent PET Scan: January 30, 2025. It wasn't good. I had progression everywhere. My cancer is still in many places in my bones, liver and lymph nodes. However, the new large area in my right upper femur is cause for concern, due to the stabilization it provides to my body. I also have a fairly large area of cancer in my left hip area (which was almost gone on my October PET scan.) And my liver has tons of cancer in it. I have learned things can change very drastically, very quickly. Just on January 8th, my tumor markers showed great improvement and I was feeling pretty well in my bones. Then, on January 22, the markers shot WAY up, higher than they have ever been and the PET scan looked awful. I really pray things can improve that rapidly as well.

So, what's the plan now? My local oncologist wants to do radiation on my right femur and left hip, since they provide much needed stabilization to the body, It is super important those areas improve quickly. In addition, I am awaiting insurance approval to switch to a new drug, Elacestrant. My doctor said it will most definitely cause nausea, so I am not super excited about that. In the meantime, I have an appointment at MD Anderson on Tuesday next week to make sure that doctor still agrees with that plan in light of the recent tumor markers and scans. In addition, I am going to try to add my supplements and off-label drugs back in to help my body in other ways and try to squeeze in as many of those therapies I mentioned above each week. 

How can you pray for me and my family?

• Please pray for the Lord to use the radiation to eliminate the cancer from those two large areas. In addition, please pray for no negative side effects from that.
• Please pray for approval of this drug if the Lord wills. And, if approved, I pray for swift removal of my cancer through it and the other natural treatments I am doing, as well as no terrible side effects. I really need good nutrients in my body and being nauseous makes that difficult.
• Please pray that I can find time to fit all of the helpful healing treatments into my day.
• And ultimately, please pray for healing and removal of all cancer from my body.

I am so thankful for the prayers of all of you who read and pray (and for the family who donates financially as well to the alternative treatments, unasked and regularly, just to encourage those to continue and to relieve some of that burden--even though they have health burdens of their own--continuing to pray for you.) 

When I was regularly blogging and posting my prayer requests back in 2012-2013 when I was diagnosed with Stage 3C breast cancer, I could LITERALLY feel the prayers. I was in such a state of peace and had so much joy. And I saw SOOOOOO many answers to those prayer requests I posted. I have been so out of time, that it has been overwhelming thinking of keeping everyone updated, and feeling like I didn't want to burden others with my requests. But, I have been encouraged by others that I need to post. I apologize for the length of this post (and for possible grammar/typo errors---literally just going to type this without editing and post since I have limited time). Future posts will not be this long---it's just there was a lot of catching up to do.  Thank you, friends!