Post-July Life Updates

First, I apologize for the delay in writing a blog post. I have been very busy figuring things out and there wasn’t really a whole lot of news. The lack of time has been the main reason though. Because it has been a while and we have been busy (so there’s a lot to write), feel free to scroll down to the very bottom if you want to get straight to prayer requests. :-) 

 

Life Stuff: 

Luke has just finished up a summer basketball season. It was a Friday night games only league for 11-12 year old boys with no practices (although we found out one team had practices twice a week under the radar). It was so much fun and a great way to get out of the heat and get some exercise (for Luke) and entertainment (for the fans). Luke also got to play alongside a friend (Brayden) and Drew coached alongside a friend (Brayden's dad). Their team, the Hurricanes (a team name they were just assigned and did not pick), ended up undefeated for the season. I absolutely loved their team, which was made of a bunch of really good boys---both character-wise, and hustle-wise (and even skill-wise). Watching these boys play was a joy and there was definitely some talent on that team. I snapped a few videos of Luke playing during each game with my phone. But, to be honest, the games were so much fun to watch and I had my phone set down most of the time so I could watch. I tried to put together a little highlight video for Luke from the 8-game season. Sharing here so I remember he did actually play in a league this summer. I'm sad that the picture below is the only one I took all season. As a few of his teammates were walking out after the last game, we grabbed them for a quick photo. There were 10 players, so sadly we are missing many from this photo. Here is the video link: https://youtu.be/wR9JGCPCAsg

Abbey just recently finished up a fun musical theater church camp, that she said was practically like a full time job. She auditioned in May and got a role of one of the main characters. She practiced her lines and music at home before their first meetup. The main characters met up the week before camp for rehearsals. Then, the camp ran from 9am to 5pm every day for the following week, with the performance taking place on Friday night. Abbey was so adorable, as she played Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5” song every morning on the google home device while she got ready for the day. When she left for camp, she would tell us “goodbye” and say, “see you after work.” :-) I love that girl! She did so well during her performance and we were so proud of her. She absolutely LOVED the camp! Feel free to watch the musical with the video we took here: https://youtu.be/OziXd_HZGjc (Abbey was the character named “Emma”.) The church made a professional video and will hopefully post it soon and then I can swap our video link out.

This week, the kids are attending their first sleep-away church camp. It is a preteen camp for kids who have completed 4th-6th grade, which means both of our kids could go together. I wanted them to be together for their first sleep away camp, so it seemed to work out well this year. And, I have a huge to-do list and am crossing off so much of it this week. That’s why you are getting this blog post! :-) Here are some photos so far from their camp week. 

Here they are at our house just before we left to take them to the church

 

Here's our church crew about to load the bus

After we got there the kids let me snap one quick photo of them before they found their friends.

The church posted this photo from camp.  Looks like they are having fun!

Another photo the church posted. I think Abbey is about to head up to the top of a water slide.

Then, next week, Drew and I travel to California for a second opinion on treatment. I will write all about that when we return. 

If you want to see what else we were up to in July, here is one second from every day of our July: https://youtu.be/l9DlX4INnVY

Cancer stuff: 

• I’m feeling well and I finally got all my supplements into pill organizers. I was having trouble remembering what to take and when, so I have an organizer that is split between day and night.  
• I met with my oncologist a couple of Fridays ago. We didn’t talk about much other than she wants me to work my way up on dose for the Verzenio. Last week I took one 50mg pill each day and my neutrophil count actually was in the good range. So, this week, I am going to take one of those 50mg pills in the morning and one in the evening. (Remember, the dose she wants me to work up to is 150mg in the morning and 150 mg in the evening. So basically, 6 of the 50mg doses per day vs the two. We shall see.) She also told me she wants me to take Zometa for my bones. I need to get clearance from the dentist on that though and I am currently researching natural alternatives to that.) I knew the answer to the question, but I thought I would ask her anyway: I asked, “These drugs you have me on, the goal is just to stop the cancer from growing, not make it go away, correct?” She replied, “Even if I were to see a clear PET scan, you still have cancer, it will always be there. The goal is to treat it like a chronic disease–one you will have the rest of your life.” 
• My monthly labwork included my cancer markers. My CA 15-3 marker went up a little–it was 79.9 on 6/17/22 and was 88.1 on 7/22/22. My CA 27-29 marker actually went down a little. It was 103.4 on 6/17 and was 97.9 on 7/22. So what does this all even mean? In general, the higher the level of CA15-3 or CA 27-29 in the blood, the more cancer there is in the body. The levels are highest when breast cancer has spread to the bones, the liver or both. If the levels go down or return to normal, it may mean that treatment is working. If levels increase over time, it may mean that the cancer is not responding well to treatment, is still growing or is coming back (recurring). For reference, a CA 27-29 marker below 38 is normal. A CA 15-3 marker below 30 is normal. I am having these tests monthly, so I am curious to see what happens next month. I’ve read that inflammation, even that caused by cancer dying off, can cause those numbers to rise as well. 
• I recently met with a well-known oncology nutritionist that I first saw back in 2013. To show you how popular he is, in June I tried to schedule an appointment with him and was told his earliest available was October 18! But, I got at the top of their cancellation list due to my advanced stage cancer and they happened to have an opening a couple of weeks ago. It was a great appointment that helped to confirm many of the things I was already doing. He also told me, in his opinion, some things that weren’t necessary and then added a couple of recommended supplements. 
• I’m continuing to drink juices throughout the day that Drew makes in the morning. I LOVE them and I know they help. I am not quite ready to detail out exactly what I am doing nutritionally and the alternative therapies I have implemented, as I continue to modify based on how I feel and finances (for example, ideally I would do two high dose IV vitamin C treatments per week, but when they cost over $200/ treatment, that cost adds up really quickly. So for now, I am aiming for one treatment every other week and planning on using high dose liposomal vitamin C supplements on the other days.) Next month, I am hoping to do a whole post on what I am doing “naturally” to heal my body, as well as include scientific studies to show support for what I am doing. On that note, I had some infrared sauna time today and tomorrow I get a high dose vitamin C infusion (50G).
  
• Like I mentioned before–I am feeling well. I work out each day and am trying to get plenty of calories. I haven’t gained weight nor do I continue to lose weight, but I am holding steady at 94-96 lbs each day. So to me, that is a good thing. In some areas, my bones feel better than they did a month ago (for example, in my ribs). In some areas I have slightly more pain (for example, I notice my right hip bone and sacrum pain when I work out or when sitting).
  

Prayer Requests: 

• That God continues to guide us in treatment decisions. That he will make it clear what treatments to use and what is unnecessary. 
• That God continues to heal my body—completely eradicating the cancer from my body and not allowing it ever to return. 
• That God provides safety for Drew and I while traveling next week for the second opinion and that He places a hedge of protection around our kids who will be in the care of their beloved Grandparents next week (they are super excited about that). 

I just want to say again--THANK YOU to those who battle with us in prayer, those who read these little updates and care about us.  We love you! 

I leave you with a random photo from the weekend--the kids and I played "Spoons" and our dog, Minnie, really wanted to join in.

My trial of 150 mg Verzenio

First off, if you are a Believer I ask that after you read this post, please say a quick prayer for me. I believe in the power of prayer and am so thankful for those who are praying for me. It means a lot!

What a week! I feel like this cancer thing has almost become a full time job. Between all the natural treatments, blood work, appointments, research, phone calls to doctors, potential treatment facilities, emails and more, it takes up so much of my day!! I have been trying to do some of my phone calls and research outside in the sun by our pool. It's so therapeutic! All throughout the day I'm still drinking my juices that Drew makes for me in the morning. I feel like those are helping me so much.

I feel like I am eating okay, although I definitely admit I should consume a lot more calories. Cancer itself uses a lot of energy and my metabolism at rest is increased due to the increased inflammation caused by my immune system fighting. So I definitely need more calories. I'm just trying to figure out how to get those calories. This morning I weighed 94.8 lbs. I really don't want to lose any more weight. 

As far as conventional medicine, you may recall my oncologist wanted this first line of treatment to be the combination of exemestane (aromatase inhibitor) and Verzenio (CDK inhibitor). You may also recall back in 2012-2013, my body didn't handle medicine (and chemo) well. In fact, we had to stop early, not even completing their regimen, due to my immune system tanking. In hindsight, I believe it was a good thing to stop. I honestly wish I had taken a completely natural approach to cancer treatment at the beginning. But, in 2012 I didn't know what I know now. After all, it was my first time to go through something like that I never had cancer on my radar at such a young age. However, I also have to trust God's orchestration in all of it, because I did feel led at the time to do what we did, which ended up being a combination of allopathic medicine, with natural integrative approaches as I learned along the way. My regret for not going all natural has to do with the lifelong effects of that treatment that I still suffer with today, almost 10 years later. I just feel like it wasn't good for MY body. Anyway, all that just to say I was very concerned about taking the Verzenio from the start. I know my body very well and better than anyone else and I should have trusted my gut, which I also believe is often the Holy Spirit's guidance. This time, Drew had the same feeling about Verzenio as me--so it was probably definitely the Holy Spirit nudging us. The medication comes in 50mg, 100, mg, 150 mg and 200mg doses. The dosage for me was going to 2 pills of the 150 mg dose each day. To ease me into things, she was having me do one pill only on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Last week was my first week. I decided to take the dose at night. So, on Monday night I took the dose. Not long after I became extremely nauseous and pretty much didn't sleep that night, as I awoke every hour feeling like I was going to vomit. The effect lasted a full 12 hours. I was so thankful when the effects went away and I started to feel more normal. I knew my next dose wasn't until Wednesday night, so I had a break and was able to get some sleep on Tuesday night. I just couldn't imagine following up with another dose when I awoke on Tuesday morning! On Wednesday I took my next dose (a little earlier in the evening, around 8:45p) and didn't even sleep a wink all night, although the nausea was not as bad. It was complete misery though. I suspect somehow the drug counteracts the effect of Melatonin on my body: if that is the case though, it would not be good as Melatonin has antiestrogenic and antioxidant properties and studies indicate it is recommended as a supplement for breast cancer (and other cancers) for that reason.  I really need my sleep so my immune system can fight the cancer.  On Friday morning I had blood work.  I waited there for the results of at least the CBC part, so I would know where I stood before taking my next dose that evening.  After all, we are doing the bloodwork weekly because of the Verzenio.  It can cause some nasty side effects to Kidney function, liver function and immune system for some people.  Y'all-it made my immune system tank!  And that was just from two doses spread apart.  Just for perspective, if it was 2012 when I was receiving chemo, they wouldn't have even given me chemo due to my weak immune system.  My white blood count was low, my LY% high, my neutrophil count was low, and my platelets low. I haven't received the Kidney and Liver function results yet.  But, based on those numbers the oncologist said she is going to lower the dose to 100 mg.  Still, I don't know how I would be able to two of the 100 mg doses per day since one 150 mg pill/day on only two days caused those negative effects.  The prescription won't be filled until Monday, and we have some time to pray about it more. 

In the meantime, I found one local MD who will run the onconomics RGCC test on my blood.  I have researched and absolutely love her approach.  You can see her story here.  At her naturopathic clinic I can also get many of the treatments I am wanting, like IV Ozone, high dose IV vitamin C (which I actually have already been getting elsewhere) IV Curcumin, and various testing.  I found a great place to get Infrared Sauna treatments.  In fact, I had one this morning and it was amazing!!! I am really looking forward to my next session. I will do another post at some point when I have more time about why I want to do certain treatments and how they are beneficial for my cancer eradication. I am still considering some alternative treatment facilities as well, but seeing what I can do locally in the meantime.

Abbey watching the fireworks on the 4th with friends at Dell Diamond.  They were amazing fireworks!

On a very happy side note, we had such a wonderful 4th of July weekend at home.  Also, Drew and I had a double date last weekend!  Some good friends of ours suggested that we go grab some dinner while our kids, who are all old enough, responsible and the same age stay home and play some board games and watch a movie.  It was amazing and life giving.  What a wonderful distraction from everything going on--I felt so amazing after.  And our children had a blast as well.  Thanks for suggesting that Christy and inviting us!

Prayer Requests for this week:

1.  That the Lord continues to make the perfect treatment plan path for me known.  

2.  That I am completely healed from this cancer.

3.  That I can get good sleep and feel physically well so I can wake early and workout.

4.  That I can figure out how to consume more food (the food that is good for cancer fighting).  I don't want to lose any more weight.

Thanks so much prayer warriors!  You are so greatly appreciated and loved!!!

Weekly Update on Heather's Cancer Journey

Good afternoon friends and family!  I started the day with a nice long walk on the trail behind our house, listening the entire time to God's word and praying.  For those of you going through something similar, I highly recommend immersing yourself in God's word.  While I walked I listened to this video: https://youtu.be/0gQILVCBH8k. It's basically just tons of healing scriptures read by John Hagee. I've also listened to these from "Soakstream" over the past couple of weeks, but honestly the guy's voice eventually starts to put me to sleep: https://youtu.be/Ig6EZ3P1vz4.  So many verses stood out this morning on my walk.  The first is in Proverbs 3.  Starting in verse 5 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths."  Most Christians know this verse and have it hidden in their hearts. But, the verses following those really got my attention this morning. Verses 7-8 say, "Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the Lord and depart from evil. It will be health to your flesh, And strength to your bones."  

How I'm feeling:

My bones have been really aching lately.  So, of course, that verse got my attention (more on God's word in a bit). It's strange to me that before my PET scan, I didn't necessarily feel many of the cancerous areas on my bones.  But, since then, my bones have been aching randomly in the cancerous areas.  Not all at once, but I will have pain in my sacrum, and then sharp pain in my hip....then later random rib pain.  It feels like a toothache if you have ever had one of those---that deep throbbing awful pain.  But, it usually doesn't last long.  It comes and goes.  I'm on probably too many Facebook groups related to my cancer and natural healing, trying to gather data from enough people to figure out what is working for them, as well as get others' experience of the drugs I am going to be on.  One thing I have read is that when cancer is "dying off" you can get die off pains.  I really pray that is what the pains are.  Unfortunately, it sounds like you can feel those same pains when the cancer is growing.  But, the good news is I see a lot of people talking about die off pain.  It's interesting that I wasn't having this pain in all these areas before (just mainly had the pains in my legs, which is the area I didn't even get scanned.)  So, these pains have been occurring since I have been on exemestane (the aromatase inhibitor), having a ton of people pray for me and have been adding new supplements, juicing and eating plant based.  By eating plant-based, I'm removing a ton of inflammatory foods.  Many of you know that back in 2012-2013 our family changed the way we ate, eliminating sugar and eating just real food (organic--and when eating meat we eat organic, pasture raised or if beef, grass-fed. If you look through old blog posts from 2013, you can read a lot about that journey.) Over the past year prior to my recent diagnosis, we ate more "treats" out, we ate out more in general, I started eating less and less veggies (although still a very healthy diet) and overall my diet was probably more inflammatory.  And sometimes, I just didn't eat enough because I just got in a rut and didn't feel like eating (hello, cancer).  I'm praying these changes to which God has directed me will help heal my body. I believe God alone can heal me through the prayers and total faith and belief in His healing, but I also believe that we should take the very best care of these bodies God has created--and if He reveals something to us that we should be doing to take the very best care of our bodies, then we should do it.

Other than the awful bone pain, my energy level has been great!  Working out in the morning helps.  I've been eating more---and everything I am eating is super nutritious.  Drew is so awesome and really is the best husband ever!  He spends time in the morning making my juices for the day.  Right now the juice includes a TON of carrots, a green apple, ginger root, turmeric root, cabbage, romaine, and sometimes other greens like escarole, or chard.  Sometimes for lunch I will eat a smoothie that has a tons of greens in it, as well as some berries.  So I feel like the nutrition I am getting is definitely helping my energy level.  Also, in my post last weekend I mentioned that my weight was dropping daily.  I was hovering at 95/96 in the mornings.  Well, I am happy to announce that at the beginning of the week my weight started creeping up slightly and I am no longer on the downward trend but holding pretty steady.

What am I doing for Treatment?

From the conventional side of things, I am still planning on trying my Oncologist's plan of the aromatase inhibitor plus the CDK inhibitor (brand Verzenio).  I have actually been taking the aromatase inhibitor since mid June. Although, I will say that having the meeting with the oncology pharmacist this week scared me quite a bit about Verzenio.  For example, she said I have to use gloves when I take it so I don't get it on my skin and then transfer it to someone else (since it can be absorbed through the skin).  Also, I can't be in crowds and I can't be around anyone who is sick.  I will be getting weekly bloodwork to make sure my kidneys and liver are doing okay on it and that my white blood cell counts and red blood cell counts are still okay.  Basically, it seems this drug can potentially harm every part of my body and immune system.  And I definitely need these things to fight the cancer. Oh, and they also gave me a ton of anti-diarrhea medications when they handed me the prescription.  Thankfully, the doctor is easing me into it by doing half the dose and only three days this first week.  But still, Drew and I have reservations about it and will continue to pray that God direct us to the right treatment.  Drew's work offers an awesome benefit, which provides getting a second opinion at no cost to us.  So, I have started the work to do that as well since it is of no cost to us.  It never hurts to have several options.  Also, I have appointments next week with Naturopathic doctors.  A big difference in these docs and your traditional docs is that my traditional doc is trying to just get the cancer to be stable or go away to below detection levels.  She doesn't care what I eat or drink and is not even trying to figure out what may have caused the cancer.  There is no medication that kills cancer stem cells in the traditional oncology world (did you know there are proven natural substances that actually kill cancer stem cells see here, here, and here for example.  The trick for me is figuring out proper amounts/dosages).  A naturopathic doctor will try to discover the what may be going on in my body to cause inflammation.  I imagine we will be doing testing for fungal infections, viruses, bacterial and parasitic infections and taking meds/supplements to rid my body of those.  How can my immune system focus on ridding my body of cancer cells if it is tied up dealing with any of those things I just listed?  In addition, I am trying to find a naturopath (I found several) that can do a RGCC (the greek test) on my blood. Their onconomics test will expose my blood sample to cancer treatments and natural therapies, recording how effective they are at targeting cancer cells.  This will show me the therapies that have the greatest chance at killing the cancer.  Based on my extensive research this week (I seriously feel like I am cramming for very important test), I have come up with a list of important supplements, I have figured out my diet plan moving forward, as well as some natural therapies I want to include (Ozone therapy, infrared sauna and hyperthermia, and IV infusions).  I have been trying to decide whether I can do these things locally or will need to go somewhere for a few weeks to get an intensive treatment.  I will have to post details about all this in a later post.  Just know I have been in contact with a countless number of these types of natural treatment facilities and am even still waiting on one to review all of my reports and give me a recommendation of treatment.

How is the rest of the family doing?

This week we managed to squeeze in some fun family time, playing Mini Golf together, playing games, going on our normal evening walks, having some family swim time, having some friend time swimming, playing and going to the water park.  Although the news was hard, we are going to try to keep things as normal as possible.  This means we are still planning on homeschooling, doing our normal homeschool groups and co-ops, church, fun events, etc.  I pray that if I start this new medication, I do not have any negative side effects.  If my immune system gets too low, I imagine it may limit our ability to do certain things since I can't be around germs and risk getting sick.

Abbey at Monster Mini Golf this week.

The last hole at Monster Mini Golf

At Typhoon Texas on Friday

And here is one second from every day in June in our house...

Prayer requests for this week:

• Please pray that God will guide us in treatment decisions--where to go and what to do
• Please pray that I will have NO side effects from Verzenio.  
• Please continue to pray and BELIEVE in complete healing and eradication of all the cancer (and circulating cancer stem cells) in my body

 

Some other verses the Lord highlighted to me during my morning walk:

Mark 9:23: Jesus said unto them, "If you can believe, all things are possible to him that believes."

Psalm 118:8: It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man.

Matthew 13:58: And He did not many great works there because of their unbelief

And especially this one:

Psalm 118:17 I shall not die, but I shall live, and I will proclaim what the Lord has done!

PET Scan results

I had my PET scan on 6/23/22 thanks to the awesome folks at ARA who squeezed me in.  The following morning, just after 8am, I received a call from my Oncologist's office letting me know she wanted to meet with me at 2pm.  Knowing she wanted to meet with me, we thought that it couldn't be great news, as they would have happily told us good news over the phone.  I ran to the computer to check the patient portal and saw that the PET scan report was already accessible in my account. Usually these results take a few days.  So, I called Drew into the office and we shut the door and reviewed it together.  Before seeing the report, I honestly felt in my gut that the cancer had spread to my bones, due to the symptoms I have been having this year.  We were a little surprised to see it in SO many places in my bones though.  There are many cancerous areas---in my ribs, sacrum, pelvis, hip, spine.  But, the PET only scanned from my nose to thighs.  Honestly, I feel it in my legs.  In addition to these places, the cancer is also in a couple of places in my liver, as well as some pleural space in my right lung area and in MANY lymph nodes below and above my diaphragm (even one by my heart).  Needless to say, we both were just in tears reading it.   

I have been feeling my body "deteriorating" over the past year, but I figured some of it was just attributed to "getting old."  Ha!  Now, I know there are other reasons I was feeling tired, less motivated to do things I used to love to do and why I have been losing weight I don't have to lose (I just haven't felt like eating much).

Anyway, after Drew made some super nutritious juice for me in the juicer and I got some nutrients in me, we decided it was time to sit the kids down and tell them what was going on.  We were completely honest with them, but also told them that God performs miracles still and we are going to attack this from every angle that we can.  We have so many people praying for healing, and God is leading us to the right treatment for me.  

At 1pm, I had a call with another alternative/integrative/natural healing center in Florida to discuss what they had to offer.  I have felt led to use a lot of natural therapies that I am constantly researching and finding science-based and results-based data to support.  I would love to go to a place early in my diagnosis to just give the cancer a huge knock-out punch with everything we've got.  It's crazy how expensive this stuff is since it isn't covered by insurance.  I mean, just for a ballpark we would be looking at an average of $45,000-50,000 at all the places I have contacted.  So, we are trying to decide if we can try to piece the stuff together at home for cheaper. I wish there was a place like this in the Austin area. 

At 2pm yesterday, we met with the oncologist.  We were pleasantly surprised that she was very hopeful and encouraged us greatly.  We reviewed the PET scan together (I can post the video link here in case anyone wants to see:  My PET Scan Walk through Video) and she told us that although it is in a LOT of places, it's not a ton of cancer in each of these places. It was encouraging watching the actual images vs reading the report. But, this is a systemic disease. So, for example, it doesn't make sense to go in a do surgery on my liver to pull out the cancer.  If the cancer is circulating through my system, it will just find another place to land.  She said the liver is a big, fluffy organ that cancer can easily make a home in. So, you attack the cancer systemically.  This is what I plan to do using conventional medicine (but not Chemo) and alternative medicine.  She still has the same recommendation as before:  Exemestane (aromatase inhibitor) and the target therapy drug Verzenio (a newly approved CDK inhibitor).  At the end of our appointment I asked her, "So, does this mean I'm not going to die from the cancer soon?  I mean does this look really bleak to you?"  She told us that she would expect this first line of treatment to work for a couple of years.  Then, you move to 2nd line.  And my genome testing will tell us even more when we get that back of other things that could help my specific cancer (which right now we know is 99% estrogen positive, 2% progesterone positive, and Her2- (but with 1+). Now, this is just from the conventional treatment side of things. One interesting thing is that the thing that originally brought me in and concerned--the right supraclavicular lymph node--actually didn't even show uptake on the PET.  So, I guess it left that lymph node after the biopsy.

I am still piecing together my alternative treatments.  When I get that all figured out, I will post here.  I feel that the natural treatments are key, as they will help my immune system do what is was created to do--get rid of those rogue cancer cells.  Whereas, the drugs I am prescribed from the conventional medicine side don't really help build my immune system--and in fact, can hinder it a bit. I am definitely feeling all the bone pains now, so I am hoping that as treatment continues, the bone pain goes away.

Thank you so much for your prayers!  We will continue to post updates here, as I have been overwhelmed with texts and have had difficulty responding due to being in so many appointments, phone calls, etc.  I am SO thankful though that so many people love us and care for us.  I just want to make sure I can update everyone, so this is definitely the best way.  I may also create a facebook group where I can post links to these just so we can have update notifications a little easier.  I am so thankful for everyone who is reading this and praying for us.  The prayers are most definitely felt and I know God can work wonders through our prayer.  I can't wait to share with you are next PET scan which may be in a few months, which will show death to the cancer tumors!!  Already praising God for the healing He is doing in me!

Prayer requests:

1.  That I can eat more and gain weight.  My weight has been creeping lower each day.  It's hovering around 95/96 in the mornings, for example.  I would like to get back up to 100 lbs.

2.  That the treatments work and cancer doesn't have a chance at survival in my body.  That my body is a terrible host for those cancer cells! Also, that I don't have terrible side effects and I am able to continue with the treaments for as long as possible. I currently have an itchy rash/hives all over my body and I hope it goes away quickly.  Wondering if it is my body detoxing from the pet scan or just with the change/increase in nutrients I am giving my body 

3.  That I can find the right mix of alternative treatment that can be sustainable long-term. 

4.  That God would make the path known on whether to go to an alternative treatment facility, and how and where to go.  Or, whether I should stay here and try to piece things together on my own.

I'll end with some happy.  Photos from Father's Day...we were so thankful to get to spend last weekend with Drew's awesome parents.

A Health Update on Heather

Hello friends!  First off, I am completely shocked to find out that this blogging platform still exists.  I stopped blogging long ago just because I used Facebook instead for so long, sort of using it as a journal for some of our family's memories together.  However, Facebook could honestly never really take the place of a blog post like this.  I mainly post photos on Facebook, and you don't really get to hear from my heart.  I have decided to pick back up blogging, to put my heart out there, ask for specific prayers, and keep a bunch of people updated all at once about what is going on with my health and our family.  

History reminder 

First off, I thought I would remind everyone a little about my cancer journey.  As you may remember, back in September 2012, I was diagnosed with stage 3C breast cancer.  I discovered it while breastfeeding Abbey, who was just a baby. I had a massive tumor that was practically my entire left breast, as well as cancer in my lymph nodes in the axillary (left armpit), supraclavicular (under my left clavicle) and sternum areas.  I combined conventional treatment (chemo and radiation and surgery) which practically killed me, along with a change in nutrition and supplements, etc.  After chemotherapy and before radiation I had surgery.  Pathology from my surgery showed that the cancer in my breast had greatly reduced to where it was basically DCIS, however, the cancer was still circulating through my lymph nodes.  I then proceeded with Radiation while taking more oral chemotherapy.  Since then, there have been no PET scans scheduled and I would only get scans if I had some strange new symptom.   But, I have been so thankful to God for healing me and keeping it at bay all these years. It's been almost 10 years since I was first diagnosed!

This photo above was taken in 2012, just before my original diagnosis.  Abbey was a baby and Luke was 2 years old.

What's going on today?

Fast forward to today.  Over the past year, strange symptoms have been popping up and I have been very suspicious of it being cancer rearing it's ugly head.  I won't share all my symptoms here, but when I absolutely knew in my gut it was cancer was when I discovered a very hard, immovable lymph node on my right side supraclavicular area.  I had a chest and neck CT scan 6/3/22, and the report basically just stated that I had no enlarged masses or lymph nodes in my neck.  There were some tiny pulmonary nodules in my lungs, but my oncologist didn't seem too concerned about those because of their size.  Although it had shrunk, the lymph node was clearly there--hard and immovable, so we had a biopsy on 6/15/22.  I was told it would probably be a few days before I would have the results. I received a phone call from my Oncologist's office the following afternoon, letting us know that my oncologist wanted to meet with us that evening.  We knew then it wasn't good. It turns out it is breast cancer that has metastasized.  Metastatic breast cancer — also called stage IV — is breast cancer that has spread to another part of the body, most commonly the bones, lungs, brain, or liver.  Metastatic breast cancer is made up of cells from the original tumor that developed in the breast. So if breast cancer spreads to the bone, the metastatic tumor in the bone is made up of breast cancer cells, not bone cancer cells.  While it has been extremely difficult to process and think about, right now we are still sort of in "figure it out" mode.  I have had tons of bloodwork, I am awaiting the results of many tests on the biopsy, so we can learn more about the cancer, and I am awaiting a PET scan to be scheduled and completed.  The PET scan will show us where all the cancer is.  I am constantly at battle in my mind to put away negative fearful thoughts of where the cancer may be.

How I am feeling

Physically, I have definitely been feeling tired and have many painful areas on my bones.  My breathing is not the same when I exert my body.  I hadn't worked out since May 10, because I had so much pain and was told by my allergy/asthma doctor not to work out until my asthma was under control.  Monday and Tuesday morning I worked out this week, not pushing my body too much, but it helped me in an immense way.  I am someone who NEEDS to workout---for my physical and mental health.  I had WAY more energy throughout the whole day thanks to that workout. Mentally, this is just a tough diagnosis to receive.  If you start googling, you see very sad statistics on survival and the data on many treatments discuss their effectiveness in terms of months. I can't help but think about the possibility of leaving my sweet kids, who I homeschool, and awesome husband alone. 

 Treatment Discussions

I know my body struggled to handle chemo last time around, and there is no chemo that has shown to be successful at curing a patient of metastatic breast cancer. So most patients move from one chemo drug to another, until they eventually die from the disease.  I am not planning at this point to use harsh chemo drugs. However, I am determined, through God's guidance, to try to figure out what is going on in my body and find the right treatment plan for me.  I am open to reviewing treatment options my oncologist recommends, but will most definitely do a risk/benefit analysis to determine if the benefit is worth the risk/damage it will do to my body.  I am currently taking an aromatase inhibitor, since it appears the cancer is still hormone receptor positive, and researching a target therapy drug that they want me to take (the full price of this drug is $13,700 y'all for a 28 day supply). The drug was just FDA approved last year and according to their very new data, it helps delay progression of the disease by 6 months vs. using the aromatase inhibitor alone.  Their website indicates that they have no data to indicate whether it helps at all with survival. All that for a very high chance of terrible diarrhea (which means also taking an anti-diarrhea drug) and very low white blood counts and neutrophil counts (hello, I kind of need those for my immune system to fight the cancer). Right now while we wait on my PET scan results (my PET scan is scheduled for 6/23), I am doing a completely plant based diet with a ton of juicing, as well as adding some new supplements to my regimen.  I also did a high dose Vitamin C infusion a couple of weeks ago and imagine that will be a part of my life for the rest of my life.  I am reading stories of people who healed their cancer naturally and focusing on applying the commonalities between all of these success stories.  That and of course placing my faith in God.  I know that God still performs miracles.  I must BELIEVE He can heal me.  But, also I know that if He doesn't, He is still good and sovereign.  I don't want to focus on the "if he doesn't" part right now. I am only praying for complete healing.

How to pray for me

If you pray for me, please pray that God will take all the cancer out of my body for good.  Please pray that He will guide me on what treatment He wants me to incorporate to heal my body.  I want to be around for a LONG time. 

Up until now I have only told some family about it, our church bible fellowship group and a few friends that I have happened to see over the past few weeks.  I am so thankful that so many are praying for me already, and it has been difficult to respond to the texts and email in between all the phone calls I am making to try to schedule appointments and tests and discuss results, etc.  So, I figured I would just provide detailed updates using our old blog.  Check back for updates, as I will post my PET scan results hopefully in a few days.

One Second from every Day in December

Here is one second from every day in December.  Enjoy!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas--2018 Georgetown Stroll

It's an annual tradition for our family to attend the Georgetown Stroll each December.  It's a wonderful way to welcome the Christmas season.  Usually we attend the parade on Saturday morning, followed by a visit to the stroll. However, this year we decided to attend after the Big 12 Championship Game (which was extra big this year since a lot was on the line for Oklahoma).  We were extremely excited that Oklahoma was able to avenge their one loss of the year to Texas.  After we watched OU win (Boomer Sooner!) we headed to the stroll. 

Surprisingly, the line wasn't too long for this HUGE inflatable slide.  So after our meal at the new Georgetown location of Greenhouse craft food, we stood in line for the slide.

Apparently it wasn't quite exciting enough for Luke, so he decided to add a big jump at the end.

Luke was excited to play these inflatable sports games, which happened to have no line!

Look how close he came to threading the needle with that football!

The kids enjoyed designing ornaments for free.

Abbey said "Hello" to the Texas Stars Hockey mascot.

And she said "hi" to a HUGE nutcracker.

 Our favorite part of the Georgetown Stroll each year is the Bethlehem Village.  A local church transforms this part of the stroll into a village that was similar to Bethlehem, where Jesus was born.  There is even a live nativity, with real animals. 

Learning about how they dyed fabrics back then.

Learning how they turned wheatberries into flour.

grinding the wheat.

getting some snacks at the market.

This part of the village is so precious.  The sweet volunteers make a "baby Jesus" doll while telling the children about the story of Jesus.

After watching the live nativity, we headed out of the Bethlehem village and wasted no time getting to the Home Depot tent.  Abbey was extremely excited about this and had been talking about it since the second she saw a child wearing the Home Depot apron shortly after we arrived to the stroll.  They let the kids choose from several different projects.  Luke chose to make an airplane and Abbey chose to build a race car.   Luke was excited to do the whole thing on his own with no assistance.   

The finished product.

It was fun to be there while the sun set--we got to see all the beautiful lights come on.

Drew grabbed the camera and got a photo of me--to prove I do exist.

Family selfie under the twinkly lights.