A Busy Mother's Day weekend plus New Cancer Treatment

Mother's Day weekend was extremely busy but fun. Drew's parents came up to help us with our busy weekend and we are so grateful. Abbey's Advanced Theater production play was on Friday and Saturday, Luke's State Track meet, which was located 3 hours away, was on Saturday and then Mother's Day was, of course, on Sunday. So, Drew, Luke and I left on Friday night after Abbey's first performance to head to a town outside Fort Worth, TX for Luke's track meet, while Drew's parents got Abbey to where she needed to be. Here are a few photos from Friday and Saturday.

Abbey played the character, Charlotte, in Pride and Prejudice

Charlotte is Lizzy's best friend and ends up marrying Mr. Collins.

Pride and Prejudice was so much fun to watch and Abbey did an awesome job!

Luke's team in the 4x100M relay ended up getting 1st place at State. He ran the 3rd leg.

3 state track events and 3 medals. 1st in the men's 4x100m and 3rd in the 100m and 200m

This was Luke's first year in track and he enjoyed it so much. This summer he plans on researching biomechanics, elite athletes and the amazing engineering of the human body as a passion project to try to figure out how to increase his times for next season. I love this kid and his self motivation so much!

On Sunday, we celebrated Mother's Day with Drew's parents. Here's a quick little church photo. As you can see, my family now towers over me.

Then, on Monday I started a new treatment regimen: Trodelvy.  I can't recall which number of treatment this is since I was diagnosed Stage IV in 2022---maybe 7 or 8? I brought the laptop on Monday because I knew it would be a long day. I was told the treatment itself would be about a 5 hour infusion. But, I also had to have bloodwork before and an appointment with my doctor to discuss the treatment. Well, my plan to get a lot of work done on the laptop did not happen. Early in the infusion, they brought a huge syringe full of Benadryl to infuse into my port, as one of the many pre-medications before the Trodelvy. The nurse said I may get very sleepy. Well, it literally knocked me out almost immediately. I could not keep my eyes open as everything was constantly spinning. So, I was not able to provide any sort of update on the blog last week. Knowing this, I am back today trying to type out this post prior to getting the Benadryl. :-)

My oncologist last week went over the side effects that 1% of patients get, because I typically fall in that 1%. To be honest, she scared me a bit going into the treatment. However, I know that God is sovereign over all and in control here. Also, they started me off with only a 50% dose of the Trodelvy to ease into it. The side effects ended up not being too bad considering what she had mentioned as possibilities and I was very thankful, praising the Lord. One of the most annoying things was coming in for bloodwork on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday to make sure my white counts (and specifically neutrophil counts) weren't dangerously low. If they were, I would need to get an injection to boost my bone marrow into producing more white blood cells. On Wednesday, my neutrophil was in normal range, yet they still wanted to give me the injection (which is expensive and carries some painful side effects). I fought it and they let me leave without it. On the following day, my neutrophil count was still steady at the same fine normal number. So, I was able to leave without the injection again. However, on Friday it dipped a bit (still in normal range but trending in the wrong direction). Since I was on schedule for another treatment today, they decided I needed the injection so that I could have treatment today. If the count was too low, treatment would have to be delayed. On Friday, I didn't really notice too many side effects from the injection. But oh my goodness---the pain was extremely intense on Saturday. I can only equate it to a deep nerve like tooth ache, but in all the bones in the lower back, hips and pelvis. It was excruciating. I know this is because the drug was stimulating the bone marrow. We were visiting our nieces in the Houston area, attending their graduation brunch. We headed back after that to try to make Abbey's volleyball game back home. I put the seat heater on and took Claritin, which helps with bone pain, on the 3 hour drive home. The only other super annoying side effect I had Friday-Sunday was the lack of sleep. On Friday night I got zero sleep, on Saturday night I got a couple of hours and then last night I got about 6 hours of interrupted sleep every few hours. But, it felt so good to get sleep!!! I think it has to do with the steroids and possibly the injection I had on Friday. 

Anyway, I actually need to end this post now, without editing, because I am in the infusion chair and they are pushing the Benadryl into my port. Thanks for your continued prayers.

A new plan for cancer treatment

I am just following up from my last post, as a lot has happened since then. Last week, I went to MD Anderson, where I had a liver biopsy (it was painful) and a brain MRI. The goal was to see if my cancer had mutated from its original ER/PR+ status and Her2- status. If it had, that would open up other options for treatment. I have been on a lot of different treatments since I became stage IV in 2022. When one fails, I move on to the next one. Well, it appeared I was nearing the end of options, so I wanted to see what clinical trials were available to me. Yesterday, I had a follow up appointment with my MD Anderson doctor. The cancer has not changed ER/PR + status or Her2- status. The good news is that the cancer in my brain still looks stable or even improved. Unfortunately, there are no clinical trials available to me at MD Anderson. In fact, my appointment yesterday with my MD Anderson oncologist was short and very sad. He recommended a drug (eribulin) that has a median progression free survival of only a few months. In addition, it tends to cause a number of serious side effects, include severe neutropenia, which I already have issues with. So, instead I am going to go with my local oncologist's recommendation of treatment with Trodelvy, which, in studies, provides a couple of additional months of progression free survival. It is also a little more targeted chemotherapy option. 

None of this is good news though. The only good news in all this is that I am totally reliant on a miracle from God. God is sovereign over all and is in control. There is no option available to me on earth that can heal my cancer. Only God can heal. So, when that happens, it will be totally obvious who deserves the Glory and praise for my healing---no man, oncologist, drug or anything else can receive the Glory.

Friends, please pray with me for healing:

• That the Lord heals my body miraculously and completely
• That I have enough energy to exercise my body
• That I find time to write out all the instructions and plans for my family (for all the stuff that only I know in my family), just to be prepared. Friends have encouraged me that planning in this way does not show a lack of faith, but just preparedness.
• That I can get nutrients into my body regularly. Nothing ever sounds good to eat and it is difficult to eat, but I need to eat good food!
• That this new treatment doesn't knock me down or provide too harsh side effects. What I read about the side effects does not look fun.
• That I have faith as a grain of mustard seed: For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you. (Matthew 17:20) My parents were told after they were married that there was very little chance they would ever have a baby. They had this verse on a wooden sign hung on the wall and would pray for this type of faith. Then, I was born---it was a miracle. I have seen many miracles in my life and have experienced many of them in my own life. SO, I know anything is possible. Please pray that as I watch friends with the same cancer as mine pass away these past two months, and as I hear a lot of negativity from my oncologists, I don't forget that only God is in control and can perform miracles. 

Thank you for your continued prayers!

April 2026 Cancer Updates

It's been a bit since my last update, so here is where we are with cancer right now:

My most recent PET scan showed that cancer is progressing in my body; therefore, Enhertu (the treatment I've been on since August) is no longer working. I met with my local oncologist this week on Tuesday, and it was really a pretty sad appointment. She didn't offer a lot of hope and I did not have an infusion that day. She offered two potential options for chemo--neither of which I am too excited about and may only work for a short time if they work, while potentially having a lot of negative side effects attached. It was very difficult news to hear and Drew and I spent a lot of the day in prayer and tears.

However, we went before the elders of our church for prayers on Wednesday night, and it has felt as if a weight has been lifted off of me since then. At the same time as Drew and I were with the elders of our church in prayer, many of my friends and family members were also praying for us. Thank you so much--I believe the prayers are working. On Thursday morning, Drew, the kids, and I headed to Houston to visit MD Anderson to see if there were any clinical trials for which I would be eligible. (Thanks to Drew's parents who spent time with kids during the afternoon while we were at doctor appointments.) However, my oncologist there wants another tissue biopsy before recommending any type of treatment or clinical trials. He said in the number of years I have been stage IV (about 4 years), many patients' cancer changes hormone receptor status or her2 status. It's been about 4 years since my last tissue biopsy. He said that about 25-30% of patients have a change, which affects what type of target treatment you can receive or which trials you may be eligible for. We actually asked my local oncologist on Tuesday whether I should be getting another tissue biopsy,  but she said I didn't need one since I just had a "liquid biopsy" in March. A liquid biopsy is an analysis of the circulating tumor cells in my blood. MD Anderson said though that while the liquid biopsy shows mutations that the cancer in my body has (this helps recommend specific drugs and trials as well), it does not show my hormone receptor status (ER+, PR+) or her2 receptor status. As far as we know, I am still ER+, PR+ and Her2- (but low, so Her2 low). If this status changed in any way, it most definitely affects which treatment will work. It either takes away options or gives me new ones. So, now I am waiting to get a biopsy appointment with MD Anderson (hopefully next week since I am not on any sort of treatment right now) and they also want to try to get an MRI on the same day so we can make sure my brain metastasis hasn't progressed. If the brain mets aren't stable, that prohibits me from being in some clinical trials as well. I have one scheduled for 4/30 here locally, but we need to move that up. They weren't able to move it to a sooner date locally. I have no idea what body part they are going to biopsy, as the breast cancer metastasis currently shows up mainly in the liver (biggest issue) and bones. The MD Anderson oncologist said their interventional radiologists are really good there and that they would look at my scans and figure out where they could do a biopsy easiest, whether that be liver or lymph node.

So the good news is that I am not on treatment for a while, which gives my body some time to recover a bit and feel better. The bad news is that I am not on treatment for a while and my cancer could continue to progress. However, I am to a point where my trust in the Lord is great. God is in control and loves me. My struggle is always in how much do I "plan" for? Like, should I get things in order and documented for Drew in case something happens to me. I homeschool our kids and have all these planned steps for their education and to optimize their ability to get into any college they want to get into. Is planning for me to potentially not be around showing a lack of faith or is it showing preparation? I believe God can heal me from this---nothing is impossible. But I am also a planner--should I plan for me not being around? Anyway, that is a big struggle for me right now.

Here's is where I covet your prayers:

• Complete healing and removal of all the cancer in my body forever!!!
• If that comes through a manmade treatment or protocol, that it happen seamlessly and easily and the treatment works for a very long time.
• I would love to be able to work out regularly (with lifting weights and walking, rebounding or cardio). 
• Protection and logistics for traveling to and from MD Anderson in Houston (it's a 6.5 hour round trip for us each time) .Our kids have classes and activities every day of the week. Thankfully, we are getting closer to summertime--which will also be busy but at least not like it is during the school year.
• That we are able to be glorify God in all this and that his love, glory and purpose be shown to all through this trial.

Thanks so much for your prayers. I am so grateful and I KNOW the power of prayer. As I said, after prayer with the elders and friends and family, Drew and I have felt so much better about everything. I have peace and joy and I know God is at work.

March Updates

As I sit in the infusion chair for my Enhertu infusion, I just checked when I wrote my last blog post and realized it was January. After seeing that, I decided it was time to provide an update. Honestly, I have just been so busy and haven't had a chance to type out something. It's quite a bit of information to type up, and there have been so many other priorities and activities in my life lately.

Luke began his first season of track, and Abbey has recently been in two theater productions. Abbey also started back up with volleyball (just a spring rec league). 

With those activities come many rehearsals and practices. I continue to homeschool the kids and we are already looking ahead to college planning. After this semester, Luke will have 22 hour of college credit for free through the dual credit program here. So, as his "guidance counselor," we met with his college counselor to make sure we are on the right track with things. Abbey will be taking the TSI (a test used to determine readiness for college classes before the kids have the opportunity to take the SAT), so she can begin taking college courses. I can't believe she will be a freshman in High School next year---we will have two high schoolers!!

I had a slew of tests done at the end of January, including a PET scan, an echocardiogram and a brain MRI. The good news is that my brain MRI showed a lot of great improvement. My heart also looks to be surviving the treatment just fine (although, my resting heart rate still remains elevated in the 100s since August--previously my resting heart rate was in the 60s-70s.) The bad news is that my tumor markers continue to trend in the wrong direction ever so slightly. That, paired with slight progression on my PET scan at the end of January, makes my Oncologist want to do another PET scan asap (even though it has only been two months since my last one) to see if I am having more progression. This will help us know whether my tumor markers line up with my PET scan so that maybe I don't need as frequent of PET scans (if my markers are reliable). It will also tell her if we need to go ahead and switch to another line of treatment.

Unfortunately, it doesn't look like there are a lot of available treatment options besides a chemo that might work for a few months here (carboplatin), so I plan to reach out to MD Anderson for available clinical trials based on my mutations and what treatments have failed so far. I need to stay ahead of things and see what trials I am eligible for based on my history or treatment and disease progression. I hope though, the PET scan shows the disease is stable and I don't have to leave this treatment I am currently on. I put all of my past treatment and my cancer mutations into chatgpt and it gave me a list of options that I am going to ask my MD Anderson Oncologist about.

Prayer partners: I would love your prayers for my health as follows:

• That my condition become stable and things don't progress
• That we can easily identify some great future options for treatment
• And ultimately, that I am healed from this terrible disease!!

Thank you so much. God is good, all the time!

So many appointments!

It's 2026 and we are getting back in the swing of things around here. I believe I mentioned in my last post, that at the end of January, I was going to be having a slew of appointments and tests. We are now in that process. First, last Tuesday I had another Enhertu infusion. The physician's assistant agreed to let me get a bag of fluids not only with that infusion, but also on the third week of the cycle. I want to see if that helps me feel better. On Tuesday of this week, I had a brain MRI; today I had a PET scan; tomorrow I am having my high dose vitamin C infusion; Monday, I am having an echocardiogram; on Tuesday I am having that bag of fluids in the infusion room; on Friday I have an appointment with my neuro-oncologist to go over my brain MRI results, and then the next Tuesday, I have my next infusion of Enhertu and will go over my PET Scan results with my oncologist. 

Lately, I have been noticing some vision issues and sometimes feel like I am going to pass out, so I am prayerfully hoping it is due to inflammation in my brain due to cancer die-off (hoping that's a thing) and not from the LMD (leptomeningeal disease) or the cancer metastasis in my brain. I will say that after I had the Enhertu infusion on Tuesday last week, the episodes where I feel like I am going to pass out haven't happened. I am still having the vision issues though.

Anyway, I just thought I would pop on here and provide a quick update. We are super busy around here as usual and trucking along. I will plan to provide a longer update at my next Enhertu infusion. Thanks for your continued prayers!!

December check in

I hope everyone's Thanksgiving was amazing, and your Christmas season has started off awesome. Our family enjoyed time with my siblings and their families in Arkansas on Beaver Lake during Thanksgiving week. It was our first Thanksgiving and Holiday together without any parents. It was a wonderful time of fellowship and creating memories together. We had to be very intentional about scheduling it and finding a place to all meet together with all of the busy-ness of the season and kids' activities, but we did it and it was great! 

Silly group photo during a hike

at the Bentonville downtown square

View outside one of the windows at our airbnb

I am sitting in the infusion chair at Texas Oncology right now getting an infusion of Enhertu. I think this is my 7th infusion of it (I get the infusion every 3 weeks), and my tumor markers and Signatera test continue to come down (this is a good thing). I still have quite a ways to go, but we are headed in the right direction. My next PET scan will be at the end of January. I will have my next brain MRI and echocardiogram in January as well. The cancer seems to be getting better in a lot of areas. We just need the LMD (Leptomeningeal disease) to get better as well). This is the scariest part of my July diagnosis and I finally realized that leg weakness, trembling and some of the other symptoms I have been having are likely from LMD vs. radiation or medication side effects.

They drew a LOT of blood this morning.

I haven't gotten a cold in forever, but it seems a picked up a little virus. I had fever and body aches on Saturday and I have been feeling better as each new day comes along. I still have congestion today and don't feel great, so I was a little surprised they are still doing treatment. Apparently, my neutrophils and lymphocytes are low. So, as a precaution, they are making me take an antibiotic. If you know me, I hate that. I despise antibiotics and would rather rely on my body's immune system to get rid of the virus (with the help of vitamins), which it seems to be doing. However, because my body's immune system is need of help, and this infusion will tank my immune system even more, we have to be very careful. My body could struggle to fight even the common cold and it could progress very quickly and force me into the hospital if we don't take necessary precautions. I will just have to make sure to take lots of probiotics. 

Even though I am feeling poorly, I am determined that we are going to make fun memories together this Christmas season. We have been enjoying this time together as a family, and we continue to pray for complete healing! I do believe God is still performing miracles. We would love prayers for healing of the cold virus and healing overall for my body. Please Lord, remove all the cancer and restore my body! Thanks friends!

First PET scan results after starting Enhertu

As I mentioned in the previous post, I have infusions of the drug, Enhertu, every 3 weeks. I have had 4 infusions so far and will have my 5th on Tuesday (11/18) as well as labwork and an appointment with my doctor. 

I am excited to talk to her about the results of all my recent tests: labwork, MRI brain, echocardiogram and PET scan. I have received the results of all except the echocardiogram. I mentioned the results of the MRI of my brain in the last post. I think of all the areas where cancer is, the LMD (leptomeningeal disease) has had the most negative effects on my body. I am often dizzy, wobbly on my feet, and have weakness in my legs (and numbness and tingling in my left leg), and from what I am reading these can be side effects of LMD. I also have swelling in my brain, likely from the radiation I had in July. 

I was very excited about my PET scan results!

I was most excited about the reduction in bone metastasis. It looks like my L4 is the main area showing cancer in my bones (and my skull, which the MRI showed--the PET scan doesn't scan my head). My liver mets are still around, but reduced a little bit. And lastly, my lymph nodes didn't show activity. So, this is all headed in the right direction---praise the Lord!!!

Looking at my labwork after my last infusion, it appears my liver enzymes are elevated (not normal). So, on Tuesday at my doctor appointment, I need to talk to her about that. Maybe they will do a dose reduction of the Enhertu? I would hate to have to stop treatment because of the elevated liver enzymes, because it appears treatment is definitely helping. I am also doing a bunch of integrative things to try to help, as I have always done. As I am typing this, I am getting a high dose vitamin C infusion to help get rid of the circulating tumor cells. 

Anyway, that is just a quick little update on my PET scan, as promised. It's great news and I thank you for your continued prayers! Right now, my big prayers are for ultimate, complete healing of the cancer. Since the treatment seems to be helping, I pray my body doesn't suffer from it and can be strong, so I can continue to get that treatment. I pray that all my bloodwork can be within normal range (it currently is struggling--white counts, red count, liver enzymes, etc). Thanks prayer warriors!!!