Future treatment and is this one working?

Next week feels like a significant one for me.

On Monday, I'll have a PET scan that I've been anxiously awaiting. This scan will give us a much clearer picture of what my cancer is doing and help determine the next steps in my treatment journey.

There are certainly reasons for concern. Since starting my new treatment on June 11, my tumor markers have continued to rise, and my liver enzymes have steadily increased as well. We had hoped these changes might simply be a temporary effect of chemotherapy, but because they continue to trend upward, that seems less likely.

Even so, I'm holding on to hope.

Cancer has taught me that numbers and lab results tell only part of the story. Sometimes they point to progression, and sometimes they don't. Until we have the PET scan results, we simply don't know. I'm praying that this treatment is doing more than the bloodwork suggests and that we'll see stability—or even shrinkage—on the scan. That would be an incredible answer to prayer.

If the scan shows progression instead, my oncologist and I will need to carefully consider what comes next. The treatment options available to me are becoming more limited, but I refuse to believe that limited options mean no options. Medicine is constantly advancing, and I serve a God who is not limited by statistics, timelines, or expectations. I don't know what the next chapter will look like, but I know I won't walk through it alone.

When I last spoke with MD Anderson in May, there weren't any clinical trials available for my particular situation. The chemotherapy they recommended also doesn't cross the blood-brain barrier, which is an important consideration since I've had brain metastases and leptomeningeal disease (LMD). Ideally, I need a treatment that can continue protecting both my brain and the rest of my body. I recently reached out to MD Anderson again, and they've asked me to send my PET scan results as soon as I receive them so they can reassess whether any new options or clinical trials might now be available.

In the meantime, I'm continuing to look for every possible avenue. I've contacted a local physician who performs a procedure called histotripsy. Histotripsy is a non-invasive, FDA-approved treatment that uses focused ultrasound waves to destroy liver tumors. Instead of surgery, radiation, or heat, it uses microscopic bubbles that rapidly expand and collapse, mechanically breaking apart the tumor tissue. I have an appointment with the doctor who performs this procedure next week as well.

I have no idea whether I'll even be a candidate. That depends on how extensive the cancer is throughout my liver and whether the tumors can be effectively targeted. But I've learned that hope often begins with simply asking the question, "What if?" If there's even a chance this could help, it's worth exploring.

Right now, my greatest desire is to get the cancer in my liver under control. My last PET scan also showed progression in my bones, so this next scan will be especially important in helping us understand where things stand.

As I head into this week, I'm choosing faith over fear. That doesn't mean I don't have moments of worry—I certainly do—but I've seen God's faithfulness too many times to lose hope now. No matter what Monday's scan reveals, I know He is already there. He has walked with me through every difficult appointment, every treatment, every setback, and every victory, and I trust He will continue to lead me one step at a time.

I would be so grateful for your prayers this week—for peace as we wait, wisdom for my medical team, clarity in the decisions ahead, and, most of all, that this scan will bring encouraging news. Thank you for continuing to walk this journey with me. Your prayers, messages, and support have carried me more than you'll ever know.

In the meantime, here are a couple of photos from a much-needed get-away that Drew and I were grateful to go on while our kids were away on a mission trip in Alaska a couple of weeks ago. The weather was amazing in Monterey, CA. 

I was wearing three layers on my upper body while there, and it felt amazing!

One year anniversary of seizures--update

Happy July, everyone! ☀️

Exactly one year ago, on July 1st, a perfectly normal summer day turned our lives upside down. My brother Jeremy and his family were visiting, and we were having the best time—playing mini-golf, eating good food, and just hanging out. Around 4:30 PM, we all headed to the local water park to catch their after-5 PM discount. Drew was back home working, but I was there with my kids, my brother, and his family, having a blast.

Then, out of nowhere, things took a terrifying turn.

My left foot started moving uncontrollably, swirling around. Fearing the worst, I sat on the ground. Suddenly, I lost the ability to speak. Feeling like I was about to die, I tried to mouth the word "help" to a woman staring at me from across the way. None of my family was right next to me at that moment.

My very next memory is being wheeled out on a stretcher. I remember looking up and seeing my kids crying as the paramedics wheeled me past them. I had suffered a full-blown seizure right there in front of everyone. Having never had a seizure before, it was the scariest moment of my life.

At the hospital, the nightmare continued. I felt a second seizure coming on, and this time, Drew was by my side to witness it—which was incredibly traumatizing for both of us. After extensive testing, we got the devastating news: my cancer had not only metastasized to my brain, but specifically to the leptomeningeal area (where spinal fluid circulates). Along with my metastatic breast cancer, I now had a new diagnosis: Leptomeningeal Disease (LMD). It was heartbreaking, especially knowing how difficult the prognosis typically is.

Which brings me to today. To be standing here, one year later, is a huge PRAISE! 🙌

I just had a new brain MRI on June 30th and met with my amazing neuro-oncologist. He seemed pleased with the results. While there are still tiny bits of cancer in the leptomeningeal space and a bit on my cerebellum, the disease is stable and not growing. Even better, the new drug I’m on is known to successfully cross the blood-brain barrier. The previous drug, Enhertu, did a good job on the brain metastases, but unfortunately the liver tumors and a couple of the bone lesions progressed. He told Drew and I today that he is really hoping for all the cancer in my brain to clear up. It is so nice to have such a positive physician who believes I can heal there!

To backtrack a little bit to earlier this week: on Monday, I officially started cycle 3 of Trodelvy.

Going into the appointment, we really weren't sure what my oncologist would decide to do, especially since my tumor markers and liver enzymes have been on the rise since starting this new drug. But when she walked into the exam room, her first question was simply, "How are you feeling?"

Since our last visit, she had bumped my dosage up from a 50% dose to a 75% dose. I was happy to tell her, "I'm actually feeling surprisingly good, all things considered!" While chemo always brings a whole slew of side effects, it’s nothing I can’t handle right now.

When we looked at the lab results, it was a bit of a mixed bag and tricky to interpret. On one hand, my tumor markers are still increasing, and my liver enzymes remain high (though they do fluctuate). On the other hand, my circulating tumor cells actually seem to be going down. We really are hoping my tumor markers come down. Right now the biggest concern is the cancer in my liver.

Because my body is handling the higher dose relatively well—thanks to bone marrow stimulating injections that keep my white blood cell counts from dropping too low—we decided to move forward with another treatment cycle. The real answers will come at the end of the month, when I have a PET scan that will give us a much clearer picture of how well this treatment is working on the areas other than my brain.

My brother Jeremy and his family just headed home yesterday after another wonderful visit., one year later. This time around, there were no seizures, no ambulances, and absolutely no traumatic events—just pure quality time. It was such a gift to have a visit that wasn't overshadowed or tainted by my health issues. Even though I had to slip away for a few medical appointments while they were here, it comforted my heart to know that Luke and Abbey were having the absolute best time making memories and hanging out with their cousins.

Top Golf

Backyard basketball

God is good, and I am so grateful for another year, stable MRI of the brain, and all of you. Thank you for walking this journey with me! Now, let's pray this treatment starts working on my bones and liver!

Wrapping up June--Father's Day and Labwork results

We had a wonderful Father’s Day weekend spending time with Drew’s parents. Between eating great food, playing Topgolf, and enjoying games at home, it was just really nice to relax and enjoy each other’s company.

Father's Day at Church

I look like such a shorty with my tall family. :-)

The kids are preparing to go on a Mission trip to Alaska. They are still raising funds for that but are unbelievably excited. This is Abbey's first year to go on a mission trip with our church, and Luke's third year. It will be fun for the two of them to get to go together.

On Monday, I started my first infusion for Cycle 3 of Trodelvy. Before the treatment, I had to get my usual lab work done to ensure my blood counts were in a safe range. Thanks to a booster injection I received last Friday, my white blood cell counts were right where they needed to be. I also got some encouraging news from my metabolic panel: my liver enzymes came down a bit. They are still high, but they are finally heading in the right direction!

Yesterday, however, I received some of my other results, and my tumor markers are still rising—this time, quite significantly. Despite this, I really want to move forward with my scheduled treatment this coming Monday (week two of this three-week cycle), and I’m hoping my doctor is on the same page. Since these latest markers reflect the previous cycle, I feel it’s still too early to pull the plug on this treatment after only two cycles. So prayerfully, perhaps these results are just due to tumor die-off.  I'm actually feeling well considering and am so grateful for that. Thanks for your continued prayers and love! 

Cycle 2 of Trodelvy

I wanted to share a quick update on my health. This Monday marked the beginning of week two in my three-week Trodelvy treatment cycle, which included my infusion, lab work, and an appointment with my oncologist.

Unfortunately, my cancer markers have increased on the last two tests, and my liver enzymes have risen again as well. As some of you may recall, I started Trodelvy at half the standard dose because I have historically experienced significant side effects with many treatments. Thankfully, the side effects have been much more manageable than expected.

Because we need to get the cancer under better control, my oncologist increased my dose to 75% of the standard amount for my second infusion this past Monday. I'm happy to report that, so far, things are going well and I'm tolerating the higher dose without any major issues. I'm especially interested to see what my next lab results show, particularly my liver enzymes and tumor markers. For now, my oncologist has decided to complete this treatment cycle and move forward with a third cycle to see whether things begin to stabilize from a lab-work perspective.

If my numbers don't improve, we may need to move up my imaging studies so we can get a clearer picture of what's happening inside my body. Otherwise, my next scheduled scans remain at the end of July.

In the meantime, summer has been full, busy, and fun. The kids are coming home from a week at camp today, and in July they'll be heading to Alaska for a mission trip. They're still raising support for the trip and are incredibly excited about the opportunity.

While they're away, Drew and I are hoping to sneak off for a little getaway of our own—a chance to recharge and enjoy some much-needed time together. I am really looking forward to it.

In fact, Drew took the day off yesterday, and we enjoyed a little day date together. I honestly can't remember the last time we had the chance to do that. We spent the day exploring a new trail in downtown Austin, wandering around, and enjoying some delicious food. It was such a nice break and a wonderful way to spend time together. We have an anniversary coming up in just a couple days and I turn 50 in July. So, those are some fun milestones. I look forward to every one of them. Each day we are gifted is such a blessing!

My prayers for now are as follows:

• That my cancer goes away completely. Praise the Lord for the healing we must believe He is doing in my body!
• That this treatment shows signs of working very soon, and all my bloodwork calms down and heads towards normal range.
• I created a workout plan with the help of AI to help physically strengthen my body. Never in my life have I felt so weak, so it's such a strange feeling. I want the energy and motivation to be able to keep moving.

Thank you prayer warriors!

I will finish this post with something fun. One of my sweet friends who is at camp as a sponsor sent me this photo of Luke and Abbey from camp. Our church took about 160 people total, including 140 students. Camp week is the kids' favorite week of the year, and I can't wait to hear all the stories when they get home.

One of the highlights is the themed recreation team competition. In the weeks leading up to camp, students plan costumes, chants, team spirit ideas, and other creative touches for their assigned teams.

There are many teams competing each day for the camp's "seat of power". I'm happy to report that Abbey's team won on Day 1 and Luke's team won on Day 3, since one of our church's teams won the seat on day 3, the church got to bring home the seat of power — a toilet seat decorated in each of the winning team's themes. 

Cycle 1 of Trodelvy Complete

Good afternoon friends! I apologize for the lack of update yesterday. I was planning on typing something out while in the oncology infusion chair, but I couldn't keep my eyes open once they started the pre-medication drugs. I got knocked out, got home just before 3, accepted a delicious meal from a sweet friend and then fell asleep. I was exhausted and highly drugged. :-) I woke up at 5:30 with a start, so confused about what day it was, and even thinking it was 5:30am. I asked Drew if he could drive us to church at that point to watch Luke and Abbey in the worship band for VBS at 6pm. Hearing them lead worship makes my heart so full of joy! We made it just in time and got to see them even though I was in a bit of delirium. I needed to wake up anyway, so that I could actually sleep at night. 

I was pleasantly surprised that the first cycle went just fine. Not too much pain, no nausea, and just a little fatigue (I actually took some naps.) My biggest complaint was the severe abdominal swelling, which I am not sure if it's from liver issues (cancer) or taking so many steroids. I receive steroids through my IV two Mondays in a row, with one week off. Then, I take steroids orally on days 2-5 after each treatment. I will say the abdominal swelling improved towards the middle of week 3. I also had some trouble sleeping once I stopped the anti-nausea drug that I take on days 1-4 of treatment week. I'm guessing that lack of sleep is due to steroids also.

My liver enzymes are still high, but they were slightly lower than the previous labs. The trend (of the enzymes going down) is good though, and I pray that it continues.

Anyway, I just wanted to update friends, family, and prayer warriors on what life was like around here. I am at that oncology office often---so far EACH week. I am hoping and praying I can get a week off periodically.  We are trying to figure out how frequently I need the bone marrow stimulating injection, as gthat also determines how frequently I am at the oncology office. So far, I was able to convince them I only needed it Friday of week 1. We skipped it for week two as the labwork showed it was still on the lower end of normal. I went back on this past Thursday and had labwork, which showed I needed the injection--I received it again. I was just within range with my neutrophil count on Monday. So, this week the plan is just to be really careful this week and go for labwork and the injection on Friday.

I will finish this post by showing a video I took of Luke (on keys) and Abbey (on vocals) at youth worship practice, which occurs each week prior to "Powerhouse" (youth group). This band was entirely made up of youth. There is nothing sweeter to me than watching my kids worship the Lord. If anyone local is looking for a youth group for their kids (I know a lot of groups take off for the summer), please feel free to reach out to me. Just comment with your email and I can send you information. They have some awesome fun events all summer even outside the normal Wednesday evening "powerhouse" youth group meetings. It's the best group, led by the most amazing youth pastor and team!

(Please ignore the weird angle, as I was trying to be sneaky. ;-) ) Youth Worship Practice

As always, thanks for your prayers!! Love y'all.

Follow up on my infusion yesterday and prayer request

Yesterday I had bloodwork before my infusion. They got the results of my CBC to make sure my white counts were high enough to get treatment. Thankfully, they were! Based on this labwork and my labwork from Wednesday through Friday of last week, at my doctor appointment before the infusion, we discussed with the PA that I just come in on Friday for the bloodwork instead of Wednesday-Friday. I am going to have next week off from treatment, so I will likely get the blood marrow boosting injection on Friday, so that I may get treatment on June 1. 

Later in the afternoon, I received a call from my oncologist office, though that was not great. Prior to my first infusion of Trodelvy last week, we noticed my liver enzymes were really elevated, which wasn't good. I thought perhaps it could have been from the trauma of my liver biopsy, but that was unlikely due to the amount of time between the biopsy and treatment. Unfortunately, getting the metabolic panel back takes some time, so we weren't able to know my liver enzymes results from yesterday's labwork until later in the day. They basically doubled, which is not good, since they were already high. I have been having liver pain ever since my biopsy. Now, it could be due to receiving the treatment last Monday, because it would be the first liver panel I received since treatment with the new drug began. However, it could also be due to the cancer in my liver dying off, causing inflammation, or significant progression. We are really hoping it is due to the die-off of my cancer. To be safe, I am avoiding as many medications/supplements and treatments this week as possible to give my liver a break. I am going to hydrate, hydrate, hydrate to try to flush things out as well. I even looked up the injection I received on Friday to see if it could cause liver enzymes to increase. Basically all of the drugs I receive through my infusion can cause a temporary increase to liver enzymes. Also, the bone marrow stimulating injection can as well, But, the increase should only be temporary (1-2 days), so this huge increase is a bit alarming. 

My prayer request is that my liver function improves, my liver enzymes go down significantly (normal level would be awesome), the pain resolves and I can continue treatment that is extremely effective. We should know the results of my labwork late on Friday. Thanks for your continued prayers. I feel at peace with all of this, knowing God is sovereign over all.

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.