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.