I was Interviewd by Fox News Orlando

I got a call out of the blue this morning by our local Fox affiliate who wanted to do a background story about somebody living with Breast Cancer. It was also a lead in story (is that the right term Megan?) for an organization called Brides Against Breast Cancer. You can see what they are about in the links on the right side of the page.

They were very nice people. A few things reported were incorrect (I have had Cancer 3 times not twice for instance) but what is important to me was reported wonderfully.

They spent some time talking about The Young Survival Coalition and even showed the home page of our national website! And they did mention MD Anderson.... who is STILL treating me like a rock star.

Here is the link to the Broadcast:

http://www.myfoxorlando.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=2811531&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=3.5.1

Words of Warning to Readers

2 dangerous developments:

I have discovered how to post videos...so you will now be bombarded with crappola I find interesting.

I have installed some new features from blogger...which will make formatting easier for me...but it's really hosed up some of my older posts and pictures. I guess I could go back and re-edit them one by one...NOT.

Diane, Nancy and Sue at the Beach Shack

Not this time Butler!

On to the Elite Eight!!!

Elizabeth Edwards

Is there a Silver Lining? I tend to always look for one.

The country is about to get a MAJOR education about Breast Cancer....or just Cancer in general.

I am a news junkie and watch everything...PBS, CBS, CNN, MSNBC..It was interesting how the day wore on and it got later and later...the commentary was more and more intelligent.

Started out with uneducated comments like "I thought Elizabeth Edwards was cured"...by the end of the evening I saw a reporter stating statistics I am usually lecturing about..."1 out of 7 women in their lifetime will get BC" ..."85% of all Breast Cancer patients do NOT have Breast Cancer in their family".

I even saw a Doctor from Sloan Kettering explaining the differences between all the different treatments and advancements of targeted biological therapies.....I think that might have been on Anderson Cooper's show.

If in fact she has only the one spot on her ribs she has many years to look forward to. I hope with all my heart that is all she has.

In the meantime, the country is going to learn a great deal about what we are dealing with. And the education won't be wrapped in Pink and delivered just in October.

Maybe BC awareness month will now move to November and the Ribbon will become Blue.

The Invitation

The Invitation

It doesn't interest me what you do for a living
I want to know what you ache for
and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart's longing.

It doesn't interest me how old you are
I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool
for love
for your dreams
for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn't interest me what planets are squaring your moon...I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow
if you have been opened by life's betrayals
or have become shrivelled and closed from fear of further pain.

I want to know if you can sit with pain... mine or your own without moving to hide it or fade it or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy... mine or your own.
If you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to
be careful
be realistic
to remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn't interest me if the story you are telling me is true.
I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself.
If you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul.

I want to know if you can see Beauty even when it is not pretty every day.
And if you can source your own life from its presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure
yours and mine
and still stand on the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the full moon,"YES!!"

It doesn't interest me to know where you live or how much money you have.

I want to know if you can get up after a night of grief and despair..weary and bruised to the bone and do what needs to be done to feed the children.

It doesn't interest me who you know or how you came to be here.
I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me and not shrink back.

It doesn't interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you from the inside
when all else falls away.

I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep.

Winter Park Art Festival this Weekend

I live in this charming little town called Winter Park. I first came here to attend Rollins College, which is probably one of the prettiest campuses, besides Stanford, I have ever seen. I eventually did transfer to UF, but moved right back to Winter Park after that.

Rollins anchors one end of this street called Park Ave. Since the late 70's I have seen Park Ave constantly evolve. I have lived on the street, worked there, shopped and partied there, Jeff and I got married there....one of my sisters even adopted it as her street after moving here from New York in the 90's. The businesses come and go....but the charm doesn't.....

I believe the Art Festival, in it's 48th year, gets over 100, 000 visitors over the weekend.

I know most people think of Florida as Disney and Strip Malls... but here is a sample of what Florida is REALLY like when you get off the Interstates and explore the downtowns of the older towns.

Brick Streets, 200+ year old Oaks, Bustling Downtowns and Historic Buildings.

I have a postcard of the courtyard depicted in the poster above....it's from the early 20th Century. No Mickey Mouse here.

Tykerb/Lapatinib FDA Approved

The drug I have been taking, Tykerb (or Lapatinib) was FDA approved today.

I have been on what's called an Expanded Access Program (EAP) of the drug for 8 weeks and my results have been wonderful.

The actual clinical trial of the drug has been over for awhile...but through the EAP I could get the drug prior to FDA approval. This was one of the reasons I moved my care to MD Anderson (who is STILL treating me like a Rock Star!!)

I have been on the trial for a full 8 weeks and so far Tykerb is working great for me. It's in pill form (I take 6 a day)...and I HAVE to take it with another chemo, also in pill form called Xeloda. I have no side effects from the Tykerb...but Xeloda is another story. I am hoping now, with the FDA approval, my Doctor's may have more lee-way in my treatment. Meaning, maybe we can stop the Xeloda (don't like this stuff, yucch).

Here is an AP news release:

New drug for advanced breast cancer approved

Tykerb helps slow tumor growth, but survival benefits are unknown

The Associated Press

Updated: 4:59 p.m. ET March 13, 2007

WASHINGTON - Women with an aggressive form of advanced breast cancer that other treatments have failed to stop gained a new option Tuesday with the approval of a novel drug — but how much benefit it offers is unclear.

The GlaxoSmithKline PLC drug, Tykerb, is to be taken once daily in pill form and is meant for women who have received prior treatment with the intravenous drug Herceptin and older chemotherapy drugs called taxanes and anthracyclines, the company said. The Food and Drug Administration said it approved Tykerb for use in conjunction with the chemotherapy drug Xeloda.

Glaxo said Tykerb would be available in two weeks. It will cost about $2,900 a month, the company said.

The initial results of a study reported last year showed that Tykerb in combination with Xeloda delayed tumor growth for an average of eight and a half months, or about twice as long as Xeloda alone. Tykerb worked so well that the international study was stopped early and all participants were offered the drug.

However, Glaxo said a later analysis of the results of that study showed the delay actually was closer to nearly seven months for women on both drugs, versus almost five months for those on Xeloda alone.

The FDA said it was too early to know if women taking Tykerb and Xeloda would live longer than those taking the latter drug alone.

The lack of that information has left one advocacy group disappointed. Survival — and not progression of disease — gives a truer picture of a cancer drug’s efficacy, Barbara A. Brenner, the executive director of Breast Cancer Action, told the FDA in a March 5 letter.

“The FDA should not approve drugs that have not shown either a survival benefit or improved quality of life for breast cancer patients with metastatic disease,” Brenner’s letter read in part.

FDA drugs chief Dr. Steven Galson said Tykerb expanded the options available to women with a type of advanced breast called HER2 positive when it has metastasized, or spread.

“Today’s approval is a step forward in making new treatments available for patients who have progression of their breast cancer after treatment with some of the most effective breast cancer therapies available,” Galson said.

Targeting tumors more precisely
Tykerb, like Herceptin, is part of a new generation of cancer medicines that more precisely target tumors without killing many healthy cells.

Herceptin has been an important option for many women with advanced, HER2 positive breast cancer, but eventually it stops working and women succumb to the disease.

Both drugs target a protein called HER-2/neu, which tumors make in abnormally large quantities in roughly one-fourth of all breast cancers. While Herceptin targets the outside of the HER2 protein, Tykerb works from the inside of the cell.

Because of that difference, Tykerb works in some HER2 positive breast cancers that have been treated with Herceptin but no longer benefit from the older drug, the FDA said.

Generally, women with HER2 positive breast cancer face a greater risk of disease progression and death. Approximately 8,000 to 10,000 women die from metastatic HER2 positive breast cancer each year, the FDA said.

Xeloda, or capecitabine, is made by Switzerland’s Roche Holding AG. South San Francisco-based Genentech Inc. makes Herceptin, also known as trastuzumab.

Eventually, Tykerb could be studied for use with Herceptin, said Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, deputy chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society. And Glaxo said it’s studying Tykerb as a treatment for other cancers.

“Some of those reports have been promising and others less so. But it is too early to know which other cancers — if any — are going to respond to this new drug,” Lichtenfeld said.

Expanded use of Tykerb eventually could make it a blockbuster drug for Glaxo, with annual sales approaching or exceeding $1 billion, analysts have said.

The Gift that Keeps on Giving!

SEC Champs 3 years in a row!?!

I know the games were a little boring with the Gators TROUNCING their opponents....but WOW, what a team. The fact these kids did not run off and join the Billionaire Boyz club after last year is just amazing. They have such heart and play so Unselfishly! Really looking forward to the tournament this year.

Gators National Champs in Football and potentially 2 years Basketball?!? I love college sports!!!!