Making Strides

With Cari holding Sue's signs

Wedding Day-October 25th-

More Pictures of our wedding day
http://picasaweb.google.com/jefffourez/NancyJeffSWedding?authkey=5BKmcnlrDpF14wBeC1k5iciH37A

Funny Video

http://onegoodmove.org/1gm/1gmarchive/2005/11/earth_to_americ_1.html

It's Will Ferrell. He cracks me up.

From Twiggy...Hilarious

 

The Never Ending News Cycle

OK...this has been a Roller Coaster hasn't it? My news has been up and down. I've got some news to share.

I finally found out why I have been talking backwards in Swedish and can hear my neighbor's alarm clock going off at 5:30. It seems I have developed bionic powers.

One of the numerous reasons I switched to MD Anderson was I wasn't getting the scans I needed or requested. 75% of women with my particular pathology get metastasis to the brain. Guess what? Couldn't get a damn brain scan w/o symptoms....I guess i could have faked it, but that is ridiculous.

Well, I have been having symptoms for a few weeks and we did a Brain MRI at MD Anderson on Tuesday night. Wednesday (Oct 17th) morning my new Oncologist called to tell me I have numerous brain tumors. 15 maybe? One or two pretty large. 'SPLAINS A LOT.

By Friday (Oct 20th) I have already gone through 2 doses of what they call Whole Brain Radiation (WBR). I already feel better. I will have 3 weeks (15 business days) of this..so two down already!

I have been prescribed some steroids which will help the swelling go down in cerebellum and that is already helping...BUT my head is going to swell in a little while....so now Audra and I can share hats :)

It looks like after I have the radiation ...I will be sportin’ a reverse mohawk for while...yes I said a reverse mohawk.

Radiation does NOT cause hair loss usually...that is chemo... UNLESSS you are getting WBR. I will be shaving my head soon and will have another excuse to get a new wig! SO glad I dumped a bunch of money at the hair salon last week!!! Wonder if I can get my money back :)

Rest of my body is doing ok...allother spots are stable and not growing...so we just have to focus on this for while.

FAIR WARNING!...I can sometime see email and computer...like this morning I seem to be ok...but most of the time I cannot read emails very well. Jeff's been helping a great deal. If you want his email address let me know! Audra and my Sister Stacy have been great about getting news out too...so they are helping me out a lot as well.

And I just hate it hate it when I don't send a thank you card out right away...makes me crazy. So you may not hear from me off the bat. You can always call me on my cell...no tears or shouting please! Unless it's a GO GATORS!!!!!

I'm not one to give bad news....but I am SO relieved to find out what was causing my pain the last month or so.

PLUS my Lady Diamonds....I have a NEW excuse for my complete lack of equilibrium and my uncanny ability to take blurry digital pictures! It wasn't the alcohol! I should have been drinking up even more!!!!

Jody you HAVE to come up with a funny Indian name for tribes that have reverse mohawks...(No reference to Seminoles please)

And to my YSC sisters...couldn't do this without you...first thing I do when I wake up and last thing I do before going to bed is to read what you all are saying to me and to each other. You are a blessing to me in so many ways.

Here we go again....maybe third time is a charm.


:) Nancy

Ok, Question

What happens when you get 17 women together at a beach/golf community for 5 days?

The picture on the left is a clue.

I don't think Sandestin Resort will ever be the same.

My Niece Stevie

Just turned SIX. What a princess. I am so happy to have somebody to buy pink, fuzzy, sparkly, butterfly stuff for! ( Besides myself)

At the Growl

 

What a Month!

October is just ridiculously busy! SO many Birthdays, SO many Pink events, SO many Gator events...We went to the Growl but came home to watch the game. It was a very nostalgic and bittersweet visit for me.

This past weekend's game against Auburn wasn't as hard to watch as I thought it would be. Away football games are much easier with the sound off. :)

My sister Stacy and her husband Dave visited from California this past weekend. I think we have some great pics I will post soon.

I haven't been able to keep up with emails, posts, etc as much as usual. I will get back on track as soon as possible!!!

Keep Swimming!

It's STILL great to be a FLORIDA GATOR

Don't want to post toooo much about what's going on....don't want to JINX anything.

But watch this and TURN UP THE VOLUME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.gatorzone.com/urbanmeyer/

Good Survival Story

HOME OF THE BRAVE

To her, every day is a gift — and Sunday was great

Before she had cancer, Lisa Covington rarely sang in public. On Sunday, she had an audience of 78,000.

“Wow!” Lisa Covington exulted after singing “The Star-Spangled Banner” on Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium. The Lenexan was chosen to sing as part of events to promote breast cancer awareness.
Lisa Covington’s heart beat hard, exactly as it did five years ago when the doctor took her hand and whispered, “You have a month to live.”

In 2001, she had breast cancer and a prognosis that she would not live. On Sunday, Covington, 37, of Lenexa, stood near the field at Arrowhead Stadium, minutes away from singing the national anthem. Her husband, two sons and about 100 friends were in the stands, about to witness something that none of them ever thought would happen.

“She went from someone who shouldn’t be alive — who needed oxygen to barely breathe — to being about to sing at a Chiefs game,” said Katie Linden, one of Covington’s best friends. “It’s a miracle.”

Covington wore a pink bandana in her red hair, a pink Chiefs T-shirt and jeans. Her cancer now is in full remission, and she is a burst of energy. She talks to strangers excitedly, hugs them once they’ve met, and talks fast and loud.

“I’ve learned to live life for today,” she said. “Because you never know. … And the cancer, it’ll come back. For me, it’s not a matter of if. It’s when.”

Covington walked over to the players’ water cooler and snagged something to drink. Then Chiefs wide receiver and kick returner Dante Hall walked out and began signing autographs, so close to her that their shoulders touched.

“Who’s that that everyone’s screaming to talk to?” Covington asked a Chiefs employee.
“That’s Dante Hall.”

“Who?” Covington said. She laughed and admitted, “I don’t know anything about football.”
Then a man wearing headphones walked over to her and said, “It’s time to go.”

Covington smiled, gulped, and walked nervously across the field.
•••

Covington was 31 when she found the lump in her right breast. It was Easter 2001. Her doctor told her as gently as possible that she had stage two ductal carcinoma.

Within two weeks, Covington had a mastectomy. Then chemotherapy. Her hair fell out. She grew so weak she couldn’t bathe herself. She left her human resources job at Sprint Corp. Covington’s younger sister, Chavon Glidewell, dropped out of college to care for her.

Somehow, though, Covington survived.

“She’s a real fighter,” Glidewell said.

Covington eventually had her right breast completely reconstructed.

In June 2003, Covington and 10 girlfriends were sitting in a Chili’s restaurant in Overland Park. She’d had breathing problems earlier that week.

Her cell phone rang. It was her doctor’s office. “The cancer is back,” the woman said. “It’s in your lungs. It’s very advanced — stage four.” She went through another 15 months of chemotherapy. She participated in seven clinical trials. A priest performed the sacrament of the sick. In 2004, the family spent much of the money they had on Christmas presents. They thought it would be her last.

“She’d be lying there on the floor, ready to die, saying, ‘I just can’t do ” Linden said. this anymore,’ Covington, her family and friends decided, needed daily goals — something to get her out of bed each day.

Covington had always dreamed of singing in a band. She had never had voice lessons, but she had a beautiful voice that she showcased around the house and on karaoke night at a local bar.
Covington sang her children to sleep every night. Son Brennon, now 9, always requested the same song: the national anthem.

“Someday you’ll sing that song at a Chiefs game,” he would tell her after she sang.

She soon began singing classic rock around town at small bars, often for free. Meanwhile, Covington’s doctor started her on a new drug that had previously worked on cases involving ovarian cancer. She started to feel better.

“Lisa had to make herself get up to go to band practice,” Linden said. “She’d pull herself out of bed when she didn’t want to and get there. … She had goals and she strove to meet them, and that’s why she survived. It was her spirit that kept her alive.”

Covington got involved with the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation and other cancer foundations. She sang at breast cancer events. When word spread that the National Football League and the Chiefs would sell pink merchandise Oct. 1 and donate the proceeds for Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Covington remembered her son’s prediction.

The Chiefs needed a breast cancer survivor to sing the national anthem. Covington made a tape and sent it in. A few weeks ago, her cell phone rang. This time it was someone telling her to mark Oct. 1 on the calendar.
•••

Covington walked across the field, stopped on the 50-yard line and turned around. She stared up at the thousands of fans and beamed.

“Here are your Kansas City Chiefs!” an announcer said over the stadium’s speakers, and out came the players, the roar of the fans beating down on Covington. Covington’s husband, Jim, was in the stands with their sons, Brennon and 13-year-old Blake. Covington’s father, her sister and other friends were there too, looking down as she cleared her voice....

The announcer’s voice blared: “Please join two-time breast cancer survivor Lisa Covington in the singing of our national anthem!” The crowd erupted again. Then they went quiet.

Covington sang for 90 seconds, her voice strong and beautiful, her face flushed with excitement. Her kids clapped. Her husband smiled. When she finished, about 80,000 people went wild.
“Wow!” Covington screamed when she finished, clenching both fists and pumping her arms. “Wow!”

She walked quickly off the field. Players stopped to shake her hand. People kept cheering. Chiefs quarterback Trent Green, still recovering from a severe concussion, walked up, touched Covington on the shoulder and said, “Great job!” They shook hands.

“Who’s that?” she asked.

“Trent Green — the quarterback,” the Chiefs employee said, smiling.

Covington then headed into the stands. She wanted to see her family, but strangers grabbed her hand, hugged her and yelled, “Way to go!”“This was great,” she said. “This was a good day.”

She got closer to her husband and her kids. “I just want to hug them” she said. When she found them, she ran across the aisle of Section 124, Row 14. They embraced and kissed. Then she sat down in Seat 15 and smiled.

It felt good to be alive.

KEITH MEYER...KANSAS CITY STAR

Game Plan

Ok...now I have some great news for me.

I am STABLE again with NO drug changes...had all my new scans done at my new treatment facility, MD Anderson last week .....they compared with scans ordered from my former onc in June.

NOTHING has changed... My Ca27-29 has stayed at 90 for 4 months....SOOOOOOOOOOOOO....they want to reserve the Tykerb/Xeloda for when I really need it.

So after mets came back in June...I have waited all this time to find out they are unchanged. By the way...MD Anderson ROCKS!

Game plan: Stay on Herceptin and Zometa...change out femara and replace with faslodex. Improve QOL by managing pain in chest better (related to surgeries last year NOT tumor progression) with gabapentin (for nerve damage) Drink a gallon of water a day, light exercise, and live my life!

WHEW!!!!!!!!! I like that plan!!!!

Thank You SO much for all the encouragement, cards, emails, good wishes and holding my hand during this Roller Coaster Ride....Namaste.

Needed to Vent

 

SO Happy it's College Football

Watched the last 2 games PPV....when are we going to play a real football team?

Couldn't bear to watch one NFL game this Sunday.

Football is always played on Saturday as far as I'm concerned. (Unless it's a Bowl Game of course).

I am hoping to get to a few games this year. Would love to see the ol' ball coach when he shows up with the Woodcocks in the Swamp. That's gonna be one emotional game.

The last 6 weeks have been CRAZY

So much has happened since the last time I posted. I know I promised to keep this up....but it has been tough. Part of the reason is because of the Roller Coaster I have been on emotionally.

Some of the things 'of note' since last my last post:

In August I spoke in front of about 300 people at a breakfast kick-off for American Cancer Society's Making Strides (5k) event coming this October. It was very nerve wracking (sp?).

And a big thanks to Cindy and Suzie and Jeff for coming to the event to "hold my hand". It looks like I did ok becuase I have been asked to speak at another event at the Citrus Club in front of yet another large group October 5th. If I could just figure out a way to get paid speaking about Breast Cancer I'd have it made.....

I STILL, as of this date, have NOT started any new treatment for my rediscovered mets (back in early July?) SOO....it's been a long, long wait and it's made me nervous as hell. A little too nervous.

I found out I qualified for a new drug Tykerb (see earlier post) but my Oncologist's office has taken MONTHS to get into the program. The waiting has made me borderline NUTS....alright, if you talk to Jeff he will correct me and say CERTIFIABLY NUTS. Of all the thing I have been through in the last four 4 years....this waiting has got to be one of my worst experiences.

I finally made the decision to switch Oncologists (HUGE UNDERTAKING)....and as of today I am now a patient of MD Anderson. (Ranked 2nd in Nation for Cancer Care behind Sloan Kettering)

I had my first consultation today with the Oncologist and got the full dog and pony of the facility.

I am going away this Wednesday-Sunday with a bunch of girlfriends to San Destin. (Never been there before and now have been twice in one year!) Once I get back..starting on September 18th I begin practically a full week of tests and scans. Seems like every day that week I will be at Doctor's. By Sept 22nd I will get instructions on my new treatment....whatever it may be. I am just relieved to be MOVING in any direction.

This so called summer of fun and surfing was spent mostly hand-wringing and waiting and being very anxious and irritable. I NEED this vacation. I'm sure Jeff could use a vacation from me too!

ALSO big news: I am taking a break from work for a few months. It was something I needed to do primarliy so I could focus on getting my treatment in the right direction....which turned into a full time job.

It was tough to pull away from the job and the company I work for. I have been with the same company for 2 1/2 years and they have been great to work with. I miss the "action"....but I'm starting to relish the free time.

To anybody out there in blog world who actually reads this damn thing...sorry I have been so remiss.

I will have tons to talk about when I get back from my trip to San Destin....also will have tons to talk about with my new Doctor's and treatment...... AND don't forget it's almost PINK RIBBON MONTH (I used to love the color pink) October was my favorite month and pink was my favorite color. Can we turn BC awareness month into like November or March and make the color yellow or something else.

OK mostly being sarcastic....October can be overwhelming when you're not only a survivor but still a patient. BUT I am involved in umpteen fundraising and BC awareness events in October. So you will be hearing more from me....probably directly too...to hit you up for some type of participation!!

And I am sure by October I will be hitting you up for job leads too! Something that pays a ton of money with great benefits and no accountability. :)

Jeff is Going to a Special Conference in Baltimore

I am so proud of him for doing this.....I am a lucky girl.


The First National Male Caregivers Conference: Men Empowering Men to Care for Women with Breast Cancer

August 18–19 in Baltimore, MD

The conference will focus on educating and empowering men to be effective caregivers when breast cancer strikes a female loved one. MABC will provide a forum for men in similar situation to get to know each other and share their real life experiences.

Conference Objectives:

Focus on navigating the crisis of breast cancer with a proven problem solving technique.
Provide an ongoing forum for men in similar situations to get to know each other and develop a support network.
Improve the quality of survivorship of the patient.
To learn an innovative proven problem solving technique tailored especially for men supporting women with cancer, which will improve the quality of survivorship of the patient.

Extra Benefits

Attendees will receive a scholarship for their travel, hotel accommodations, and meals.
Attendees will receive a stipend at the conclusion of attending the full conference.
Attendees will enjoy an evening baseball game and a plenary session in a skybox at the Baltimore Orioles’ Camden Yards.

Conference Agenda
Day 1 - Friday, August 18, 2006
3:00–4:30 pm
Registration
5:00–10:30 pm
Plenary: Opening Session at Camden Yards (including dinner in luxury box during Orioles vs Blue Jays game)
Day 2 - Saturday, August 19, 2006
7:00–8:00 am
Continental Breakfast & Welcome
8:05–8:35 am
Plenary: Partners’ In Survival™ Training Workshop & COPE
8:35–8:45 am
BREAK
8:45–9:30 am
COPE in Action
9:30–9:45 am
Form Small Groups
9:45–10:15 am
Group COPE Practice Session
10:15–10:30 am
BREAK
10:30–11:45 am
Group Reports
11:45–12:30 pm
LUNCH/SPEAKER
12:30–1:30 pm
COPE Review
1:30–2:00 pm
Final Questions/Conference Evaluations

Partners In Survival™
Partners In Survival™ is an educational workshop designed, developed, and facilitated by Men Against Breast Cancer in conjunction with physicians, social workers who specialize in breast cancer education, other health care professional, as well as breast cancer patients and family members. The objective of Partners In Survival™ is to provide information and education in a manner that breast cancer patients and their partners find easy to use and apply to their lives so that they can more effectively manage the breast cancer crisis. Partners In Survival™ workshops focus on how breast cancer impacts individuals as well as the family unit. The workshops include practical tips to help manage the many elements of the breast cancer crisis, including, doctor's visits, household responsibilities, children, intimacy, communications, and more. Specific emphasis is placed on men understanding the physical and emotional needs of their female partners

I start a new Drug called Tykerb August 7

A new experimental drug delayed the growth of advanced breast cancer in women who had stopped responding to the drug Herceptin and were out of treatment options, doctors reported Saturday June 3 2006.

The experimental drug, Tykerb, worked so well that an international study of it was stopped early, in April, based on results in 321 women.

Those who received Tykerb plus the chemotherapy drug Xeloda had no growth of their tumors for 8 1/2 months. That compares to 4 1/2 months for those given only Xeloda.

Tykerb's manufacturer, British-based GlaxoSmithKline, said it would expand global access to the drug under compassionate use provisions, and would seek approval to sell it in the United States and elsewhere later this year.

"This is huge," said Dr. Roy Herbst, a cancer specialist at the University of Texas' M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, who had no role in the study but has consulted for Glaxo in the past. "The next step will be to use it in patients instead of Herceptin up front," to see whether it is more effective, he said.

Herceptin and Tykerb are members of a new generation of cancer medicines that more precisely target tumors without killing lots of healthy cells. Herceptin has been an important option for many women with advanced breast cancer, but eventually it stops working and women succumb to the disease.

Tykerb works in a similar yet completely novel way. Like Herceptin, it targets a protein called HER-2/neu, which is made in abnormally large quantities in roughly one-fourth of all breast cancers. Herceptin blocks the protein on the cell's surface; Tykerb does it inside the cell, and blocks a second abnormal protein, too.

In the study, Tykerb also showed signs of being able to prevent cancer from spreading to the brain. That happened to four of the 161 women given Tykerb and Xeloda, compared to 16 of the 160 women given Xeloda alone.

Tykerb has one big advantage over Herceptin -- it's a pill instead of an intravenous drug, which should make it cheaper and easier to use, doctors said.

YSC Girls in Destin

All my beautiful girlfriends in Destin Florida Memorial Day Weekend.

I had never talked to a woman with Breast Cancer before 2002. And now I feel like I have friends all over the country.

We are all so different but yet so much a like.

We all had or have BC....By the way, the youngest in the picture was diagnosed at 24 and is now 26.

Before the Shit Hit the Fan

OK OK...I'm back blogging. Almost couldn't bear to do it.
My sister Stacy just sent me this picture of us. It was taken on my 40th birthday.

I have never seen this picture before and it made me incredibly sad.

First thing that set me off was that fact that SINCE this picture was taken, my sister (and my two beautiful nephews) have moved to Mars. (ok California, but it might as well be Mars). So now, if I am lucky, I get to see Stacy and the boys twice a year.

The rest of what set me off is really shallow...please indulge me.

In that moment I was blissfully unaware of what was around the corner. Not everything in my life was perfect (had major marital problems that were about to explode)...but I physically felt as good as I ever did in my whole life.

My hair, which was always an issue, was finally at a cut that I loved, my weight was great, my energy was super high, my job was going great, my confidence was way way up, I was always on "the Move", my social life was extremely active, ....I LOVED telling people I was turning 40....nobody believed it.

Little did I know when that picture was taken...what was lurking in my right breast.

I MISS that woman in that picture. And no she is not returning. I caught a glimpse of her for a few months between my first treatment and my reoccurance (metastasis really)....but she is long gone.I guess things could always be worse....at least I got a chance to BE that woman. And at least I am here to remember her.

I just wish it didn't make me so damn sad.

KITTENS KITTENS KITTENS!!!!!!!!!!

Can you spell Kittens? T..R.O..U..B..L..E

These guys are SOOOOOOO adorable....about 2 weeks away from being adoptable. I think I have homes for 4. Need another victim! Any takers? They will be fully weaned and potty trained...I promise!