LOVE THIS!!!

 

Medical Update

I have been finished with Whole Brain Radiation for about two weeks. I had 15 doses, not 10 as I had mentioned in previous posts. The side effects are beginning to heal...imagine scorched earth effect on your whole head.

I have been meeting with a new Doctor, a Neural Oncologist, and this is what he prescribing along with the recommendation of my regular Onc Dr. Shah

Today I start series of chemotherapies in pill form designed specifically for Brain Metastasis.

This is the order, first I start on 2 drugs I have never heard of

Thioguinine -I take it at 6 am. noon, 6pm and midnight for 4 days
Temodaor- once a day at 10pm for 5 days

I take a 5 day break

Then start on 2 drugs I HAVE heard of before

Xeloda and Celebrex for 14 days

After drugs and more scan..... plan is to see if I qualify for Gamma Knife surgery to "clean up" what might be left. (tumors have to be small ennough)

I feel pretty good...all the medication (still taking about 4 other pills and also my bi-monthly herceptin and faslodex and zometa) make my body pretty confused...but I get bursts of energy and ambition on occasion. ;)

Yes I'm taking it VERY easy. Eating REALLY well. STILL not Driving GRRRRRRRR. Getting lots of sleep.

And thank goodness for Jeff...I don't know how people take care of themselves without someone who loves them looking after them. It is a tough job.

I am a complete pain in the ass :)

VINTAGE JEFF AND NANCY

 

Brunch After the Making Strides Walk

No words to describe how happy this day was. My family, my friends, the event, the weather, the food, Cindy, Rick, Susie...it was a perfect day.

My family is so amazing I cannot even begin to describe what they mean to me. I feel like the most blessed person on the planet.

Finishing

With Nephew...SUPER JAKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MY AMAZING FRIEND AUDRA

 

My Mom

Mr and Mrs Sweedy

 

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.