Yes, yes, yes!!! 19 months stable!! Woo-hoo! I am very thrilled with this news. My targeted therapy is still working. Thank you Pfizer! Thank you insurance for approving and paying for it.
I had a couple of friends from my Facebook support group passed away recently. Some were years out from their diagnosis and they didn’t pass from Covid. They passed from their cancer. It’s incredibly sad how some live and some die. Makes me count my blessings and pray harder for those suffering.
I feel like I have a lot to write about, but honestly not feeling like typing it out. Hopefully, I will be inspired later.
Thank you for reading and I’m keeping you in my thoughts.❤❤
I do hope everyone had a great holiday season (whatever you celebrate or even if you don’t celebrate anything). Mine was so-so. I just wasn’t feeling it.
First: my husband still doesn’t have a job and his unemployment ran out and so, for the 2nd year, no gifts for each other. Not that gifts are everything, but it does add some fun.
Second: we always wait until the last minute to get a tree and have never had a problem before. Well, we did this year. We drove 2 hours away to places that might have had precut trees only to find out they didn’t. Finally, we found a place 15 minutes away that had some. They were 10′ tall and extremely skinny. They really lacked that branch fullness. You can see the tree in the picture above. I just keep saying that even Charlie Brown trees need love too.
Third: although I’m happy to be alive on my 3rd Christmas since diagnosis, I’m anxious. I have been stable for a little over a year and a half and I really just want it to go away. I have a new PET scan in January.
I am sad to say that I am happy Christmas is over. Yeah, I need an attitude adjustment. Hopefully, these winter blahs will go away soon.
I’m 49 years old today. I’m spending this weekend in Wellsboro, Pennsylvania. I love this place. It is the epitome of a Hallmark Christmas movie. Its Main Street has older buildings and gas lights. Right now, they have 2 feet of snow. It’s just beautiful and I don’t normally like snow. The people are nice. You’re in the mountains, so there’s a lot of outdoor activities to do and animals to see. I very much could see myself living here. If you ever get the chance, visit Wellsboro.
Cancerversary…2 years since diagnosis…2 damned years. In January of 2019, I thought for sure I was dead in 6 months. By the way things were going downhill, I probably should have been. But, I didn’t. Science, and maybe a huge helping of hope, has allowed me this extra time. It’s time lived well…I have no side effects.
I live with the thought that I am so damned lucky. I have friends that have had Stage 4 NSCLC and haven’t lasted 6 months past diagnosis. I’ve never thought “why me”, but I always think “why not me?” I’ll never really have an answer to that.
My Facebook is filled with well wishes and love…my real life is filled with pure love from family, and that makes for a great day. I hope everyone is having a great day.
Thank you for reading! Honestly, I hope my vocabulary improves, as well as my storytelling. I am not one that writes a draft…I just write what I think. So bear with me-its going to get better🤪
So I did all of my Lung Cancer Awareness posts on Facebook. I meant to copy them over here, but I didn’t. However, if you’re interested, I’m Amy Grove on Facebook. You can follow me there, if you want to.
My parents came up the week of Halloween. It was nice, but there was some issue between my brother and my parents. It has been like that for years, so it’s no surprise. I had asked the lot of them to not argue, but they did. I almost grabbed my husband and went to a hotel. They worked it out. I made the mistake of not taking any pictures…where is my head??
On the job front for my husband: I guess no one wants a middle aged IT Project Manager who’s been out of work for a year. His unemployment ended. I’m on SSDI. We are rapidly going through our 401K. I believe he’s just going to get a much lower pay job so it doesn’t continure to look bad on his resume. Right now, I’m more bothered, upset, anxious about this, then the lung cancer.
Lung cancer update: still doing well on Crizotinib. Blood tests look great. I think my oncologist is bored with me…lol! He seemed to get a little excited when I said I had a pain in my foot. Now, this pain could be because I’m walking a lot more and not a cancer thing. He wants me to get an x-ray in case. Rather catch it now.
I hope everyone had a great Halloween and Thanksgiving (if you celebrated). We had a total of 12 kids come to our house. I totally “safed” it up too. I had all the candy in separate bags, laying separated on the table and I had hand sanitizer out there. I was disappointed I only had that many.
Thanksgiving was just those in our household. Me, my husband, my brother and our two pups. It was quiet. Little secret: I cooked the damned plastic giblet bag in the turkey. I don’t know where my head was. I pulled the neck out, but forgot the rest. This was not my first Thanksgiving. I have to laugh about it though. We still ate the turkey. It was pretty good.
Well, there’s my update. I certainly hope I have more things to talk about soon. My life is a tad boring at this time. I suppose that’s a good thing🤪
Hope you all are doing well and thank you for reading!!💕
My Mickey update: he has acid reflux. So, now he just takes 6 Pepcid a day and hopefully we will see less and less coughing. I had readied myself for the worse. I had it in my worried mind that he had lung cancer or congestive heart failure. I have more time with him…woohoo!
Excuse the goober in his eye. He was born with chronic dry eye. That has basically been the only health issue he’s had. My vet calls him a unicorn because he’s never had ear issues (which apparently is surprising for a lab).
Thank you for reading and hope you’re all well❤️❤️❤️
So, I had my brain MRI this past Tuesday and the results are: no abnormalities found.
I had my PET scan yesterday (Thursday) and the results are: still stable.
I am incredibly happy. I am 17 months stable on Crizotinib. I hope it continues it’s magic!!
So, after hearing the results, I did a thing. I rode my mountain bike 5 miles. I thought I was going to die. My hip didn’t hurt at all, but my endurance sucks. My heart rate was way too high during the ride. Here’s the thing, since diagnosis, I have not really done any exercise.
Before diagnosis, I weighed 140#, I rode my bike over 100miles a week and I took two exercise classes a week. I also was careful about what I ate. The first quarter after diagnosis, I weighed 119# (Keytruda did NOT like me at all). Since being on Crizotinib since April, I now weigh 175#. I can not believe it. I realize that I need to stop eating all that I’m eating and get exercising more. I’m quite embarrassed.
That’s all the news I have for now. Hope everyone is doing well♥️♥️
I posted this on my Facebook group as well, so someone might be seeing this twice. I just want to put this where I can get to it quickly.
So, for the past two weeks, I’ve had some pain along with a bump inside my nose. I’ve had pimples inside my nose before; however, they usually resolved in 2-3 days. This one has been lasting 2 weeks, which made me look up the symptoms which brought me to this. It doesn’t specifically say “Crizotinib’, so I’m assuming that this could possibly be a side effect of it. I’m going to give it another few days before I call my PCP. Just found this interesting.
Well,I have my brain MRI on Tuesday and my PET scan on Thursday. I’m normally not worried, but I am this time. I’ve been stable for 16 months. Crizotinib has been working great, but I’m well aware that my cancer can change.
I’ve been having some pain in my kidney area. It started about two weeks ago. I’m hoping that it’s nothing. Maybe it’s pain from my lopsidedness, due to my partial hip replacement. Maybe it’s a kidney stone. Of course, my mind goes directly to the worst case scenario.
I despise MRIs. Last time I had one, I didn’t take any anti-anxiety meds. I literally thought I was going to die. I’m calling my doctor tomorrow to see if they can give me a couple of Ativan. I have no problem with the PET scans.
Change of subject, but just as anxiety causing. My pup, Mickey, has some extreme coughing. He’s about 12-13 years old, so I know his time is coming. I’m not ready.
So, if you all could send me some good juju, karma or prayers, I’d appreciate it. You all are in my thoughts and thank you for reading.❤️❤️
Chris and I at Mid-Ohio on Turn 6 – yes, I have teeth issues (happened during the Covid 19 and dentists were closed)Chris at Quaker Steak and LubeChris and I at Mid-Ohio 4th turn area
What a fantastic weekend!! First of all, I absolutely love road trips with my husband. It gives us alone time to talk…no interruptions by dogs, brother or phone. We drove 6 hours the first night and got to Hermitage, PA. We got there late, but the following morning we drove through the Avenue of 444 Flags. This is basically a cemetery with a ton of flags on their driveway. Most of these flags were monuments for loved ones. Great place to take photos, but only when it’s windy. Alas, there was no wind, so we didn’t take any pictures.
We then drove another two hours to Mid-Ohio Sports Car Track for the IMSA race. Husband wanted to go to this because it was supposed to be Porshe’s last race in IMSA. Unfortunately, there team in the UK had come down with Covid 19, so no Porshe’s. 😞. We stayed at the track and watched practice.
Then we went to our Hotel…Nationwide Conference and Hotel. We discovered this place years ago. One of my husband’s nieces got married there. If you’re ever near Dublin, Ohio, I suggest you look into staying here. It’s beautiful.
Went back to the track Saturday and Sunday. I noticed Saturday night that I got a little burnt…so, I lathered on the Suntan Lotion, but it didn’t help. I don’t tan, I burn. The tops of my ears hurt like hell! The weather was absolutely beautiful though!
I’m happy because I walked about 3 miles every day. It wasn’t bad, but I was out of breath. I am so out of shape. I don’t think it’s just the lung cancer. I’ve gained a lot of weight since last year. I keep saying I’m doing it to be ready for chemo (if I end up having to get that).
I have some good pain in my kidney area. Not sure what that’s from, I’m hoping I’m still stable. I’m a little concerned. I do get another PET scan on October 8th, so I will know then. I still have to make an appointment for an MRI.
Well, thank you for reading. I may add more as I remember things. Thinking of you and hope you’re doing well.♥️♥️♥️
PS: that debate between Trump and Biden was an absolute ShitShow! That’s all the political words I’m going to say.
Husband with his moustache 😂 Yeah, I couldn’t stop laughing! He looks like one of the guys on Reno 911. Poor guy has to deal with me!
What’s been happening with me over the last few weeks? Meh, not much. Husband still hasn’t found a job (he can’t even get an interview) Wondering if it’s due to Covid or due to his 1 year gap on his resume. I told him to somehow mention that he was taking care of me. We are getting extremely worried.
We can’t really catch a break either. My husband went to the dentist and they told him that he should have his teeth pulled and get dentures. Husband is incredibly bummed.
In other news, these are delicious! Horrible picture, but you get it. Yes, it has alcohol in it.
We are scheduled for a road trip next Thursday to Ohio. Looking forward to it. We are going to watch IMSA racing. They’re limiting the amount of people, so hopefully we will stay safe.
Otherwise, my hip is sore on occasion. I have a PET scan and brain MRI in October. Trying to stay positive, but my back has been hurting.
Thinking of you and hope you are all doing well.❤️❤️❤️
