Dearest friends and family,[...]

Well it’s that time again! I had nothing but positive thoughts going into my August 23rd MRI scans. I just said to myself There will be no tumor in my brain. That’s it! I woke up that morning at 5:45am to get to my 8am MRI check in. I skipped my morning coffee to be sure I kept that sleepy feeling so that I could get a little nap in during my scans, as they piped in my requested Spotify station “Your Favorite Coffeehouse” You know the one with the brown background and the latte in the foreground. That’s the instruction I give every radiology technician, and please put the contrast in VERY SLOWLY![...]

Well it's that time again-my 6 month scans were done last week."Is this even possible?", "Wow!", "Amazing!"-Some responses from my family when I told them about my Feb 22nd MRI and Dr Taylor's (my oncologist) interpretation. Enough with the suspense-I'll get to it already: Dr Taylor said that this scan actually looked IMPROVED as compared to my last scan! While I had been manifesting so much positivity since my last scans-visualizing this positive trend continuing. In the back of my mind, I didn't believe that I could get this lucky twice! Dr Taylor thinks that my body has been clearing out scar tissue and dead tumor cells over the last few years. In brain cancer, remission is not a word I had ever heard. As I understand it, there can be so many other metabolic activities going on in the brain beyond tumor growth/shrinkage, it's very difficult to definitively say that there are zero tumor cells present in the brain. Since I have a hard time explaining my situation in laypersons terms, I asked Dr Taylor if she would call my case a remission based on the last few MRIs, and she said Yes, your brain seems to have "calmed down" from possible over-treatment - radiation collateral damage. [...]

Happy Summer Friends and Family!

Well, it's been about 6 months since my last update, so that means another MRI, just yesterday. No cliffhangers on how my scans went-I had to let the cat out of the bag in the title of this post. I'm just too excited! Sorry folks...[...]

Hi beloved friends and family,

I hope your 2021 is going well so far. Better than 2020? I just had an MRI and I'm beyond thrilled to share the results (Warning: I've completely overused exclamation marks) Many of the lesions that were enhanced in prior scans have either shrunk or are not as enhanced, which is a sign of less metabolic activity. Even my doctor said I was looking stronger. And I haven't received any treatment since March 2020! So this is super excellent! Dr Taylor thought the lesions that were lighting up on prior scans may have been tumor cells and/or "collateral damage" to normal brain cells (postradiation necrosis) from my 2016 proton therapy that are dying off. So basically, these are the best scans I've had in 3 years-I almost can't believe it! [...]

Should I share the good news first? Okay... 

My most recent MRI was yesterday, and I had been doing a lot of manifesting positive results. Maybe I was being greedy because I really wanted to hear about improvement rather than stable yet again. Well, that's what we heard! And this scan, my oncologist was able to compare to the April 2020 MRI, saying that the areas that were "lit up" (or previously enhancing) were enhancing less than my scans from 4 months prior. My doctor was very excited to see this. Dan had a lot of great questions about the lasting effect of the chemo I finished in March 2020. My doctor thought that there might have been some "treatment effect" or inflammation from the radiation treatment from four years ago that was finally subsiding. She also took into consideration that I've been feeling more energetic and stronger, and felt that given the improvement, we could increase the interval between my regular scans from four months to six months.  And, I have surpassed my 4 year "cancerversary"! For those of us battling cancer, we all are probably familiar with the term scanxiety. I don't think I need to explain what that means, but less frequent scans is a good thing, in that respect.[...]

It's been a few months since my last update. So little has happened in the last few months-I'm sure we've all felt that! Besides 2 trips into Seattle for doctors appointments, we remain on the Olympic Peninsula in our beach cabin and continue to appreciate the seclusion and quiet time we're spending with the girls, when they're willing to hang out with us. We've watched a few old movies, in an attempt to expose Julia and Alina to some quality popular culture: The Graduate and Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Having grown up in a suburb of Chicago, Ferris Bueller holds a special place in my heart. Lighthearted fun!  [...]

Hi Family & Friends,

As I write to you, we are holed up in our beach house in Port Ludlow, WA on the Kitsap Pennnsula, the house we started building after I received my diagnosis. We're laying low here, trying to adjust to "the new normal". It's quiet and very zen out here. Very easy to social distance, since we're only coming across neighbors on our daily walks. I have 3 willing helpers here to be my PT partners, helping me with my rehab exercises, while in captivity. I've been feeling energetic and hopeful some of the time and unmotivated and tired some of the time. So when that happens, I just read or nap, happy that I don't have anywhere to be. [...]

Hello dear friends and family

I hope your 2020 is off to a wonderful start and that your holidays were fun. We had a nice break, and now it's back to our routines. The 4 of us spent a few days of Hanukkah and New Years Eve in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida with my in laws. Delicious latkes were had by all. We had a few warm and sunny days on each end of the trip. In the middle of the trip, we went mini golfing with my sister, Hillary and her family and got caught in a downpour. They drove to Miami for the holidays and then on their return trip back home, they visited with us for a few nights. We hit the beach a couple days and also spent most of the day at the pool on the warmer days. I was able to continue my physical therapy on the recumbent stationary bike in the fitness center there as well! While we were there, One of Dan's college friends, Adam, met us for breakfast with his kiddos.[...]

I've been procrastinating typing this because the hunt and peck typing method I'm using with only my right hand is so frustratingly slow! My last MRI was October 7th. Dan and I were both bracing ourselves for the results. I was concerned that the July 20th MRI results were becoming a new trend. We were ecstatic to hear my oncologist say "You could overlay both scans because they look exactly the same." It felt like I had a new lease on life! So my tumor remained stable-No growth in 3 months! Secretly I was hoping there may have been a decrease in size, but I know that was wishful thinking. Oh well, a girl can dream...[...]