18

I had a pretty good appointment today.

Some good news - my tumor marker number continues to go down (!!!) My CA125 is now at 18. That is the lowest it has ever been since I started. After my first surgery, it dropped to 19, but it never went below that until now.

Most importantly, there is NO NEW ovarian cancer growth (!!!!!!!!!!) :) That is the best news! I was always good at growing new cancer while on chemo. It is good to know that my body isn't currently cultivating new tumors.

My doctor did say that the cancerous nodules that were there on the last scan are all a little larger (by millimeters). However, she thinks that is from inflammation caused by the vaccine working and attacking the cancer. That theory does make sense to me, because my arm is still inflamed too (from the vaccine shots). So, we are just going to wait and watch - which have never been strong points of mine.

Of course I wanted to hear that everything was smaller, or non-existant. ;) I guess I am just learning that everything isn't always as 'cut and dried' as I would like it to be. I want a certain answer, or outcome - but that is just not the way it works.

I have another appt next month - but no further scans planned for now. That is nice, because I hate the stress that having scans causes me!

Until next time!

Its been a while...

since my last post! Sorry to take so long to update. We have been busy though, and cancer has been (mostly) the last thing on my mind.

My last doctor appointment showed my CA125 as plateaued at 20. I wish it had gone down, but I'm very happy it didn't go up! ;) I have a CT scan tomorrow, and then find out the results of that, and another CA125 on Wednesday. I can't say I'm not worried. However, I have had no significant pains, and I feel just fine. Hopefully, that is a portent of good news to come (fingers crossed...)

Another thing that helped take my mind off of cancer, was our fabulous, wonderful, refreshing, invigorating, and fabulous (I know, I'm repeating myself!) vacation to Alaska! WOW. What a beautiful place!



Here is a picture of me and my favorite husband in Glacier Bay. The image does not capture the color and beauty of the place very well.

We saw humpback whales, orcas, moose, grizzly bears and their cubs, caribou, and Dall sheep (white sheep that live in Denali). We stayed in a cabin by a rushing creek, that lulled us to sleep at night.

We saw Denali (also known as Mount McKinley) which often is shrouded in clouds. In the pic below, it it the tall whitish mountain towering over the others. Again, the picture doesn't really capture its magnificence. The dark mountains in the foreground are like the Rocky mountains. Denali - the tallest mountain in North America - significantly towers over everything else.



It was light out essentially all night. It only got as dark as a typical sunset. The only thing I missed was seeing stars - you just couldn't see them there with all the light.

I highly recommend taking a cruise through the Alaska Inside Passage - and then going on to Denali National Park. It is the most beautiful vacation I've ever taken.

I should update again soon!

A beautiful day!

Our team - It consisted of people from work, current wacky friends and their friends, and high school friends! It was perfect weather in Chicago.



At the finish line!



We had a great time, and our team brought in over $4,000. Wow!


A bunch of us went out after the walk for pizza and beer. The waiter saw all of the cancer shirts we were wearing, and asked us if "Anyone caught cancer" on the walk... Hmmm. I don't think he thoroughly considered what he was saying. He got a lot of dirty looks. It just goes to show that people really don't think before they speak. I did not take it personally, but it really offended some of my friends who have other cancer survivors in their lives.


It certainly made the day even more memorable, and gave us something to laugh about in the future! ;)


Everything else is just fine. I still feel great, and rarely remember that I have cancer. Work is keeping me busy, and I am still finalizing our vacation to Alaska (cruise) plans.


My next appointment is May 20, so I will probably post again around that time (you have been fore-warned!).

Earth day and Doctor visit

Hello!

I had a doctors visit today, including blood work. My CA125 continues to drop - now it is 20! Based on that number and the fact that it is continuing to decrease, I pushed back a CT scan originally scheduled for May - to June. I'm starting to be concerned about all of the radiation I've been getting. It would really suck to be cured of ovarian cancer - only to get some other type of cancer from the treatment and scans!

So, I am considering myself cancer free again until next month - when I have blood work and a doctor visit again.

Things are going well! The weather here in the midwest has been getting better and better. I've been walking and bike riding, and I have been wholly present at work again. I feel great, and am really enjoying my reprieve.


Today is earth day. I am a rabid environmentalist, who really practices what she preaches. Some simple ways to make changes every day are:

Try to avoid plastic! Plastic in bottles, bags, packaging, lining cans, etc. It amazes me how much plastic there is, and how it is almost impossible to avoid it. I hate drinking out of plastic bottles - I can 'taste' the plastic sometimes. So I buy a glass bottle of ice tea (like at any drugstore - snapple, arizona, etc.) rinse it out, and use that as my water bottle. It is dishwasher safe, and totally recyclable when the screw on cap finally gives out! :) I just use filtered water from my tap to fill it up. If you have bad water - consider leasing one of those water coolers for your home and fill up bottles with that instead of buying plastic water bottles.

Use reusable bags for groceries. This is one of the easiest and best changes I have made. What used to fill up ten plastic bags in the store, easily fits into two or three cloth bags. They are also easier to carry - and don't cut off your circulation like the plastic bags do when they wrap around your hands.

Recycle - and if a place you go to drink or eat doesn't recycle - call or e-mail them and ask them to place a bin in their facility. It is amazing too how places will listen if you call or e-mail them about something simple like that. Recycle everything you can.

Pay attention to the packaging of what you buy. So much of our waste comes from packaging. Again, e-mailing or calling a manufacturer about packaging is a simple and effective way to let them know you are paying attention.

If you go to a park, or on a hike and you see garbage - pick it up! If you camp, leave the site cleaner than when you arrived.

I could go on and on (and on and on and on).

Don't we want to leave this world in better condition than when we found it? :)

NOCC Walk

Once again, I am walking with the National Ovarian Cancer Coalition (NOCC) for ovarian cancer awareness. I have some great friends that are also walking with me. We had a great time last year, and there are even more of us this year! Just keep your fingers crossed that the weather will hold...

If you feel so inclined, please donate! I understand that donating is difficult in these tough times, but even a few dollars can go a long way.
http://www.active.com/donate/noccil2009/NNeuman3

Otherwise I am feeling fine! My energy is good, and I really feel normal again (for the most part!). You will note that I don't blog very much when I am feeling good and normal. ;)

Pretty good news

My results were much more good than bad. My doctor says that a nodule on my omentum (which was there before) is a little bigger. It is 1.5 centimeters now (not sure what it was before). She is not sure if it is bigger due to cancer growth, or bigger due to inflammation from the immune response from the vaccine. We, of course, hope that it is inflammation from the vaccine. The spot on my liver has stayed the same, but she is not certain if that is tumor or scar tissue.

This really is good news, because there was no explosive cancer growth as there was when I was on both the Taxol/carboplatin and the Doxil chemotherapies, and no new areas of growth identified (whew!).

Of course, we had hoped that *nothing* would show up on the scan - but we are very satisfied at this point! So is the doctor.

It also helped that my CA125 is continuing to drop. It is not really a reliable number for me - but if it increased, we would be concerned. It is now 23 (Michael Jordans number - said my favorite husband). ;)

The best part though, is NO CHEMO. My doc is going to give me another CT scan in late May, and we will see what is going on then. I am thrilled that I get a two month break from cancer! I am going to enjoy every minute of it.

Thanks so much for caring about me and my favorite husband. We truly appreciate all the kind words, prayers, good energy, etc. The battle is not over, but I'm beginning to feel like I am now on a winning team!

*gulp*

CT scan today

Results tomorrow