Posts

For me, to live is Christ and to die is gain"

Image
Rosanna Ashley (Sherman) McFarland, 34, won her fight with cancer on February 27, 2020 at a Bangor Hospital. She was born March 23, 1985 in Blue Hill, the daughter of Michael and Roxanne (Allen) Sherman. Rosanna graduated from George Stevens Academy in 2002. She then went on to graduate from UMO in 2006. She also earned her master’s degree in literacy. Rosanna began her career as a teacher at Brooksville Elementary School, later finding her dream job at Surry Elementary School as a Title One Reading Recovery Specialist. She was an active member of the United Baptist Church of Ellsworth. Rosanna married the love of her life, Jason McFarland on July 31, 2010 in Brooklin. Five years later they welcomed the joy of their lives, Owen Michael. Rosanna is survived by her parents; husband and son; as well as her sister, Laura Sherman; brother-in-law, Matt McFarland and wife Vicki; sisters-in-law, Vanessa and husband John Bryan, April and husband Kyle Masse, Pamela and husband, Joseph Aguilar, R
1 comment
Read more

God has a plan...

I apologize for another copy/paste update. Hi Friends, I've been trying to figure out how to share my latest news and finally decided just to do it. There is no good way to share the latest. This is not a good bye, but I do want to let you know since it looks like God is thinking my time is coming sooner than we had prayed.  On Tuesday, it was confirmed that the cancer in my brain is in my cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). It is also in the CSF of my lumbar & thoracic spine. This is not good. For you medical types, it is called leptomeningeal disease, a very rare complication of cancer. Without treatment, prognosis was 4-6 weeks. I am doing the radiation, which hopefully puts me looking at 2-4 months. I serve a wonderful and powerful God. I have asked my doctors to not give up on me and they have all agreed to do everything they can to help me. I understand this would be a miracle to survive, but i ask that you continue to pray for that miracle. I've heard the possibility of a yea
1 comment
Read more

A bump in the road...

This is copy/pasted from my Facebook page.  I don't have the energy to write another post right now, but I know not all of you are on Facebook, so I wanted to make sure to update on here as well.  I hope to update later this week when a radiation plan is put in place.  Please pray for all of us.   Hi Friends, The good news is short and becomes invalid quickly, so don't stop reading if you really want to know how my trip to Boston went. Thursday's meeting with the surgeon brought a lot of hope. She felt that surgery was a viable option for me, as long as my next PET scan showed stability. Now for the bad ... Those nagging feelings something isn't right allowed me to find the courage to share all my current symptoms. Most symptoms can be explained as chemo side effects: fatigue, fuzzy thinking, slow word recall every now & then.  Now for the ugly... evening headaches & occasional blurry vision that started about two weeks ago. The surgeon ordered a brai
Post a Comment
Read more

Taxol #15 & 16 - BELIEVE!

Image
Shortly after writing my last blog post, I had some concerning symptoms that led me to be fearful of a recurrence. Thankfully those symptoms were timed perfectly with my Dana-Farber visit. Dr. Overmoyer listened, agreed that what I was saying could be concerning, and she ordered a skin-punch biopsy of what I perceived to be the worsening redness on my inflammatory breast cancer side. This biopsy was only going to rule out a localized recurrence if it came back negative. Since being on chemo, I had not had a repeat skin biopsy, so there was no way to tell if the cancer cells had ever disappeared. We were fully expecting the biopsy to show cancer cells and then Dr. O was recommending repeat scans. Anyway... after a week of waiting, the results came in... negative for cancer cells! This is very exciting news and prompted Dr. Overmoyer to refer me to the breast surgeon & radiation oncologist at Dana-Farber to see if they think surgery is a good option for me at this point.
2 comments
Read more

Taxol #12, 13, and 14

Image
In the month since my last post, I am pleased to say that I believe my healing path has continued.  I have had three more Taxol infusions (December 13, December 27, and January 3).   I celebrated Christmas and the start of 2020 with family.  I was hit by a Christmas vacation cold, but it didn't turn into anything serious and for this I am very thankful.  Infusion #12 - Good Day Sunshine - Life is Good  Karen, the lady that offered me so much encouragement at Simon's Nursery over the summer, surprised me at Infusion #12.  This was the first time we were able to talk about our cancer diagnoses in person.  Owen telling Santa he wanted a remote control Monster Truck and an airplane.  The mention of an airplane was news to Mommy and Daddy and resulted in an impromptu shopping trip to TJ Maxx the following day... 😂 Letters written to loved ones - these were not good bye letters - just a way to say important things I wanted to say to the people I love.  This wa
3 comments
Read more

It Is Well With My Soul- Taxol #11

Image
I had good news at my appointment on Friday!  I had my PET Scan and MRI last Wednesday and they had the reports ready for me on Friday morning.  The metastatic cancer (what has spread into my bones) is stable - this means it is not getting worse - and the lump in my breast has shrunk even more since the last scan.  When I was diagnosed in April, the lump was 6 cm.  It is now 6 mm.  My doctor is very pleased that the cancer continues to respond to chemotherapy.  Not all cancers are sensitive to chemo, but she says it is a very good sign that mine is.  She admitted that she is amazed by how well I am healing, as well as how well I am tolerating chemo. So you are probably wondering what the next step for me is... well, I am, too.  Dr. Sinclair in Brewer is a great oncologist, but inflammatory breast cancer is a very specialized disease.  She is sending me back to Boston to meet with Dr. Overmoyer.  At this point, Dr. Sinclair is thinking that we may continue with more Taxol, since I
4 comments
Read more

Faith can move mountains Taxol #9

Image
November 15 I had my 9th Taxol. I also saw what I think was the 6th or 7th doctor I've seen at Cancer Care of Maine in the 6 months I've been a patient there.  This brought on a very serious discussion about my care. My main concern has been a lack of communication amongst the doctors and with me. I have been asking for about 6 weeks when my next scans will be, what scans will be done, when I'll see "my" oncologist again, and what next steps will be if results aren't optimal. For six weeks I have asked each doctor I've seen and called and asked the nurse multiple times.  I usually get a general "relax, everything is fine" type of response. To say I have been frustrated is an understatement. I finally worked up the courage to demand answers. The nurse practitioner I saw listened to my concerns and validated all of the concerns I listed. A cancer patient should not get passed off to a different doctor every week. Questions should be answered
3 comments
Read more