Rosanna's Metastatic Breast Cancer Journey

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...

Last time I shared that I was feeling really tired and asked for prayers for strength.  I am happy to share that I am back to feeling pretty close to myself again.  I wasn't even dreading going in for chemo for rounds 7 & 8.  It helps to know that I will feel like myself again in a couple of weeks. I had my seventh round of Taxol on Friday, October 25.  My counts were still looking strong, with the exception of my white blood cell count, but that is to be expected.  The wbc was a little below the normal range, but it was strong enough for treatment.  It's also been strong enough for me to fight off infection the past couple of weeks.  Owen had another cold and a few of my students had stuffy noses and coughs.  So far I do not have any cold symptoms.  I am hoping to not catch this one. My shirt for round #7 was "Faith Over Fear", an idea shared with me by Karen, the very kind lady that introduced herself to me at Simons this summer. ...

Halfway through my Taxol treatment.  I am taking the time to find joy in the journey every day.   Last Friday (October 11) I had Round #6 of Taxol.  My blood counts were still looking strong, though I did have a slight scare.  The nurse was reading someone else's platelet count and she told me that my platelets were too low for treatment but that they were contacting a doctor to try to get me approved.  Turns out my platelet count was fine.  This is why they ask you a thousand times for your full name and date of birth.  I hope that the other person was able to get good news and the doctor approved their treatment for the day.  I can imagine that it would be pretty disappointing to be sent home once you get yourself there. Sunday evening my stomach began to hurt again, just like it did the week before.  This week it dawned on me that maybe this was nausea and not the stomach flu.  I took a prescription nausea pill and it seemed...

I'm not going to lie... I've had a rough two weeks.  After my last post, I was hit hard with the cold that I was trying to fight.  I fought a low-grade fever for two days and used more tissues in the past two weeks than I think I've used in the past several years.  My energy was completely gone.  It was a reminder that Stage 4 cancer is serious business.  After a week of trying to get better on my own, I went to the doctor and was given a z-pack.  Within two days I was starting to feel much better. I'm thankful that the cold seems to be behind me and am praying that I don't get hit any time soon with another round. I had treatment #5 of Taxol Friday, October 4.  My oncologist was unavailable to see me, so I saw another oncologist.  She told me that my labs show a healthy 20-year old.  The only count that was a little bit off was my white blood cell count, but I have seen it lower.  It seems like my body recovered well from the cold....

I'm not going to lie... it has been a rough week.  Owen came down with a cold and high fever last weekend and missed two days of school last week.  Then on Tuesday I began to feel rundown and the cold symptoms slowly progressed.  Thankfully when I went for chemo on Friday, my white blood cell count was up.  The nurse said that this was a great sign that my body was working to fight the cold off.  My chemo session went well and I even felt a little better immediately following the treatment.  Then Saturday morning came, and I felt horrible.  I had a temperature of 99.4 most of the day.  For most people this would not be a big deal.  However, when you are on chemotherapy, they do not want you to pop a couple of Tylenol to get the fever to go down.  Instead, they want you to monitor your temperature all day and track what it's doing.  I laid low all day, but the temperature kept rising.  By evening it got up to 100.3.  When i...

I had an appointment with my oncologist in Brewer yesterday to receive the results of my MRI.  I was fully expecting to hear news of improvement, but the level of improvement was far beyond what I dared to hope for.  The MRI showed a 95% resolution of the cancer in my breasts.  The left side shows no malignancies and the right side shows a less than 1 cm spot of malignancy.  This is amazing, miraculous, such a relief.  God is good!  Dr. Sinclair is going to contact Dr. Overmoyer in Boston with results and to see if she wants to see me sooner than we had originally thought. With news like that, Taxol treatment #3 was a breeze.  It was my first chemo dose with no steroid given.  This was also very exciting to me because I hate the way the steroids make me feel.  Thankfully I had no reactions during the chemo.  In the evening I did have a little bit of nausea so I did take an anti-nausea medicine so that I could get some sleep. It worked ...

In the summer of 2018, I was offered my dream job, working as a Title 1 teacher.  When I received my Stage 4 inflammatory breast cancer diagnosis in April, one of the hardest things for me was taking a leave of absence from my job.  I love my job.  I love the students and families that I work with.  I love my co-workers.  Knowing that I had to leave my dream position behind was HARD, but I knew I had to do it.  My school administrators, co-workers, students, and families were amazingly supportive.  They hosted a car wash benefit for my family and me that still makes me cry when I think about how much love I felt during those early days of my diagnosis. This week I returned to my dream job, starting year 14 of teaching!  I will be working four days per week, five days the weeks that I don't have treatment as long as I am feeling well.  My school continues to support me and help me work through this difficult diagnosis.  Later this winte...