Turning Point!

Told by Krista:

Went to see my Oncologist today for checkup and treatment (chemo). He came in the room all smiles and said he thinks I have turned a corner!! My blood work was all in the normal range, all of my counts are good.

After seeing the pain management doctor, I seem to have gotten the back pain under control and they concur that it is side effects from the radiation and not the cancer causing the pain.

I don't think I can go into remission, BUT, I can maintain where I am. The treatment seems to be working. Like my Dr, says He can't put a finger on any one specific medication, drug, etc., but the combination of all things seem to be working in my favor.

I will take that ~ any day of the week.

{So will her family!!}

GOOD NEWS!!!

Told by Krista:

I had an MRI done on my T-spine {that is the middle part of the spine} done a couple of weeks ago to find out why I was having so much pain in that location. We were hoping for the best but anticipating bad news. When we got the results back, and the results are that the lesions in that area look good. Some have shrunk, some are the same and some show actual healing!! {emphasis by her daughter} NONE HAD GROWN!!!

The pain is coming from nerve damage and muscle inflammation. My oncologist has referred me to a pain management Doctor. This new Doctor has changed some of my medication. Today I had a Facet injection ~ he gave me a pain medicine with steroids in my spine right in the location of the major pain. Okay, so that wasn't all that great {actually, it really hurt } but it is working.

We are all so excited that it is just pain that can be managed and treated! The cancer although it is still there, is not getting any worse. Yipee!!!

Oh yeah! and my hair {on my head} is coming back. I have actually had it trimmed a couple of times just so it is growing out with some type of style?

Once again it is great news in my world.

Krista

Here are 2 people that love her alot: her daughter and her granddaughter.

All is well

Sorry it has been such a long time since I have written, but like most people the holidays and everything else crept up and now it is almost Valentine's Day.

So- Where was I ?

I have been receiving Chemo treatments once a week 3 times a month since late September. I get Abraxane every week and Avastin with it every other week . 3 weeks on, 1 week off. Fortunately, I don't have any major side effects from the treatment with the exception of being really tired by the time we get home. Part of the reason I am so tired is the treatment. The other reason is my wonderful friend Jody, who ALWAYS comes to the appointment with me, along with my husband (who, by the way has never missed a Dr's appointment in 12 years). After treatment we go and do a little shopping and out to lunch. It makes it seem more like something to look forward to rather than being sick and getting treated.



















{here's the hubby that has never missed a treatment :)}

The good news is my hair is starting to come back, which is strange since I am still being treated with chemo. My weight has stabilized, also a good thing since it stabilized at approx 50 pounds lighter than when I started , (Trust me, this is a really good thing). My blood counts are good I don't have a lot of pain although I continue to take the medication to keep ahead of it.
I am going to continue to see the naturopath also for the Vitamin C and Amino acid IVs and the hyperbaric chamber. I just feel really good.

My cancer tumor marker is down from 25 to 17. My white blood count went from: 1.9 to 3.6 ~ 4 is normal.

Erin has told me that she and her good friend Rose will be walking this year in the 3 day with Becky and Bobbi and Crystal, so it should be a good time for all and I am so proud of all of them for doing this for me and all of the other women with this disease.















Our little granddaughter will be turning 2 next month and she is the light on all of our lives, so for right now all is well in Krista's world. I am 2 years into this diagnosis, going strong,
and looking forward to the future.


I feel truly blessed.

Stats update for Krista

From Krista:

My White Blood Count is 4.1 and the Neutrophil count is 3.3 the last time my white count was that high was in July !!! My Tumor Marker ~ which is a protein that they use to measure some types of cancer ~ before I started Chemo was 20.something and it is down to 8.something. I don't remember the exact numbers, but regardless it is very wonderful news all the way around. So except that I am getting a cold - all is well in Krista's world.

YIPEE!!! ~ From Erin :-)

Yep it's back.

For those of you who may not have guessed, my cancer came back. I was re~diagnosed in Jan of 2007 with Metatastic Breast Cancer it has moved to my bones. My Sister-in-Law (Becky) and some of her coworkers decided last year to do the Susan B Komen 3 Day 60 mile walk in my name so they raised the money and walked.

I was so proud, but I never thought, in my wildest dreams that they would do it again this year, but they are and it is pouring down rain and its windy and cold but Becky and Bobbie have walked 20 miles today with wet cold feet, ate soggy turkey sandwiches for lunch and kept walking, but they are getting to sleep in a warehouse tonight so they are dry.

Tomorrow they will walk 20 more miles and the next day 20 more to raise money and awareness of this terrible disease that touches everyone in some way and I'm sure that on Sunday afternoon after closing ceremonies they will be signing up along with a few thousand of their friends to do it again next year.

Krista

Chapter 2

Told by Krista:

That night after we got home we had to make the calls to the parents, I let David (My Husband) do it. I wasn't capable. I can remember calling my Mom in Savannah and the only word I could get out of my mouth was ~ Mom, after that I cried and David talked to everyone.

The next morning we went to the Surgeon's office and met one of my favorite Drs. His name is Victor Pavamani and his nurse is Nancy. They were so wonderful to us, (and still are) explained everything, all of the options for surgical procedures. I had what apeared to be mirror image lumps in both breasts and we decided on lumpectomies and node removal for testing. After alot of discussion with the Dr we decided to schedule the operation for January 3rd, it was 2 weeks away and would not make that much difference in my health, but cancer surgery right at Christmas was more than we wanted us or the rest of the family to handle.

Shortly after all of this we left for Savannah for Christmas, gosh it was hard to face my Mom, but she is so strong. My parents were born and raised in the midwest and have that very "we can handle/face anything" attitude. I can remember her saying that it would be okay and my Dad saying not to worry he had already spoken to God and it would all be fine so there was nothing to worry about. My daughter Erin, was strong (like always) and David's family was wonderful.

It's really funny, I don't remember that much about how the holidays went after that. My brain just skips to right after Christmas, telling the office about the next steps in my care and the surgery on January 3. I had the lumpectomys the left side was positive for cancer along with 3 out of 12 nodes. The right side was negative. My Dr was so sure that the right side was positive that I later had a needle locator biopsy on that same side and he sent the tissue off to a different lab just to be sure, but Thank God it was only positive on the left side.

Once I was healed from the surgery it was off to meet my Medical Oncologist, Dr Freedman, there was a question of radiation first then Chemo or the opposite, since I had to have both, but we decided on Chemo first. I can remember 2 things very specifically that he told me, 1. Except for the Cancer you are very healthy,that works in your favor, and 2. We are going to make you very sick in order to make you better. He then asked me when did I want to start? I said how about right now ~ so that was my first treatment. So pretty much in one month I went from not even knowing I had cancer to being diagnoised, having surgery, beginning chemo and oh yeah ~~ 10 days later my hair fell out.

Chapter 1

Told by Krista:

It was December 17, 1996, a couple of girls I worked with ~ Carole and Jeanelle talked me into going with them to get Mammograms. I had had them in the past but like most women had canceled a couple of appointments. We scheduled them at the Women's Wellness at DeKalb General which is about 15 minutes from the County Courthouse where I worked. Well, we all had the tests and they asked if I would wait a couple of minutes, I did, then they asked me to come back in for additional films. I didn't think anything of it at the time and they gave me no clue that there was anything wrong.

We left and drove back to the office, like I said, a 10 ~ 15 minute drive and there was a message already on my desk to call my Doctor. I called and they asked me to come in right away, the Doctor needed to see me and it would probably be a good idea to bring my husband ~ fear is beginning to creep in.

We saw the Doctor about 5:30 that evening, he told me I had breast cancer and that he had made an appointment for me to see a surgeon the following morning. I remember being devastated, wondering how bad it was and of course ~ was I going to die? That couldn't happen to me, I had a daughter I wanted to see grow up, get married, have children, a husband I wanted to grow old with, 2 stepsons still in high school, parents, in - laws, other family and friends ~ a host of things I wanted to do with my life.

I remember walking out of the Doctor's office, bursting into tears and telling my husband, "Its not supposed to happen to me, its supposed to be you". I didn't say it to be mean, I said it because he has cancer on both sides of his family and we have always kind of joked that with his family it isn't if they will get it but what kind they will get and when they will get it. Then we went home and continued with the worst night of my life ~~ telling the family.