Here I Go Again...

I just would like to reiterate a previous post......CANCER SUCKS!!!

And here's why: I recently had a PET Scan done which showed a lump/lymph nodes in my left lung that was suspicious. So, last Thursday they scheduled me for a lung biopsy. I'm still waiting for the pathology results which I should get on Monday or Tuesday.

I also had my mammogram last Tuesday, which I haven't gotten the results back from because they were waiting to get a copy of my films from last March for comparison. Hopefully that report will come in this week as well.

Now onto the news I did receive this past Friday. But, first a little background. In the last two months or so, I have been suffering from symptoms which I believed were from sleep exhautsion from the insomnia I have. Symptoms such as severe memory loss, headaches, balance and walking issues, having trouble writing and swallowing, and my speach has gotten thick-tongued: having trouble forming and enunciating words correctly.

So, on Friday while I was getting my Herceptin treatment, my doctor came over to see how I was doing from the lung biopsy from the previous day. Well, I told him the boipsy went fine, but I was having these issues with my sleep and told him my symptoms. He immediatly ordered an urgent MRI of the head that day right after my treatment.

I went to get the MRI with contrast done and before I was even out of the building, my doctor's nurse called me and asked me to come back to the doctors office. Not a very good sign if you ask me! Anyway, when I got there he sat me down and told me that there were multiple lesions on my brain and he had called a radiation oncologist who specializes in brain radiation treatments and set up an appt. immediately after my talk with him.

Unfortunately, he and the radiaiton oncologist have not gotten the official report from the radiaologist who did the MRI. The radiologist just called my doctor immediately to inform him to get me into treatment as soon as possible. So, we don't know how many lesions or where they are as of yet. That information should be in Monday or Tuesday of this week.

But, the good news is that because of the quick notification of my situation, I was able to meet with the radiation oncologist on Friday evening to get a CAT Scan and my radiation mask made, along with a mapped out plan to get me started on treatment on Monday. They don't mess around with this stuff, they didn't even wait for the official report which really would have only taken about a week to get, if that.

They've already started me on a steriod regimen to eleviate the swelling in my head which will help with the swelling from my first radiation treatment on Monday. The radiation treatments cause swelling, which may or may not induce seizures. If we get most of the swelling down with the steriods, my risk of seizure may go down as well.

Oh, and get this. On the CAT Scan at the radiation oncologist office, even though it wasn't done with contrast, the doctor was able to see one of the lesions in my cerebellum. I apparently have a golf ball sized tumor in the motor skills part of my brain, hence some of my symptoms. I kept feeling like I was drunk without even touching a drop of alcohol. Wonder why!

My doctors and I are very positive that they will be able to eradicate most if not all of the tumors with radiation. Now I'm just waiting for the lung biopsy and mammogram reports to come in. Hopefully, they are clean, but if not, I will fight those battles as well. Please keep me in your prayers as I go through the next round(s) of battling this evil disease.

God Bless,
Noelle

I HATE CANCER

Well, I haven't blogged in a while and I'm sorry about that. I healed really well from my radiation sores/burns and things were going well for a while. But for some reason I was experiencing headaches and sever memory loss. Add to that sleep deprivation due to my insomnia and I felt like a mess. I told my medical oncologist about my symptoms and he said that it is probably something known as "chemo brain" or "chemo fog" and as for the insomnia, well that's normal with the Herceptin treatments I'm still on.

Needless to say, he wanted to move up my PET Scan from April to this past week. Well, I had the scan on Tuesday and yesterday I was told that the cancer seems to have spread to lymph nodes in my chest on the left side. He's ordered me a CAT Scan and I will have to have surgery to remove the nodes in order to biopsy them. I'm not sure when all this will take place, but I will keep you informed.

Please keep me in your prayers and I will hopefully have some good news to report soon!

God Bless,
N~

Debbie's experience with the 3 Day Breast Cancer Walk

It all began with a pair of shoes….


This year wasn't my turn to do the Arizona Breast Cancer 3 day walk. It was Nono's. The shoes were the ones who needed to get out and tell her story. My job was simple- to walk with my Noelle's shoes and make them a part of our walk. Day 1 was perfect. I had been asked by the 3 day people to carry the Best Friends flag *with* Noelle's shoes. They had heard of them and wanted her and them to be a part of opening day.




My girls, the Arizona Sole Sisters decided to talk turns walking with the shoes. Noelle was our virtual partner thru her shoes. While I was walking with them across my shoulder people asked why I had a 2nd pair of shoes. I then was able to point to my Noelle on my shirt and let them know they were hers and from there I would tell them about her and the ladies on my shirt. It was really sweet seeing some of my girls walking with the shoes.. Because in the beginning they didn't know Noelle really but as they walked with her shoes they started bonding with them. Towards the end we were all almost fighting over them. They truly became part of us.



Waiting for the porta potty


Playing with us at a Pit Stop


At another Pit Stop called Hunting for a Cure


Hanging out with Johnny Depp and us. Tric has the shoes here


I talked about Noelle and her where she was in her treatments and her fear of bugs. People would smile and laugh. The bugs are a story I'll have to share with you sometime. I would walk and talk about all the ladies you sent me pictures of. I told of Terry who taught Shayna to type, to Cyndee and dimples and blogs, to our Mary my aunt's momma to Tammy's Aunt Crayon to Stephanie's friend Linda and all the ladies in my both of my brother in law's family. This year the number of women on my shirt doubled from last year. So much sickness so many more reasons to walk.

The course each day was different and offered many challenges. Day 1 is always easy for some reason. I think because we're all so excited to be there and are all happy. Day 2 is called Denial Day. Many more miles, a lot more hills and valleys just like someone that's been diagnosed with breast cancer. Day 2 you feel like will never end. Day 3 you're semi excited again but now you are sore, or have blisters or both.



I have to tell you- I'm so proud of my girls. They trained thru the heat of summer, cooperated with me when we had fund raisers to do. They rarely grumbled or mumbled.

One of our ladies is a breast cancer survivor her name is Randi. Randi got to carry Noelle's shoes into the survivors circle for us. The moment we all saw her all of us bawled. We knew our mission was complete.




We heart the "Mister" Man… because boy oh boy was it ever hot. He followed us around with his misting truck.. ahhhhhhhh that felt wonderful.



I did phenomenally well this year in regards to blisters and chaffing. Mike H mailed me some toe socks. Between the socks, the Body Glide along with Blister powder I only got 3 blisters. I mean I did so well I got a pedicure a couple days after the walk. For me that was victory. This year's 3 day walk was so much fun for me… running into old friends, giving and getting lots of hugs and telling the stories about the ladies on my shirt.

This is my friend Susan. I've known her since like 5th grade. I swear she always looks better then me. LOL I love her so much.



I have so many people to thank it's hard to know where to begin. My mom- such a trooper such an encourager. She went to everything we did and even did the training walks until we were hitting big numbers. During the summer she was up early and took charge when we started slowing down due the heat. My husband and my girls- holding down the fort while I was out walking or fund raising or emailing or ……my brother in law Bobby for making our brochures and flyers, to my sisters- Amy who helped with my fund raisers, Bec who got Pat Summit from University of Tennessee women's basketball team to not only sign a basketball but also a shirt for me. People were amazed I had a shirt signed by Pat Summit. My little sister Rachel for all her texts and just words of encouragement to Red Rock who have me so many opportunities to earn money and to all my aid stations, packet stuffer ladies and Patti my Goo girl. You are amazing.


There are so many of you to thank. I know I wouldn't of been able to do it without your support. During the walk so many of you were texting and being such encouragers. You made a difference.


And to my girls- you did it. You conquered those 60 miles. We had some rough times, and some funny times but the most wonderful thing is we truly became a team and became friends for life. The first Saturday after the walk I was sad that we didn't have a walk to do. I miss you and love you all very much. I have so many happy memories of you.


One other incredible thing… Noelle our lady of honor made it to the closing ceremony. And SAW her shoes up in the survivors circle. And thru some miracle bumped into Randi the two had never met before. They hugged and cried together. Our dream is that one day Noelle will walk with us and carry someone else's shoes. We want to hear that Noelle meets "Ned" No evidence of disease.



So my question is.. Who's signed up for 2009?
Love you,
Debs

Can't Wait for November to be OVER

Ok....bottom line, November has sucked. Ha.

The first week of November I ended up in the hospital for 3 days due to food poisoning. Apparently, I had really bad ground turkey in my taco salad. I ended up throwing up (among other things) for 8 hours straight. I was so dehydrated that it took 6000 liters of saline before I could even go to the bathroom.

After getting out of the hospital, I have to say the fatigue from the radiation increase exponentially. My gas tank was running on fumes.

My radiation burns have turned into open sores with puss coming out of them. It hurts more than you could ever know. Not only does the skin hurt, but the muscles hurt as well. Sometimes when I stretch my hand out too far, I end up having muscle spasms that last for a few hours.

And now, I've been sick with a virus for 5 days. I'm staying home in bed for Thanksgiving. Basically I want November to be over with.

There have been few highlights which occurred in November, though.

I was able to attend the closing ceremony of the Arizona 3 Day Breast Cancer Walk. I wasn't able to find Debbie, but I was able to meet Randi, who carried my shoes during the closing ceremony in the survivors circle. Yes, Randi is a breast cancer survivor and she walked 60 miles to find a cure. When we met, we hugged each other tightly and cried. She told me one day I'll be able to walk the 3 Day with someone elses shoes. How cool was that!

The other thing that happened was that my best friend, Kim, came to see me from Seattle. I cannot tell you how much I needed to see her. Friends are scarce these days and I'm just grateful for the few God has blessed me with. We had a blast and I cannot wait to see her again. She even got to meet my dear friend Sue.

Well, everyone, have a great Thanksgiving and lets get on to December!

Noëlle

Fall Craft Boutique - November 15th 9 am to 2 pm

Hi everyone! I wanted to let you know that I will be selling my jewelry at the Dobson Ranch HOA's Fall Craft Boutique. My sister will be selling gift baskets as well! It's going to be a great opportunity to shop for the Holidays and to help me with my medical bills!

"Living Proof"....Lifetime Movie about Herceptin

As you may know, I tested positive for breast cancer. I have stage 3/grade 3 metastatic, invasive/infiltrating ductal carcinoma which is HER2 positive. HER2-positive tumors are a particularly aggressive form of cancer that affects approximately 20 percent of breast cancer patients. The HER2 protein pushes a cell to divide, and while a little on a cell is normal, a lot is not. No one knows why, but in these so-called "HER2-positive" tumors, these proteins are over-expressed. When this happens, the cancer becomes aggressive.


The treatment for the HER2 protein is called Herceptin. “Living Proof” is the true story of oncologist and researcher Dr. Dennis Slamon (played by Harry Connick, Jr.), the UCLA doctor who helped develop the breast cancer drug Herceptin, and his effort to keep the drug trials afloat. His inspiring journey shows the sacrifices he makes in his personal life and the obstacles that he faces to get the drug approved. Thousands of lives have been saved because of his dedication. (Based on Robert Bazell’s book “Her-2.”) Renée Zellweger, Neil Meron and Craig Zadan, and screenwriter Vivienne Radkoff are the executive producers. Check out the "Living Proof" viewers guide.

Airs this Saturday, October 18th on The Lifetime Channel at 9pm ET/PT

My brother, Jim Rathbone, came to visit me this past weekend. He lives in Maryland with his wife, Sharon. We had a blast! It was so good to see him again and catch up. I miss him already! Here's a picture of my brother and his beautiful wife......

What?!?!?!

Video Journal 9/25/08