I AM A SURVIVOR

I had my MUGA last week. I thought that I had it this week, but was mistaken. My refraction rate was 65%, so it went up compared to last time. Yeah!!! I think if I get some cardiovascular activity in it helps. Sometimes that is hard for me, but with summer here and nice weather, I don't think that it will be a problem to get outside and exercise a bit. My next appointment will be my herceptin infusion next Wednesday and another one 3 weeks after that. I think that I have another CT scan in July before seeing my oncologist for the last time before he leaves the clinic. Then I will need to choose someone new. I am nervous about this, but excited at the same time to have another opinion on my care. So as long as everything is quiet I probably won't update until then.

Thanks again to everyone who has supported me in this journey. It is getting closer and closer to it being one year since my diagnosis and boy have I come a long way. In the beginning a little part of me thought that I would not be here typing this to you, but instead I'm cancer free and kicking its butt. There are so many survivor stories out there and I just have to keep reminding myself that yes, I am a SURVIVOR and yes I will keep winning this battle. Of course not without a little help from my faith, modern medicine and of course all of you out there cheering me on. I love you all.

A Successful Race for the Cure

Team Nicole successfully finished the Race for the Cure on Sunday. It was AWESOME and very inspirational to see 50,000 people come out on Mother's Day to raise money for breast cancer. I was emotional as many others were too as we were walking to the starting line, but as the race went along it got better. Hearing the song by Melissa Etheridge, I Run for Life, is what did it in for me. If you have never heard the song, I'm sure it would bring you to tears as well. We all wore our own t-shirts that we received many comments about. The girls wore Fight like a Girl and the boys wore Fight for your Girl t-shirts. I had a wonderful weekend spending time with my mom, my brother and his family and my aunt Sandy along with her family. All whom came up on Saturday and we spent some quality time together at pool at the hotel. Brock has successfully learned how to swim with a life jacket on, very exciting for him. The Nelson family (Bryan's sister Stacie's family) met us at the race on Sunday morning. All together we had 18 people on our team. I hope next year that I can double it, so all of you reading this better mark your calenders for Mother's Day next year. It will be a tradition from now on for my family to walk this. Although my husband suggested every other year, as he is a fisherman and this of course is on opening weekend. Guess who will win that argument:-)

Today I had another Herceptin infusion along with seeing the endocrinologist in regards to my abnormal finding on my pituitary gland. She said that she thinks that it is nothing serious. My bloodwork was normal and I have not had any other issues that would be related to my pituitary gland not functioning properly. I will follow up in 6 months, so I will have another brain MRI in November to make sure nothing changes. That of course was excellent news! I have another MUGA scan coming up in 2 weeks. Hoping that my heart will continue to stay strong so I can keep receiving the MIRACLE drug. I've posted some pictures from our wonderful weekend.


Team Nicole


Grandma Linny and Brock walking


Look at all those people!


Bryan and Griffin



Brock swimming