What's in a Date?

August is a very momentous time for me. August 11, 2015 was the date I found out I have adenocarcinoma, non small cell lung cancer. Then I found out it was inoperable and incurable on August 14, 2015. This is the date I use as my Cancerversary date. Cancerversary~ the anniversary date of my lung cancer diagnosis.

Monday is my 2 Year Cancerversary. I really never thought I would still be alive today. The odds are against me, but I'm beating those odds every day, every hour.

I don't have too many not so amazing things to share over the last year. But the one thing is a fairly major concern. I was NED ( no evidence of disease) for approximayely 6 months. In October 2016 we started monitoring tumor growth activity in my upper right lung lobe. I had two blood biopsies to see if my cancer had developed a new mutation that is resistant to my current treatment. No information came back from the blood biopsies. I had a needle biopsy in May 2017. The biopsy was unable to collect a good sample and my lung clasped. A clasped lung equals my first overnight hospital stay.

I had radiation to this new tumor and I'm continuing with my current chemo pill/targeted therapy. Now we'll monitor this activity and see if the radiation did it's job.

One thing I must mention. We have lost many prominent people and advocates in the lung cancer online/social media community over the last year. These are people, putting themselves out there to educate, support and change the face of lung cancer. Every new death is a hard blow. They are missed terribly. I will continue advocating in their memory for much needed research to manage and end this terrible disease.

So many amazing things have happened to me since August 2016. These are just some highlights.

• I have my own beer! I was able to attend the keg tapping party in Dayton, OH for Lisa's Luck Amber Ale.
  
• I worked with the American Lung Association and participated in an award winning video to educate and spread  information about the importance of tumor testing.

• I shared my story at the Denver Lung Force Walk.
  
• I checked an item off my bucket list. I sewed my own dress and entered myself in a pinup contest. I was the first runner up and won prizes.
  
  

• I ran the Run the Rocks 5k and turned 46 in the same week.
  
• I participated in a Lilly Pharmaceutical advisory board and got to meet my lung cancer bff.
  

  
• I entered the Team Draft Lung Cancer Survivors Super Bowl Challenge...and I won a trip to Houston the week of Super Bowl and attended the Taste of the NFL.
  
• Thanks to Do It For The Love, I attended a Social Distortion concert in Denver, was given the VIP treatment and got to meet the band.
  
• Because I was a first time attendee, I was granted a full travel scholarship to Washington, D.C. to attend the Lungevity Hope Summit.

I can't wait to see what comes to me between now and August 2018. With your help I may be able to add Lungevity Hope Summit 2018 to next year's list. Please help me celebrate surviving another year with stage iv lung cancer and make a donation. If I reach my fundraising goal, I can qualify for a full travel scholarship, attend the summit and spend time with my long distance lung cancer friends.

CLICK HERE TO DONATE

How Not To Let Lung Cancer Win

I completed my Livestrong at the Y program. I tried not to miss any Livestrong days at the gym during the program. There was one particular day that I was feeling very down and tired. I just didn't have it in me that day. But my boyfriend gave me a pep talk. If you would put his pep talks in a book, the title would be, "How Not To Let Lung Cancer Win". Think in this instance he used my, no missed opportunities, motto to remind me that I should not stay at home on the couch that evening.

I went to class. It was yoga that day. Even when I was feeling some pain and I was run down from the day, I was there. I was able to fully participate. The instructor said some words that made quite an impression that day and impacted me for the rest of my life. We were holding a pose and she said something along the lines of, "this is how you are today. Recognize it. But it doesn't mean that's how you will be tomorrow."

In my day planner, in July 2016, there is one day marked with several stars. That was one of the very few days I had no pain, no fatigue, and I almost made it through the whole day without thinking or talking about my lung cancer. Those days are very rare. It's only happened a couple times since starting my treatment in September 2015.

I don't post too much about the bad days. My symptoms and side effects are intermittent. If I do complain, in the next few days things are different. My approach is the "life must go on" method. Almost like, putting the negatives in words will give them strength.

I had goals set for this fall that I've had to change or postpone to next year. Remember how excited I was about running again? I was only able to run a couple of times. At the same time as I started running again my side effects started kicking in. I was getting tired more easily. Stomach and digestive issues that I've been lucky enough to mostly avoid were happening often. I was experiencing new types of pain.  I was training to run the Run the Rocks 5k in October. If mental preparedness was all it took, I would have climbed the incline already. But the downside of feeling so well and living a half way normal life is feeling not so well at the same time.

The body and the mind are strange. Does the comfort of friends and family or the excitement of an opportunity/event overpower the negative effects and feelings caused by my lung cancer and treatment? The answer must be, yes.

Surrounded by my dearest friends and with the support of my family, I was able to complete and even run a good portion of the Run the Rocks 5k last month.

This is what Stage iv lung cancer looks like on a good day....and sometimes on a bad day too.