Happy Thanksgiving

      I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving! Enjoy yummy food and your family and any others you are gathering with.
     I will be starting a new drug on Dec. 3 and if you are a follower of this blog you know that means there has been progression. This new drug i will need to have every week.  I have had some nausea during the day randomly, and tired, so the doctor agreed to do the cat scan a month earlier than planned. And I also complained about the lingering cough I have had since I got a cold way back before the week of Halloween.
     GIVE and be THANKFUl!
Peace
Kelly
 
   

Lots of Color

Since my last post the fall colors have peaked and the leaves are beginning to fall.  What a pretty time of the year. Love the temperatures too.
I saw the doctor last week, and the week before that had a CT scan.  The scan showed some stable tumors and some small new tumors. I wasn't able to ask questions of any kind because the doctors pager went off and he left the room. AND didn't come back.   So before the interruption we discussed staying on the same chemo drug.  And staying off the oral chemo drug that was raising my liver enzymes and causing lots of diarrhea.  I will continue this regime on two Mondays in a row and one Monday off.  Something new that is happening and the Lemmen Holten Center is the doctors or mine at least, is seeing new patients on one of his work days.  All other patients see him on his other work days. The bad thing about this for me, is this now has be traveling down on another day of the week. 
     This past weekend I was in Chicago for a Metastatic Breast Cancer Conference. My sister Kim and Mom joined me .  There was a lot of information gained.  There was good news in that there is a lot of research being done and it looks promising but the bad news it takes so long to get to the FDA and then for the FDA to approve it.  I will be traveling to the Mall of America in a couple of weeks.  I have never been there.  If you have any suggestions or must do's feel free to email me.
     Paul retired from the Wyoming Police Department.  He got a new job as Deputy Chief  for the city of Grandville.  His first day was this past Monday.  We are very excited for him.  Rachel will be cheering at her last freshmen football game tomorrow and then she will have 2 weeks off before trying out for the competitive cheer team. Emily had her last 7th grade volleyball game yesterday that ended in a win.  She wants to try out for a club volleyball team next.  James will be signing up for basketball through community ed or the local YMCA.
     Happy Harvest to all, Happy Halloween too!
Peace and prayers to you
Kelly

Almost 2 months

Sorry for the delay in my posts. I decided that I would update after dr appointments and I have only seen nurse practitioner lately. And until seeing some people that read my blog I was reminded I haven't updated so here goes.
My cat scan on July 5 showed growth of old tumors and quite a few new tumors in my lungs. The liver was stable. Because of the growth in lungs I needed to change to a new infusion chemo and also change from herceptin that I've take since 2007 to tykerb. Both drugs block the cells from dividing. But the change was needed because my body became immune to the herceptin thus the growth. The bad news is tykerb is an oral pill taken at home. 5 horse pills to put it nicely. 5 horse pills that give me diarrhea something awful.  Well you can't function in life like that so they lessened the dosage by one pill with no difference in outcome. I then told them I would be on vacation so I stopped taking them while we were in charlevoix . Started back up and had the same side effects so the had me take 2 in am and 2 pm. Well before I could start that dosage my lab work for my liver was raised so they halted the tykerb believing that was the cause. It's been three weeks with out taking it. Good for the bathroom purposes bad that I haven't been taking something that helps the tumors not multiply.
So instill go in for a treatment once a week on Monday's for two weeks the one week off. I'll have a doctors appointment in 3 weeks and will probably get a cat scan scheduled then. As of yesterday's labs my liver counts are coming down but still too high to take meds.
Rachel is cheering freshmen football games and enjoying it along with high school. Emily is loving middle school and all of her classes. She also made the volleyball team. James is enjoying .6th grade and enjoying being the king class of elementary school. He decided to take the year off from football. But found himself being the ball boy at the freshmen football games since we are there watching Rachel.
The pool was closed this past Sunday just in time for this weather change.
As far as take them a meal goes we have decided to keep it disabled since its been going fine with out it. We wanted to try to get back to some normalcy as much as we can. Yes cancer is a normal part of our life. But let's try to do some things without cancer in it. Does that make sense. A few people want to bring a meal and that is awesome thank you.  I will message you or call you soon. Thanks for the surprise gift cards to order something for dinner. All so thoughtful.
Paul is working 10 hour shifts still but now no more weekends. He either works m-th or t- fri. He is teaching for Grand rapids cc  on Monday and Wednesday nights and for Ferris
s in big rapids on Fridays . Just a tad busy.

Take Them a Meal

I have disabled the Take Them a Meal schedule for now. Not sure if it will be forever, short term or what.  Thank you to everyone for all the great meals and recipes'.  We ate well because of all of you.
IT was very nice of all of you to take the time to think of the Anglim's during this journey we have been on.  You have touched our hearts as well as our bellies.  Thank you so much!

Kelly and the rest of the Anglim's

Chemo Schedule

Since my chemo drug and chemo schedule will be changing and I don't know what side effects I will have, I am going to hold off on posting any dates that we may need for dinners. Maybe I won't need any.  That would be nice.  But feel free to check on Take them a Meal and I will post something on there also.  Thanks for all your help over the past 17 months.  It's been a long road that I would not be able to go down with out all of my family and friends support! Feel free to text me or facebook message me for the password to Take them a Meal!

Peace

Kelly

Lack of rain but not sunshine

The lack of rain is unbelievable ! I have never seen anything like it. Or should I say I don't remember anything like it. I received my ct results today. The ct showed increase in size and numbers of tumors in both lungs. More in the right lung than left lung. I have had no respiratory side effects or symptoms. but that doesn't surprise me because I didn't have any symptoms with my double pulmonary embolism either. I told the dr I like to be unique. With the findings of the ct scan I did not have treatment today. I will be switching to a new chemo drug with insurance approval. That will start next week and it is given once a week, two weeks in a row and one week off. It is disappointing! It's a set back. My body must have been getting immune to the chemo drug. It Is mostly frustrating because I never imagined I would still be having chemo after 17 months. You never want to prepare yourself for that. The days of summer are passing by. We have a vacation planned with the entire family. Mom and dad and my three siblings families. Going to charlevoix to stay in a cottage that Ernest Hemingway's wedding reception was in. Right on lake charlevoix. It will be "just what the dr ordered". I hope you are making lots of memories with your loved ones . Stay safe and keep the faith! Love and peace to all Kelly

Summer started

The kids are out for the summer and that means parents are running there kids to all their activities. The more kids you have the more you are prrobably running around. I hope yoU can get a break soon and enjoy your summer together relaxing at a beach, pool, campfire, eating ice cream, at a pier,on a boat, camping, at a cottage or other family Favorite spot. As for an update from me and my health. I have been on the same chemo drugs since last September. It is still treating me good in regards to side effects. Major side effects are a bad headache and no sleep the night I have a treatment. Then tired for two days. I am getting scheduled for a cat scan so that I will have the results before my next dr visit which is in July. Dr said we'll figure the next steps after we get those results. Family is doing good. Rachel has finished her physical therapy on her knee, and has worked on strengthening her quads so her knee is more stable. She is now entering the high school and has made the freshmen sideline cheer team. Which means she will be cheering for the football team on thursdays. Emily is currently doing a basketball camp through community ed. Next week she will be doing another basketball camp all day. She will be at the middle school and is planning on trying out for the basketball team and swim team and water polo team. She also plays the violin. And is officially taller than her older sister at 5'7. James is entering the 6th grade and will be the top dog in the school. I Can't believe the youngest is in his last year of elementary school. I'll have one at each school. James isn't sure he will sign up for football yet this fall. He will be doing an all day basketball camp next week. He would like to find or form a team to play on in the winter. He is also going to a lacrosse camp towards the end of July. Paul is done teaching his spring semester class since May and it has been nice to have him home in the evevning. The kids keep him hopping too. He normally teaches for Ferris State University or Grand Rapids Community College in the fall and spring. And also picks up cpr classes to teach too. Our pool has been used a lot already this summer and spring. We also have our tramp set up. This is our second summer with it. This year we have a safety net around it. Emily wants to use it as a summer sleep out. Happy Father's Day to all you daddy's out there! Thank you to everyone praying and thinking of me daily. Thank you for the meals during the rough days following treatment. Thank you for the surprise visits and phone calls another nice things all you wonderful things you great family members and friends do! Prayers and peace to you Kelly