A strange feeling

I don't have much today. No story, no insight, and no words of wisdom...and that's kind of what I'm posting about. I've had a strange feeling of emptiness this week. We've been fighting this for 11 months straight, without any real break. It has defined (and redefined) our life for all of 2008. Almost every emotion and every thought has been about cancer. Most every conversation with family, friends and acquaintances starts with "How is Linda doing?". The highest point and lowest point of 2008 has been about cancer....and now we are done.

I've been looking forward to this week since last December, yet I feel a void. It is truly an odd feeling. I can't quite explain it. For the past year, I've had somewhere to direct all my energy. Focus on the cancer, focus on Linda, entertain the kids so they don't have to deal with it, write a blog entry. Now, although we will never be the same as we were on Dec 12, we have to go back to living. What the hell was that like? I can hardly remember. This cancer has made me a better person, made my family stronger, and made me love Linda more than you can understand. Without the cancer in our lives, will I fall back on old habits? Being an unappreciative asshole. I don't know if I even like 'pre-cancer John'. I'm actually kind of scared.

p.s. - Cancer, if are reading this, this is in no way an invitation back into our lives. Fuck you and thank you (if that makes sense).

A slice of humble pie

After all Linda has been through these past 11 months, at the first opportunity post-treatment, she got up at 5:15am and ran/walked 3 miles with her friend. No complaints. I, on the other hand, have been sitting on my ass for the past months complaining of a chest cold, shin splints, and/or a bum foot, pretty much any reason to not run. Needless to say I ran this morning. Thanks for the inspiration.

Step out of the vehicle sir

Today, 11/14/2008, we're done. The last radiation treatment was @ 8:45 this morning and the staff at Texas Oncology had a small celebration for Linda. Very cool. They are almost like family to Linda. I met Linda at Starbucks afterwards for a celebratory coffee before heading to work.

For some reason, I decided to take a different way to work. My usual commute has slowly been infiltrated by traffic lights. I'm sure there is a new one every couple of months. Damn suburban sprawl! The alternative route is longer, but only presents 1 traffic light. You can really fly along 1431. With the sunroof open and Metallica blasting, I cruised along at what some may consider an excessive speed (and what TxDOT definitely does consider excessive). Just as I crested a hill, I saw the telltale sign of Texas State Trooper black and white heading in the opposite direction. Ease off the gas...eyes in the rear view...wait...wait...shit!

Really? Linda's last day of treatment. What a way to sully a great day.

Mr. State Trooper was really playing the part. Mirrored sunglasses and all, although they were more modern than the stereotypical aviator style ones. Intimidating nonetheless. "License and Insurance please". "Step out of the vehicle sir". What the hell...for a speeding ticket? This can't be good.

For once in my life, all my tags, license, and insurance were up to date. Just give me my ticket and I'll be on my way. My inspection sticker was due to expire this month. The jackass who did my state inspection last November put the "11" on backwards, so it jumped out to the officer. As he looked closer, it seems the serial number was garbled. He ran the number back in his cruiser and after about 15 minutes, came back and said the serial number was invalid and that I was in possession of a forged permit. "I'll need to call in my corporal to see how to handle this". Mother %&@^%%#$^&!^. He informed me that with the new emissions testing here in Texas, there are A LOT of forged stickers.

Meanwhile, I sat on the guardrail along 1431 as everyone drove by and checked me out. 2 cruisers were now behind my car, so there was likely extra oogling on behalf of the passers by. Fantastic! Judgmental bastards!

"Sir, we're going to need to issue you a citation". This is getting worse by the minute. I rolled my eyes. "Hold on sir...we believe you, but we need to create a paper trail so that we can prosecute the person who made the counterfeit sticker. You'll just need to subpoena me in court and we'll get this all sorted out". Court? Subpoena? Arrrggg! I wondered for a moment if they'd shoot me if I ran across the field into the trees. Wait a sec...this is Williamson County...first they'd taze me, then they'd shoot me, then they'd taze me again for good measure. Better stay put.

As they peeled off the sticker for evidence, they looked at each other and smiled. "Sir...come here please". Apparently the Jiffy Lube jackass who affixed my sticker didn't scrape off the old one entirely, and left a bit of the old serial number, which overlayed perfectly with the new one. The sticker was good after all, although I was now in possession of a valid, but decimated sticker. I needed a new one this month anyway.

Corporal: Did you write him up yet?
Constable: Yes
Corporal: 3 or a 6?
Constable: 6
Corporal: Make it a 3
Constable: Yes sir

Cool. I'm not sure what 3 or 6 meant yet, but 3 has to be better than 6 right? Were they going to knock some mileage off my speeding ticket? Sweet. This is getting better.

Turns out 6 is a ticket and a 3 is a warning. As an act of good faith for keeping me for a 1/2 hour, they just gave me a warning citation for my speeding. No ticket, no court, AND I didn't have to blow anyone to get out of it! This is back to being a great day!

I tend to be a bit more aware of my karama these days. Was this the scales of fate tilting on my side as a correction for the past year? Or was it another test...do I need to pay this one back? I guess I'll never know for sure where my cosmic tally count sits, but if I try to be a good-egg most of the time, that can't be a bad thing can it?

Linda, I am so proud of you. You are stronger than I ever imagined and you amaze me every day. I will rub your head, bald or otherwise, forever :)

A Moment In Time

I had one of those moments this weekend. For the 8th year in a row, we went camping at Granger Lake for my birthday. It was fantastic. Linda was full of energy and felt great. It almost felt as if the last year hadn't happened at all.

That moment. As the morning sun began to warm the day, we sat on the beach while the kids played at the water's edge. It wasn't hot, it wasn't cold. The dogs ran up and down the beach sniffing everything they could. We had camped here many times, and walked that beach more times than I can remember, but this time was different. I looked over at Linda and she smiled, watching the kids search for fossils and shells. It was absolute contentment, something I hadn't seen from her in a while. I closed my eyes and burned that image into my brain. No matter what life has in store for us, nothing can take that moment away from me. I know she felt it too. We made the weekend last as long as possible. Neither of us wanted to leave.


It is Monday morning and Linda starts her last week of radiation today. This week is all about the boob. Her neck and underarm are done so this week they 'blast' the site of the original tumor. Good riddance! As far as the numbers go, we have a 75% chance of never seeing the cancer again. In Vegas, those are fantastic odds. You can play those odds all night long and always come out a winner. When you are fighting for your life, anything less than 100% is hard to accept, but that's just how these things work. Regardless, that moment in time on the beach will be mine forever.

New Appreciation of Triple Negative Disease

A great article regarding the current understanding of Triple Negative Breast Cancer and how to best treat it. If your breast cancer has been classified as ER-, PR- and Her2- (about 15% or all breast breast cancers are TN), then this article is a must read.

"Marina Cazzaniga and her colleagues at Treviglio Hospital, Italy found in the NORA study contrary to other observations, that triple negative patients did not have worse prognosis, in terms of disease-free (DFS) or overall survival (OS), than others in the total cohort of 3515 patients treated in 77 cancer centers in Italy from to 2000 to 2003"

21,000+ turn downtown Austin into a sea of pink

http://news8austin.com/content/top_stories/default.asp?ArID=223459

Susan G. Komen Race For the Cure 2008

A beautiful day spent with beautiful people. Thank you :)

Almost There

Halloween is tomorrow and marks 4 1/2 weeks of radiation treatment. Linda's radio oncologist calls her the poster child for radiation. Other than a general 'tan' in the affected areas, there is no tissue damage. No blisters or burns. No pain!

Only 2 more weeks to go and then that's it. Nothing else to do. No more treatments. I'm sure, after spending the past year actively fighting cancer, it will seem strange doing nothing. Unlike the majority of breast cancers (which are ER+ and/or PR+), triple negative breast cancers (ER-,PR-, Her2-) do not have any long term targeted therapies. It really is just wait and see. No Tamoxifen, no Aromasin, no Herceptin. Although there may not be any active treatment alternatives, there are plenty of passive treatments which include eating right, exercise and most importantly, just living life to the fullest.

This photo was taken last Halloween at our annual street Halloween party. That is pretty much how I looked from 1983 to 1992...not much of a stretch for me :)

What's strange to me is looking at us, 1 month or so before our diagnosis, and not having a clue what lay ahead of us. How our life could change from one day to the next. It is also weird to know that Linda had cancer in the photo (hey...quit staring at my wife's boobs!).

When you're young...you're invincible! When you're pushing 40...err...not so much. When your life is turned upside-down by cancer, everything takes on a 'temporary' feel, and I don't mean that in a bad way. That whole 'stop and smell the roses' nonsense begins to make sense. No, I'm not about to put up a motivational poster in my office, but I do find myself spending more time with the kids, more time cuddled up with Linda watching TV, and more time trying things I wouldn't usually do. How can that be a bad thing?

So tomorrow we will have the 2008 edition of our Halloween party, the kids will run amok in the neighborhood, the parents will enjoy a potluck dinner and we will all have a great time. Life is good.

Happy Halloween!

Race for the Cure

The whole family has signed up for the Race For The Cure 5K. Linda, myself and the kids will be hitting the streets on Sunday Nov 2nd to help raise money and awareness. We will be running for her local breast cancer support group team. If you'd like to sponsor us, shoot me an email at:

breast.cancer.sux@gmail.com

and I'll let you know how you can. It should prove to be a great day as we give back to the community and friends that have supported us over the past year.

Think Pink!

Getting our groove back

With less than 5 weeks left in Linda's treatment, things are going very well. Still some tingling in her hands and feet, some general muscle aches, some redness around the irradiated areas and she has some difficulty getting to sleep. Aside from that, our day to day routine is just that...routine. Work, kids, school, cub scouts, football, camping, Halloween decorations...ahhh the beauty of routine. You really don't miss it until it is gone.

Unlike my hometown, where camping is restricted to 3 months of the year, Texas offers camping 12 months of the year (although it is really too hot to enjoy camping in July & August). In years past, we have camped up to 22 times in a year, almost every other weekend. It is our family time free from life's distractions. Our youngest was camping at 6 weeks old. Camping is definitely our thing. The past year has only given us 1 opportunity and that was even limited because Linda had just finished her first chemo cycle. We booked camping for this weekend and I can't be more excited. Cool nights, campfires, hikes, smores and a cold beer for Dad. Oh yeah!

One thing I've learned over the past year is to not take my health for granted. I've been lucky (genetically or otherwise) this far, but I'm sure the next 40 years will be tougher than the last 40 years. So midway through Linda's treatment I started training. Training for what? Nothing in particular, just to be fit. It is my job, after all is said and done, to take care of my family. I can't do that if I can't take care of myself. 1 hour/day, 5 days/week is not that much but makes a huge difference to my mental and physical well-being. When Linda resumes her running, it'll be one more thing we can share and that's always a good thing.

An important change in me, at least psychologically, is the ability to concentrate at work once again. It is not there 100% yet, but at least I am not a zombie anymore, and as our company achieves more successes, I can feel the energy coming back. I have been blessed with a truly unique company and in particular, an incredible CEO who understands that a company is not simply a collection of people, but really an extended family. My extended family. Our extended family. I am surrounded by the best friends and colleagues anyone could ask for and I owe them a debt of gratitude for their understanding and compassion over the past year. Y'all rock!

Root of all evil?

Very interesting article about leading edge research on cancer stem cells from The Economist.

http://www.economist.com/science/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12202589

"Cancer may be caused by stem cells gone bad. If that proves to be correct, it should revolutionize treatment"

Radiation update

Linda's radiation is going well. The turn around time from when she leaves the house to when she returns is about 30 minutes. The actually irradiation takes mere seconds. Sure beats the day-long visits to the infusion room.

The Xeloda is giving her some mild tingling in her hands and feet (a known side-effect). Adding low-dose Xeloda isn't a standard practice yet (although it is in clinical trials) but if we get the benefit without any serious side effects, it's a worthwhile venture. There are different phases of a cell's division and the phase in which DNA is transfered is called the "S phase". Xeloda extends the "S phase" which increases the chances that a radiation particle will damage the cell DNA, causing the cell to self-destruct.

Linda is upbeat and her hair is finally starting to come back in. She is starting to make plans for a cruise next fall to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Making plans a year out is a great sign of her emotional recovery. Una cervesa por favor!

A typical atypical mole

A few months back, I suggested everyone go to their doctor and get their skin checked. Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in the US. For once in my life, I decided to heed my own advice. I looked in my benefits package for the closest dermatologist and made an appointment. I think all my doctors have a last name that begins with A or B because they are the first ones in the list. I'm not too picky. I think most guys are like me. If I ever decide to become a doctor, I'm changing my name to Dr. Aaron Aardvark. That'll keep the patients rolling in.

The office happened to be just down the road from where I work and in a well-to-do neighborhood near the lake. I guess that's where dermatologists will find most of their revenue. At first I wondered if I had made a wise choice. It is my experience that a doctor's office usually has a wide assortment of health related pamphlets which adorn the waiting room tables and office walls. You know, the FAQ and self-diagnostic flyers for disease prevention etc. In this office, there wasn't a single skin cancer pamphlet. Not one. There were plenty of Botox(tm), Rejuviderm(tm) and skin bleaching promotional materials, but nothing 'health' related. I found that odd. They already had my $15 copay, so might as well go through with it right?

For the first time in my life, I was older than the doctor. My GP from when I grew up is still in practice in my hometown and is 75. He is older than my parents and they still go to him. I guess it's the 'older and wiser' thing that gives me some comfort. I guess that's just a symptom of getting older. Every second of every day, there are more people younger than you and less people older than you. Don't get me wrong, he's a good doctor, it's just my own personal hangup about being examined by Dr. Doogie Howser. And another thing. These days, I understand that when women go to see a male doctor, a female assistant/nurse is usually present in the room. So when a guy goes to see a guy doctor, is the assistant/nurse thing a common occurrence? I don't think that my doctor subscribed to the same 'lifestyle' that the real Doogie Howser did, so I'm not quite sure why the 20 something year old female nurse was in the room, but there she was. And there I was in my underwear.

As I was seated in the chair, the doctor started on my arm and worked his way around my upper body and head. He methodically dictated where the moles were and what they looked like. The nurse dutifully typed them into the laptop as he went. Then he asked me to stand-up so he could check my 'legs and buttocks'. My mind immediately raced to the morning's decision to put on any old pair of underwear. If I had known that a young nurse would be in the room with us, I'd have chosen some newer underwear with some elasticity to prop up my assets. But to my disappointment (and maybe her's too...who knows), I had chosen some war-torn pair out of the top drawer. I'm sure, as a guy, I had previously played this scenario out in my mind a few thousand times (Dear Penthouse Forum, I never thought it'd happen to me but....), but never did the scene end with 'hmmm...this mole here looks kind of strange'.

So there I was, standing in the doctor's office, my butt-crack showing, my 'junk' sadly doing a wholelotta nothing, and a doctor and nurse staring at my back-side ready to freeze the mole, shave it off, and send it to a lab for a biopsy. What the fuck!!!

As a product of the 70s and 80s, I never heard the word sun-screen as a kid. I never wore sun-screen and in fact, I used sun-tan lotion and once cooking-oil (yes, cooking oil) to intensify the effects of the sun. Sounds completely crazy now but that's just what we did back then. I worked as a landscaper most summers with no protection and no shirt. My yearly cycle would be to have a good burn early in summer, let all the skin peel off, then my tan would get darker and darker as the summer went on. I am the offspring of 2 British parents, so how I ended up with such a dark complexion is beyond me. With my long teenage hair and dark skin, my brothers would call me Pocahontas. I never considered myself a risk for skin cancer.

The doctor said it was an atypical mole. I asked if it was a typical atypical mole. He started talking about the ABCDs of melanoma and what to look for.

A = Asymmetry - mole is not symmetrical
B = Border - mole does not have a well-defined border
C = Color - mole has more than 1 color
D = Diameter - mole is bigger than 6mm

Mine was ABC but not D. It doesn't necessarily mean melanoma, but these things can lead to melanoma. After a long 7 days, the biopsy results were back. No cancer, no melanoma, just a mildly atypical mole (on a scale of mild, moderate and severe). He said "It's gone now, no risk, nothing else to do, just come and see me in a year". Whew!

We live in Texas and my kids are covered from head-to-toe when they go out. It just seems the sun is getting hotter and hotter and more dangerous. I'll get a mild burn after about 15 minutes. We aren't messing around.

So I urge you again, go get your skin checked out. You just never know. When I show up at my appointment next year however, I'm wearing a thong and doing some dumbbell curls in the parking lot!

Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Linda's port was removed last Friday. Woohoo! In the cancer community, this is a graduation of sorts and quite an achievement. It's nice not to have that reminder there.

To celebrate 'Breast Cancer Awareness Month', Linda starts radiation therapy today. She was tattooed on Monday with permanent marker. She also took her first low-dose of Xeloda this morning. This will continue for the next 6 1/2 weeks. Let's hope she tolerates it well. She's been itching to get back to running but unfortunately, in order to keep the radiation alignment in check, she can't lose any weight for the next month and a half. I have no doubt she'll be running the San Antonio Rock n Roll marathon next year!

Is this normal?

We celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary yesterday. What a fantastically normal day. I took the day off work, we had breakfast @ Rudy's, went and caught an early afternoon showing of 'The Pineapple Express' (very funny flick), we did some some shopping, got home to get the kids off the bus, cooked up some chicken on the grill, helped the kids with their homework, took my son to his first Boy Scout pack meeting, got 'em home, put them to bed and fell asleep watching Nova.

Honestly, on Dec 13th 2007, I wasn't even sure if we'd see 13 years. I was in complete shock and I had no idea what the 'C-word' meant. Months? Years? Not a clue. What I can say is that I can truly appreciate a normal day, and how blessed I feel to have the opportunity to do all those things. Carpe Diem.

The Home Stretch

We met with Dr H. on Tuesday to go over the results of the PET scan and brain MRI in person. Again, all clear! There was some minor uptake around the area of the original tumor in the left breast, but that is most likely cells actively healing the site of the lumpectomy. Nothing to worry about but something we will keep an eye on of course.

Next up is radiation therapy. Studies have proven that radiation significantly decreases the odds of re-occurrence. If the original chemo was the cake and secondary chemo was the frosting, then the radiation is the sprinkles. Who likes cake without sprinkles anyways? The radiation regimen consists of targeting the lymph nodes as well as the site of the original tumor. It is administered 5 days a week for 6 1/2 weeks. That's about 33 half-hour visits to the radio-oncologist over the next month and a half. Luckily, Texas Oncology has an office only minutes from home so the commute won't be too bad (we used their downtown office for chemo as that is where Dr H. has her practice). I suspect I'll have a battle with the insurance on this one. Our insurance considers radiation therapy a 'procedure', which has a $0 copay whereas the provider considers it an 'office visit', which has a $15. $15 isn't bad at all, but when you have 33 visits, $15 x 33 = $465, and that's easily worth a trip to Vegas for the weekend. Does anyone out there have a similar experience with radiation, insurance companies, and co-pays?

"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure", or so goes Dr H's aggressive treatment philosophy. Instead of straight-up radiation, Linda will be concurrently taking a very low dose of Xeloda (a chemotherapy) during radiation. This chemo (hopefully side-effect free) will extra-sensitize the targeted cells. Radiation typically damages the DNA of a cell during cell division. Cells are 'programmed' to kill themselves if the DNA is damaged during mitosis. That is natures mechanism to prevent unwanted cell mutation. There is only a very specific window during cell division when the radiation particle can damage the DNA. The role of Xeloda during radiation is to extend that window so there is more opportunity for the radiation particles to do their dirty work. At least this is my understanding from a 15 minute discussion with Dr H. The Xeloda is taken in pill form the day of the treatment so there are no more infusions, and if the Xeloda has undesired side-effects, Linda can simply stop taking it and continue on with radiation therapy as usual.

More good news...Linda is scheduled to have her 'port' removed next week. It is not a big operation but it is surely a nice milestone to achieve. It's been a long time coming!

Blue Skies and Sunshine

While hurricane Ike pounds our Texas coast, our family has been blessed with Blue Skies and Sunshine!

Official word came from Linda's oncologist @ 4:02pm.

Brain MRI - CLEAR
PET scan - CLEAR

The cancer has not spread and is, in fact, gone!

Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!

I'm going to go celebrate with the center of my universe!

John

Karma

I've talked in the past about my opinion that there is a reason or explanation for everything. Today, the day of Linda's PET scan, something happened to me that I cannot explain. To understand it in context, I have to step back to just over 9 months ago.

A couple days before Linda's diagnosis, she was going about her usual pre-Christmas shop-a-thon. This day, she was at Target picking up some gifts for the kids. For one of his big 'Mommy & Daddy' presents, our son had asked for this huge Tri-Clops remote controlled car (it's pretty cool). If memory serves me correctly, it was about $100. She found one, threw it in the basket with the rest of the yuletide goodies and headed for the checkout. During checkout, one of the items rang up an error and because the error was on the screen, the next 5 or 6 items that were dragged over the scanner didn't register, including the Tri-Clops. Linda pointed out to the cashier that there was an error and after realizing her mistake, she pulled back the items that went through unscanned and rescanned them...except for the Tri-Clops. As Linda loaded the day's booty into back of the car, she thought to herself that the 'Total' was a little light. Sure enough, after checking her receipt, it became apparent that the cashier had missed the Tri-Clops. So here sat Linda in the Target parking lot with a choice. Go home with a 'free' Tri-Clops or return to the store to pay for it. Now before you cast stones, think of everytime your waiter has missed something off your bill (hey...he forgot to charge us for the coffee...cool). Did you bring it to their attention? Or when the shorts you bought at Walmart rang up at less than the advertised price. Did you point that out to the cashier? If you have, then you are a better person than I. Needless to say, Linda decided go home with a 'free' Tri-Clops. Several days later, she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Were the 2 events related? Who knows? We often joke to our friend, who is a pharmacist at Target, that Target gave us cancer. It has become neighborhood folklore. Over the past 9 months, all of our friends have told us of recently being in a similar situation, recalling that Target gave Linda cancer, and then deciding to do the 'right' thing. It's kind of funny, but it does get you thinking...is there such a thing. Do good things happen to good people (or visa versa)? Does what goes around, come around? Is there a universal balance of good and bad?

So what does that have to do with Linda's PET scan today? Everything!

Linda was done her scans by 1pm. I had planned to meet her for lunch but she was literally still radioactive from the isotope injections and barium smoothie she drank. We thought it prudent not to go out in public for lunch. Instead, we'd make some tacos at home. I stopped of at HEB to pick up some lettuce, tomatoes, taco mix and such as well as some potted mums (one of Linda's favorite flowers) for my Honey. At 2pm, the grocery store is pretty quiet so I was in and out. As I loaded everything into the car, I thought something's strange...that wasn't the right total. Lo and behold, the mums didn't ring up. It was an instant of clarity in a 9-month long haze. You've got to be kidding me? On Linda's PET scan day? Is this a test? I can't explain it and won't even try to. It just happened because it was meant to be, no reason needed. I'll let you figure out what I did with those mums.

Tomorrow will be a sunny day!

Faith

Diagnosis, fear, anger, love, depression, chemotherapy, anticipation, optimism, isolation, uncertainty, surgery, pain, sympathy, grief, compassion, more chemotherapy, and hope.

It has taken a long 9 months of active treatment to get to this point. Tomorrow is a huge day. I can't even begin to express the feelings I am having. As much as I have been building tomorrow in my mind, it will be anti-climactic as we won't get the results until Friday (at the earliest) or next Tuesday (at the latest). At some point between now and then, we'll learn if we have been able to keep the cancer out of the rest of Linda's body. I'm trying to think of something insightful to say, but I can't. For once, I am at a loss for words.

Thank you to all the people who have sent prayers, positive vibes and/or good will. I may not have a traditional belief system, but I do have faith. I have faith in humanity. I have faith in friends and family. I have faith in Linda. I have faith that good things happen to good people. We have done everything we can and I have faith that tomorrow will be a sunny day.

You go girl!

Linda attended her support group this week (for young breast cancer survivors) and was saddened to find out her friend, who is a stage IV survivor, discovered brain lesions after noticing some facial numbness. After further discussion with her group, it was revealed that IF triple negative (ER-, PR-, HER2-) breast cancers spread, they statistically tend to metastasize in the brain.

The next day, Linda was at the oncologist's office demanding a brain scan as part of next week's lab work. A PET scan covers the body from the neck down and does not include the head. A separate scan is needed for the head and not typically done unless symptoms exist. Linda left the office with an order for a brain scan on the same day as her PET scan (September 11).

Firstly, I'm glad Linda is back with her group. I can notice a positive change in her demeanor when she attends these meetings. Over the past few months they have occurred during her low cycle and she was unable to attend. She was on her feet for this one and it sure made a difference. Secondly, I am extremely proud of her for taking control of her treatment. She was not taking NO for an answer and was not leaving that office without a brain scan order. Slowly but surely I'm getting my Linda back. You rock babe!

Linda's friend needs your help. Please send your prayers and positive thoughts her way and let's help her get through this difficult time. Thank you.