As Andy Dufresne got his library so WE GOT OUR MEDICINE!

This is Lori writing this update! I got a call last night (Thursday) from the pharmacy providing the Olaparib, and she said insurance approved the drug! It is being shipped directly to our house and will arrive Monday!

The past few months have been awesome. We took a vacation to San Blas, FL and before that, Lori spent a week in D.C. touring with her dad. We just returned from IL where we spent a great Thanksgiving with Lori’s family in Springfield. That’s the man version of what you’ve missed for 3 months. Deal with it ladies.

Last month, Lori noticed a small bump forming on her skull about the size of a pimple. It didn’t hurt but it was strange and of course we thought it might be cancer-related. Recently, we noticed that it had grown in size. Also, she noticed two new nodules forming, one on each breast. Finally, her pain, particularly in her lower back, was increasing and waking her at times in the night. To us, those are all signs of disease progression, so I made an appointment to see Dr. Marinella in Dayton. We got in to see him that afternoon (last Tuesday).

I haven’t needed to update these care pages in nearly two months, and we’re happy about that! “No news is good news” still holds true. Yesterday, Lori had a brain MRI and body CT scans accomplished. The MRI results haven’t been read yet, but the CT scans came back showing improvement everywhere. Her liver is clearing up, and her chest is totally clear. The bones haven’t shown any progression of disease either. We expect to hear that her brain is clear as well! From the outside, her breast tumor is very small now. I don’t typically prefer small breasts but I have to admit I’m loving her new size. Wink.

I forgot to post about the PET scan results from last week. We met with Dr. M, and there weren’t any surprises either positively or negatively. The problem is that we don’t have any previous PETs to compare this one to, so this is a new baseline.

A couple of months ago, one of our awesome neighbors nominated Lori for a trip sponsored through the Karen Wellington Foundation (KWF) for LIVING with breast cancer. Their motto is #FunNow and they gather funds/resources and organize all-expenses-paid vacations for women living with breast cancer and their families. Karen Wellington, the namesake, was diagnosed with breast cancer when she was 30 and she passed away at age 40 in 2007. Apparently, she was even spunkier than Lori in life, and she had a dream of setting up a foundation like this.

This past week, Lori has been doing well. Her pain is still a zero so I think we have that whooped for now. She is tired however, and this means she naps, and she can’t lift much weight. People scold her all the time about how she does too much, but she’s kind of annoyed by that and doesn’t listen anyhow. I almost never tell her to slow down anymore because I just prefer to let her live however she wants to live. Her mind is strong and has adjusted to the Oxy so she thinks clearly unless she’s very tired. These are good days for her though, and we never take these good days for granted!