Run, run, run…

Faster, faster.
Don’t look back.


We are all blessed to live in an age where cancer research and drug development are giving cancer cells a run for their money.

Just a few short years ago, women (and some men) who were at this stage of breast cancer that TC is now, had no more options available to them.
In their cases, the cancer cells caught up with the drugs, out-smarted them and ruthlessly took their lives.
Today, we thankfully do have a few more options; TC is test-driving one of those today.

Released from KU on Monday convinced the Staph infection was under control, she is fever free today and that’s a huge relief.
She came home hooked up to tubes and machines, far from comfortable but grateful to be in her own bed.

Miraculously, and to the shock of her doctors who had declared the surgery unsuccessful, her bowel came back to life this week.
In the interest of humility…I’ll leave the details out of it!

Today Mom packed TC up and took her to see Dr. K, her oncologist.
He started her on Abraxane (at $4200. a dose!), a chemotherapy drug which is coupled with Tykerb, a new generation of cancer medicines that more precisely target tumors without killing lots of healthy cells. Tykerb was just approved by the FDA in March of this year after stopping studies early because of its phenomenal results on just 321 women. We are praying that TC responds positively to the drugs as well.

In the meantime, she is still on a feeding tube.
It is unclear at this point if she will be able to transition off of it, but that is our hope.

The doctors had to remove her port last week because of infection.
That is a major bummer, her port was how all her intravenous drugs got delivered to her.
Now she’s back to IV’s and her veins are weak, resulting in great stress.

TC’s spirits are low, there’s no denying that.
Some days we don’t even try very hard to lift them.
TC is in a place most of us cannot relate to; we’re learning to sometimes shut our mouths and just let her be.
This is a journey she needs to navigate on her terms.
We must accept that we cannot direct it for her.

So today, she’s still winning the race.
One step ahead of the cancer cells, running fast and not looking back.