What the heck’s been going on?

Thursday. July 23, 2026. Just because I haven’t posted lately, doesn’t mean that something bad has happened. So if my silence makes you nervous, please don’t worry. I’m okay. I’m stable. My treatments continue every three weeks. I’m still getting CT scans every 10-12 weeks. Same shit. Different day.

Still you might wonder what’s been going on?

June 10th was spent reflecting on the wonderful memories of Mom’s life. It’s been four years, and I miss her more than ever.

On June 20th Steve and I celebrated 45 years of marriage. Cancer has been with us in one form or another since 1999. That’s right. More than half of our life together. Even during the 19 years between occurrences, cancer was always there. Lingering in the background. Both of us always hyperaware it could emerge from the shadows. I can’t imagine having to deal with all the craziness and messiness of cancer with anyone else. And I’m grateful I don’t have to. Steve is the best. My knight in shining armour.

June 22nd was infusion day. It started out typical enough. We made the 45-minute drive to to the infusion center, and met with Dr. Wang before treatment. Steve left to do some grocery shopping. I was almost done with the infusion when Steve called. He was in the store parking lot, getting ready to come pick me up, but the car would not start. I called AAA to have it towed to the dealer, and Steve called our neighbor to see if he could come down and give us a ride home. Which he did wtihout hesitation. In the meantime, the tow truck driver arrived and determined the battery needed replacing. He was able to give Steve a jump to get him home. I, on the otherhand waited for Karl who was already on his way. There are angels on earth.

On June 24th, a little after 8 a.m. there was a 5.6 earthquake. It was the strongest earthquake I’ve experienced since we moved here in 2002. It definitely got the adrenalin pumping. I was sitting on the couch reading, and Steve was in the shower. It was scary. Some things did fall and break, and we were without power until 7 that night. Thank goodness our house is sound, and no one was hurt. But wow! That was an E-ticket ride!

On June 30th we made the trip to UCSF to have the fibrin sheath removed that had formed around the tip of my port. The sheath was causing problems getting a good blood return whenever my port was accessed.

This is how the stripping worked. After making a tiny incision in my right groin area, a 15 cm gooseneck snare was intoduced through the sheath and used to lasso the port within the superior vena cava (the largest vein in the human body). Stripping of the port was performed three times under fluorscopic guidance. That simple little procedure should solve the blood return issue. It was certainly a better option than removing this port and replacing it with a new one.

Since I had CT scans and an oncologist visit the next day, we spent the night in San Francisco and made it an extended anniversary celebration—a nice hotel, dinner, champagne. Still loving each other’s company 45 years later.

As has so far been the case, the Abdomen/Pelvic CT was unremarkable. Trust me, I do not take these results for granted. I have to admit that every time I finish reading the report, I become acutely aware that I have resumed breathing. Then I unknowingly start holding my breath again waiting for the Chest CT results.

The Chest CT was stable as well. No evidence of disease progression when compared to the most recent CT. And once again I’m able to breathe. That being said it was noted that the largest left lower lobe nodule in my lung had shown to be growing on the prior CT (10 weeks earlier). So it’s something we really have to keep an eye on.

After the CT scans I saw an oncologist, not Dr Huppert who was on maternity leave. We discussed the scans, and talked about future options including clinical trials. But, for the foreseeable future, as long as there is no new disease progression, I will continue on the Dato-DXd.

I was supposed to go to Ukiah for infusion on July 13. However, I’ve had a nasty virus (not COVID or RSV) since the Independence Day weekend, and had to cancel that appointment. Believe it or not, I’m still not over it. Steve had the same bug only a couple days before me, and he is back to normal. My guess is it’s because my lungs are compromised as noted in my last CT report: evolving post radiation changes within the right midlung with increasing fibrosis in those regions. And in earlier scan reports it was described as postradiation changes in the right middle lobe with increased groundglass and architectural distortion. As you might remember, I had focal radiation to treat the cancerous nodes in my lungs…the metastatic part of my TNMBC diagnosis. The scarring in my right lung is a result of that treatment. So it makes sense it would take me longer to recover from this (insert string of bad words here) virus.

My next infusion is on August 3rd. Treatment #20! This is the longest I’ve been on the same course of treatment…ever. The good news. The great news. The best news. I’m still here.

---

This life is mine alone. So I have stopped asking people for directions to places they’ve never been. —Glennon Doyle