2 year Cancerversary!!!

Last year I explained what a Cancerversary is to us and also recapped the first year of our battle.  You can read that blog here.

Today marks Steve's 2 year cancerversary.  2 years that "we" have been fighting the ugly black beast, melanoma.  I say "we" because it takes the whole family to fight it.  Steve does his part, which is by far the hardest.  I have my role as caretaker which ranges from changing bandages, arranging/rescheduling appointments, researching, making sure meds are refilled, etc.  Then there are our precious kiddos.  They play a huge role as well.  They are what makes Steve's fight worth it, they give him the drive he needs to continue fighting everyday.  Then there is our immediate family that helps us at a drop of a hat with anything we might possibly think of needing.  Last, and certainly not least, there is our ever growing melanoma family.  Wow!  What we wouldn't do without these folks.  Whether it is late night questions that need quick answers, rants that just need an ear, constant love and support, whatever the case may be they are ALWAYS there. 

Recapping this year is much easier than last year.  Last year was a real struggle for our family.  This year, Steve did remarkably well and we lived a pretty "normal" life.  In January, Steve had scans after 2 rounds of Yervoy (Ipilimumab).  These scans showed that his melanoma had shrank by about 50%.  Later in February, Steve finished his 4th and final round of Yervoy.  In March, Steve had scans again and they showed another 40-50% shrinkage in the melanoma.  Yervoy has a delayed reaction for many, so this was great news to us and very promising for future scans.  On that day in March, we also met our sweet friend Kara, and also met Eric and his wife Kerry who is battling melanoma.  That is my very favorite part of this journey....meeting our online melanoma friends in person.  Like I mentioned, they are all so special and such an important piece of this journey that meeting in person is amazing!

In June, Steve and I participated in The Art of Survivorship - 101 seminar at MD Anderson.  We both spoke to groups of cancer patients about our journey blogging and how it helps us.  I hope some of those patients went on to start blogs of their own.  Later in June, we put our house up for sale and it sold in FOUR days!  We are currently in an apartment and close on our newly built home on January 10th!!!  It was definitely a scary move to make.  Melanoma is very sneaky and to be honest we could never be sure Steve would live long enough to see the new home finished.  We close in one week.  I am beyond elated that Steve will be here to see the new home finished, live in the new home, enjoy the balcony together on the new home (something he has ALWAYS wanted).  June's CT scans also showed an additional 33% shrinkage of the melanoma.

On September 16th, 2013, we got the news we had been waiting for for over a year and a half.  NED!!  No Evidence of Metastatic Disease!!  What an amazing day that day was!!!  We KNOW that melanoma can come back at ANY time, but as a stage 4 melanoma patient, the best you can ever hope for is NED.......and there we were!  On December 31st, we received the same news again....NED! 

Steve will have his next scans March 30, 2014 with results on the 31st.  We hope that he stays NED but until then we will continue LIVING life!  We close on our house in 1 week, we are going to New Orleans to celebrate with friends this weekend (and hope that our Saints win their first playoff game of the season!!). 

Thank you all for being a part of our journey this past year and thank you to those who have been around to be a part of this journey the last TWO years!  I hope I have many, many, many more "cancerversary" blogs to write over the years.

Happy 2014 to all of you!!

1 year Cancerversary!!

What is a "cancerversary"?  It means so many different things for so many different people.  Some people use it as the anniversary of hearing the words every warrior wants to hear "NO EVIDENCE OF DISEASE" (NED), some people use it as the anniversary of hearing the words no one wants to hear "You have cancer", some people use surgery dates, it is a little different for everyone.

Well, today is Steve's "CANCERVERSARY"!!  One year ago today, Steve had a fine needle biopsy that later confirmed metastatic melanoma.  Later it was confirmed even further that it was Stage IV melanoma.  Survival rates for Stage IV melanoma are grim.  Many reports state less than one year.  When Steve and I were told, we both sobbed.  How could this be?  Why?  This can't be happening?!  So many thoughts raced through our minds.

Over the last year, Steve has had a grueling round of biochemo which entailed him being hospitalized for a week every 3 weeks, a major surgery (and hospitalization) to remove his right adrenal gland and the adrenal tumor attached to it, he has taken Zelboraf (with horrible side effects), he was hospitalized with a very serious virus for 11 days, he had numerous blood transfusions, platelet transfusions, and most recently has started a new drug (Yervoy).  Today Steve went back into the office for the first time in several months.  How fitting that he was able to return to work on his 1 year "Cancerversary".

I am so proud of Steve.  He has had many ups and downs over the past year.  But, he is still here fighting.  The melanoma that he started with last year is the same melanoma he currently has (minus the adrenal gland).  We would have loved to have him NED, but everyone is different and you just have to find the right medication while beating the clock.  Steve's current medication is a 90 minute infusion every 3 weeks for 4 rounds.  Then 4 weeks after the last round he will have scans.  That is a total of FOUR months before we know if the current treatment is working or not.  That is a long time to wait.  But, like I try and remind Steve every day, he is fighting to live......so we are living!  We may not be living the same life we were a year ago, but we are living.

We still find the time and energy to celebrate holidays and birthdays with family.  We attended MD Andersons Moon Shots Announcement.  We still try and squeeze in some dinner dates with friends.  We were able to take the kiddos on a mini vacation this summer.  Steve and I were able to celebrate our 6th wedding anniversary in New Orleans and go to our first Saints game.  Steve and I have been to the casino's a few times during the last year.  We had poker at our house once over the last year.  We were able to take the kids looking at Christmas lights.  Sure, there is plenty we wanted to do but couldn't, but we are still living.  Steve is still fighting. 

In 3 1/2 months, if we find out that this current treatment is not working, we will move on to the next one.  I eat, sleep and breathe melanoma and have the next two treatments lined up if needed.  We are lucky that there is so much research and advancement going on in the melanoma world.  There is still a long, long, long way to go.  But, they are so much further along than even a couple of years ago.

Thank you to everyone who has been there for us over the past year, we sincerely appreciate EVERYTHING and EVERYONE!