Metastasis

I 've been thinking a lot about cancer metastasis and women with metastatic breast and recurrent ovarian cancer.

First, the definition of metastasis is

me·tas·ta·sis

   [muh-tas-tuh-sis] 

noun, plural me·tas·ta·ses  [-seez] 

1.

Pathology .

a.

the transference of disease-producing organisms or of

malignant or cancerous cells to other parts of the body 

by way of the blood or lymphatic vessels or membranous surfaces.

b.

the condition produced by this.

Source: dictionary.com

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month and October 13th is Metastatic Breast Cancer Awareness Day. Some women on twitter, facebook and in blogs  (http://womenwcancer.blogspot.com/, http://chemo-brain.blogspot.com/, http://www.tamiboehmer.com/) are upset with all those pink ribbons, pink products and walks and celebrations of survivors when there are women living with metastatic disease. Women with metastatic breast cancer seem to feel forgotten.

If caught early (Stage 0-II) the five year survival rate  for breast cancer is  74-93%. ( http://www.cancer.org/Cancer/BreastCancer/DetailedGuide/breast-cancer-survival-by-stage ) But some women are initially diagnosed with Stage IV disease where the disease has spread through the lymph system to other organs of the body and their five year survival rate is 15%. For other women their cancer returns a few years after diagnosis  and cancer cells are found in their lungs, liver,  bone or brain.  These women are living with the disease and will be in treatment for life. They are metastatic breast cancer survivors.

The number of women diagnosed with ovarian cancer each year is much less than the number  diagnosed with breast cancer  (  226,000 versus 25,000). Big difference.  The survival rates for stage III and stage IV ovarian cancer are 35% and 18% respectively. Not such a big difference with our late stage breast cancer sisters.  There is no screening test for ovarian cancer so  62% of all women diagnosed with the disease are diagnosed late stage.

Here is the thing, statistics show that 70-80% of women diagnosed with late stage ovarian cancer ( disease beyond the ovary)  will recur. Some women will have treatment ( surgery , chemotherapy, radiation) and go into  remission. Others never go into remission. These women  live with the disease as a chronic illness, they will be in treatment for life. I know a number of women who are living with the disease today trying new chemotherapies and entering clinical trials. And for the rest of us who have recurred once or twice well we worry when our next recurrence will occur. Not so different from our metastatic breast cancer sisters.

I urge breast and ovarian cancer researchers to talk more . Yes I know there are those who research  BRCA 1 & 2 mutations and recent studies with basal cell breast cancer (http://www.genengnews.com/gen-news-highlights/aggressive-breast-cancer-may-respond-to-ovarian-cancer-treatment/81247370/) . But there still may be a clue - a pathway, a gene , a protein as to why our cancer cells function as they do.

And to all those metastatic breast cancer survivors, your recurrent OC sisters are with you on the journey.

Dee
Every Day is a Blessing!




Sources :
http://mbcn.org/
http://www.webmd.com/breast-cancer/features/metastatic-breast-cancer-chronic-condition
http://ovariancancer.jhmi.edu/recurrentqa.cfm
http://www.ovariancancer.org/about-ovarian-cancer/statistics/

Making Memories

I love making memories. I am not talking about Kodak moments, special vacations or occasions. I feel that the time I have been given since my diagnosis is precious so making memories for me is simply  spending time with my family and friends.

When my daughter asked me to visit her in Kansas when her husband was busy traveling for work I jumped at the opportunity.  Did I have enough frequent flyer points to make a trip? Earlier this year, American Airlines applied extra points to my frequent flyer account after I experienced 2 delays (totally over 8 hours) in one day. That was a long day and I appreciate that AA gave me the points for my inconvenience. I checked my account and I was thrilled to see that  I had collected enough points over the past few years to book a flight. So off I went last week.

Spending time with my daughter and grandson was wonderful. On Saturday we went to a pumpkin patch outside of Topeka and then visited Wamego for OZfest. Wamego is the home of the Oz Museum. If you love the Wizard of Oz , both the movie and book, this is the place to visit.

The rest of the time we spent at home. That was not a problem for me because I was making memories with my grandson. He loved the rocking horse he got for his first birthday. It played two different tunes depending which ear you pushed. So he sat and rocked and I sang along."Ride'm Ride'm Cowboy....." 

He and I had fun playing with a drum and assorted musical instruments that his dad had when he was a child. He crawled around, stood up and took many steps while holding on to furniture and his pug dogs.  He loved pushing things around. Boxes of food, his box of toys, and  his John Deere rider toy, got pushed from one room to the next.   I was so happy that Terry's schedule required me to babysit on more than one occasion. I loved it.

One day I took my grandson for a long walk around the neighbor hood and saw these beautiful wild sunflowers.

I feel very blessed that I have had the time to make memories. 

Dee

Every Day is a Blessing!

A Short Break and the End of an Awareness Month

I am taking a short break from my Ovarian Cancer awareness month postings. I am visiting my daughter and her family and enjoying time playing with my grandson. Right now he is napping.

 Isn't he a cutie pie?

Anyway, fall is in the air and the end of Ovarian Cancer month is approaching. This year OC activities have increased throughout the country.There were teal toes,teal shoe laces, teal jewelry, teal buildings, teal walks,teal  dinners,teal  motorcycle rides. Many women were featured in news articles and research about the genetics of ovarian cancer was reported.Thank you to everyone who participated in any way this month to make women aware.

I'll be back in early October . I'll be doing a post on the connections between breast and ovarian cancer and it is not just BRCA.

Enjoy the rest of September.

Dee
Every Day is a Blessing!

OC Awareness #23 - GRACEful Hope, Passionate Advocates

Last night my husband and I had the pleasure of attending the 2nd Annual GRACEful Hope Benefit for Ovarian Cancer Research at the Sport Clube Portugues in Newark, NJ.  Over the past year or so I have followed and shared information on my Facebook page about GRACEful Hope events and was honored when they asked me to attend the Benefit and to tell my story.

Before I talk about the event let me give you some background into GRACEful Hope. The Rocha family lost their wife and mother Grace to ovarian cancer in 2008, while their daughter Erika fought her battle with the same disease. They formed GRACEful Hope in memory of Grace and in support of Erika in 2009 with family and friends coming together to enter walks as a team. In 2011, Erika passed away at the age of 20.  But the family did not stop their efforts, no they continue to raise awareness and funds for research they hope will one day lead to a cure.

I have been to many ovarian cancer events from teas to walks to galas. And I have told my story many times in different venues, on TV, in a room full of women, at a walk and press conference, but last night was different. As we entered the Sport Clube I felt welcomed, at home and part of a large extended family. The event included a large family meal complete with overflowing platters of Portuguese food. The food was absolutely delicious. There was music and dancing. It was a celebration of the lives of Erika and Grace and all that  GRACEful hope had accomplished in the past year. And it was an expression of hope. Hope that the funds raised for the Cancer Institute of NJ would get us closer to finding a cure.

I am always a bit nervous before giving a talk but I had practiced and I knew exactly what I wanted to say about my journey, being in a clinical trial at CINJ and the compassionate care Dr Rodriguez and Gibbon provide. So what happened next surprised me. As I talked about my clinical trial experience and the day I heard "There is no evidence of disease". The room cheered. And I had to pause and compose myself. I know my right hand which was holding the microphone was shaking but I continued talking about my recurrence. I talked about the surgery, treatment, the allergic reaction to carboplatin and how I heard "There is no evidence of disease" and the clapping began again. And I could feel my eyes starting to tear up. And I am sure my voice cracked as ended my speech with "I still have neuropathy in my toes, forget things because of chemo-brain , get anxious waiting for blood tests and scan results but the one thing I know for sure is that with my faith , my family and the doctors at CINJ I can face whatever lies ahead."

What an emotional experience for me. Maybe it was because it was the first time I was telling my story in front of my doctors ( who spoke right before me).Or maybe it was because my husband was in the room. Or I know it sounds corny maybe it was because people who I had never met before showed me so much love and gave me so much hope.

Dee
Every Day is a Blessing!

OC Awareness #21 - HIgh Grade Serous subtypes

The article

Profiles of genomic instability in high-grade serous ovarian cancer predict treatment outcome

appeared in a recent issue of Clinical Cancer Research. Researchers at Dana Farber using a process called single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) arrays were able to examine single units in the genetic code of tumor cells of high grade serous ovarian cancer ( HGSOC) . HGSOC cells have many genetic abnormalities including missing or extra chromosomes and  On examination the HGSOC fell into three groups based on abnormalities or loss of heterozygosity ( LOH). (Heterozygosity is having dissimilar pairs of genes.) One group had a high level of LOH and a loss of chromosome 13. The researchers found that patients in this group were slow to develop resistance to chemotherapy drugs and also were found to have the longest progression free survival.

A good review of the study can be found at
http://www.healthcanal.com/cancers/32333-Researchers-identify-three-subtypes-high-grade-serous-ovarian-cancer.html

Dee
Every Day is a Blessing!

OC Awareness #20- Estrogen during Menopause and OC

I receive weekly e-mails from OncologyStat which provides abstracts from oncology journals.

Today there was a summary of an article from the August 28, 2012 British Journal of Cancer ( log-in required for the full article)  titled

Ovarian cancer and menopausal hormone therapy in the NIH-AARP diet and health study

The study evaluated the use of estrogen by 92,601 post-menopausal women enrolled in the the National Institutes of Health -AARP Diet and Health Study and the incidence of ovarian cancer ( 426) . The Study concluded that long term  ( 10+ year) use of unopposed estorgen and oestrogen plus progestins was associated with increased risk of oarian cancer.


Dee
Every Day is a Blessing!

OC Awareness Month #19- This Friday Charmed and N.E.D -the band

I know I've mentioned many different events for ovarian cancer awareness month but here are two more unique ones happening this Friday in NJ. Like shopping and Vera Bradley or Brighton then visit Charmed by Claire's in Cranbury on Friday. Love music and dancing then head over to Englewood and hear N.E.D. play .

Charmed by Claire links with Teal Tea Foundation

Charmed by Claire : Location: 33 North Main Street, Cranbury, NJ 08512 

Date of event: Sep. 21st 2012 Time of event: 10:00 AM-8:00 PM

Charmed by Claire is donating 10% of purchases to the Teal Tea Foundation. Charmed by Claire offers a wide variety of jewelry, handbags, clothing, accessories and many more whimisical gifts. Some of the featured product lines include but are not limited to Brighton, Vera Bradley and PANDORA. Gift certificates are also available for the hard to shop for girl.

For more information check out the Charmed by Claire website.

For information about The Teal Tea Foundation visit http://www.tealtea.org/index

N.E.D - the Band 
N.E.D. No Evidence of Disease is a group of 6 GYN ONC's from across the USA who have formed a band, recorded all original music and played around the country to raise awareness and money for women's gyn cancers. They are releasing a documentary about the band and women's gyn cancers following personal stories also call NED. They are hosting a night out this friday 9/21 at 8P at Club 201 in Englewood NJ. It is 10 min. from the GW Bridge for any NY's. The cost has been lowered to $50 and includes an open bar, music and dancing, valet and screening of the documentary. They are amazing in their energy and passion for our cause. So if you are in the tristate area come out and meet your fellow survivors, bring your friends and support the band and women's gyn cancers. The # for tickets is 201 894 3725



Dee
Every Day is a Blessing!