"If you had a blog no one would believe your story"

At the end of my last "update " I was deciding whether or not to continue on with some extra chemo. The last things I mentioned were " we have one more visit with my oncologist and that our decision to keep going could all change". Well, that is exactly what happened!

At the end of April my scans looked perfect and my tumor markers all returned to normal by the end of May...which was great! My oncologist felt it was time to stop chemo and give my body a break. We were leery about this but as I have mentioned before, we put a lot of prayer, trust and research  into these decisions. So, chemo ended on May 13!

We began the next step to help prevent another recurrence with bi-weekly Faslodex injections. My dosage has been doubled and the side effects have been a bit rough. Not so sure about that "break" on my body.

So, fast forward to now. I recently had another PET scan and unfortunately it does show more " activity" in my chest and abdomen. However, my tumor markers remain in normal ranges. So what now ?

In two weeks I have more markers tested. If they are beginning to rise again it looks like I am back in chemo :( If not, I am not exactly sure where we go from here. This is the short version of what has been going on for the past three months and what our next steps are.

There have also been wonderful things happening that I can't wait to share with you.
~ June, my husband and I celebrated our 29th anniversary with a get away to a cabin in Oklahoma!

~ July, our family and friends ( 15 of us) all took a trip to Jamaica to celebrate my oldest sons wedding (which was two years ago :) A wonderful trip!! Couldn't have been better!

~ July, I celebrated my 49th birthday with my family,  and had a watermelon cake!!  A professional massage and  jet skiing  ended the day with my hubby.

~August, I can't believe we are already ending summer! As I write this it is close to 100 degrees outside in the shade at 6:15 pm.
I usually spend my summers teaching swim lessons and this year I was unable to teach at all. However, yesterday I began lessons with one special little boy, my grandson who is now almost two and the best medicine I have!

~ August, My first "Haircut" ! finally had enough hair to give it a little trimming and shaping!
~ and a  visit from my out of town friend last week was great!

So, what's with the title? When  we saw my oncologist a few weeks ago we talked about all the medical stuff but also about our trip to Jamaica and other things we have been up to like jet skiing. I told him we went horseback riding in Jamaica. First we rode in the mountains, then in the ocean, bareback and up to the horses neck in the water! Amazing!
 We also sailed on a catamaran nearly everyday which my husband became known as "Sailor Mon" or "captain" at the resort.
My doctor said "you know if you had a blog no one would believe the things you do ( stage 4 mets ). I laughed and said, " well, I do have a blog and I think they believe me :)
Sorry for not updating sooner everyone, those good days mentioned above have been more of the rare days than the norm.

We are still very much waiting in prayer and taking life one day at a time.