While Flying – Frustration surrounds Me

For starters I was on a flight for a happy family event. The day started great. I got a lot of work done on our official Advocates for Breast Cancer website. I got to the airport at the right time even though LAX was so crowded because there’s a problem with the TSA and there’s long lines and less TSA agents to help move the lines faster.

I was a little mad at myself because I was lazy and went through the machine that I have been told by a radiation oncologist (whom I have great respect for) I should probably skip and not expose myself to the radiation. It just seemed faster. I started in an airport lounge with my computer figuring I’d work a little more on my Breast Cancer News at: http://www.scoop.it/t/breast-cancer-news and my Breast Cancer Advocacy stories at: http://www.scoop.it/t/breast-cancer-advocay. Sounds simple enough.

I searched the internet for abstracts and news stories about breast cancer and found what I hoped would make a difference with advocacy for breast cancer (and other cancers). I even discovered I spelled advocacy wrong today. Certainly I’m human and can make a spelling mistake. I sent out all of my good wishes to my fearless friends and organizations on Twitter trying to make pretty graphics while I sent energy to all of these incredible people who I have met either personally or through social media. So it seemed like it was time to get ready to enjoy a special family weekend.

I plugged my computer in and I saw a note from AnneMarie to look at Jody’s blog. I already suspected it’s bad news. Jody Schroger is one of our great moderators every Monday night at 6pm PST for #BCSM (breast cancer social media). It’s very bad. After years of NED (no evidence of disease), Jody has joined the 30% of breast cancer thrivers that has metastatic breast cancer (MBC).

And Jody. Why? She is a fantastic person who runs our #bcsm (breast cancer social media community) meetings with Alicia Stales and Dr. Deanna Attai. Why her? Welcome to the world of breast cancer. It’s all bad luck. Whoever gets Stage IV it has nothing to do with them not taking care of themselves or what stage they started with the disease.

I keep thinking everyone knows that I have talked about the statistic that about 30% of early stage breast cancer patients will go on to become metastatic. That’s Stage IV. Early stage breast cancer is what I had when I did chemo, radiation, and had a recurrence a year and half later. Stage IV means that the breast cancer has managed to travel from the breast to other body parts. With breast cancer it’s usually the bones, brains, liver, or lungs. Stage IV is a chronic disease. It is not curable, but can be contained. It depends on many factors how long it can be “contained”. Usually certain pathologies help because there are more targeted therapies that can work on keeping the cancer at bay. For those that don’t understand Stage IV breast cancer is breast cancer that has traveled to another body part. Let’s say it goes to the bones. It’s not bone cancer but still breast cancer that has metastasized to another body part.

I am angry. This disease is like dominoes. This disease is so cruel. I watch as friends that I care about get the bad news. The reason I did the chemo-hoping no bad cells could hide from all the nasty toxic chemo that I did because my breast cancer made it in to my lymph nodes giving it a chance to enter my blood stream. We never know if some cells hid out and they are just waiting to say- GOT YA.

OK here’s the Stage IV lesson. They have drug regimens that patients go through that can keep the cancer at bay for some time and then the cancer finds a way to outsmart the therapy. So the MBC patient moves on to the next drug. The trick is to try to find regimens with quality of life for as long as you can until the cancer outsmarts the drug. Then it’s time for nerve-racking scans to see if the drug is working. If the medications are working it’s great. The patient stays the course. Eventually though comes the scan that shows the cancer is growing and trying to get to more body parts. Many MBC patients can live a very long time especially with certain pathologies that lend itself to drug therapies that can help contain the disease. Today’s MBC patient can even have a chance of seeing NED (no evidence of disease). But the cancer still comes back and outsmarts the treatment. I respect everyone who has metastatic disease because they have to live knowing they are on a slope that eventually their disease will no longer respond to the drugs we have available today.

At the same time I want to be clear that today’s MBC patient is quite alive and can have a long quality of life.

At the beginning when diagnosed there is so much shock to the body and mind. I have watched my best friend Li Bailey go through the process quicker than others because unfortunately (bad luck) she had a pathology that today we have less medications to fight it with.

This is just not fair.

So why am I so frustrated? I am running a non-profit that aligns itself with breast cancer organizations that are working to help breast cancer patients. After learning that Komen’s  junk campaigns were based on lies like telling women if they got mammograms they had a 98% chance of beating breast cancer. This is so not true. Komen also raised the most money of any breast cancer organizations. There was a great article in the New York Times, written by journalist Peggey Orestein that I scooped today called “Our Feel-Good War on Breast Cancer,” I published the article in my last blog. Meanwhile Katherine O’Brien of the Secretary of the MBCN (Metastatic Breast Cancer Network) wrote a great summary, overview and response to the article called Our Feel-Good War on Breast Cancer: MBCN Responds. In her response to Komen’s use of funds towards metastatic research, she writes, “ According to a Fortune magazine analysis, only an estimated .5 percent of all National Cancer Institute grants since 1972 focus on metastasis; out of more than $2.2 billion dollars raised over the last six years, Komen has dedicated $79 million to such research — a lot of money, to be sure, but a mere 3.6 percent of its total budget during that period.”

There has been a a lot of backlash against Komen and as some of you understand the overselling of pink culture I don’t have to explain the issue. I hope that you had time to read these articles. They are so well written.

I think there is another problem with Komen. I think the biggest backlash against them is that they became arrogant. People called them out for having pink parades that did not include the metastatic community because they didn’t want sick people marching in their parades, since it didn’t give you that warm fuzzy feeling of survivors raising their pink pom poms because they survived the disease. Komen thumbed their nose at the metastatic community.

I have to fight for the mets community. I can’t help it. People are dying around me. I don’t like that. People are doing all sorts of difficult medical regimens to stay alive. I have to open my big mouth and do all I can.

I promise you I won’t stop until MBC is a disease that can be reversed or people can live with Quality of life. I will continue to see that we don’t continue having corporations making known toxins that cause breast cancer.

One positive thing that happened is when the #BCSM Community group met we all rallied around Jody. Ironically I was flying back from the weekend on Monday night and joined the meeting on a flight that had wifi. At first I was confused if the timing would work. Then I realized as long as I started the meeting at the right time, the hour would be the same no matter if I flew in to a different time zone. So many of us were frustrated, angry and wanted Jody to know we have her back. This community means so much to me and I am grateful that at least we can come together during the good and bad times.

I have a lot more to say about all of this. For now I am going to publish this first part and continue talking about some other things that have added to my frustration. Stay tuned.