Hawaii No Ka Oi!

Wow. Life is so good. Hawaii is just wonderful. If my husband were with me, I would just stay here the entire summer. I have spent TONS of time with my closest friend, Annie, and her birthday weekend gave me TONS of excuses to see her.

I got to go riding on my favorite horse Goldie and her parents' ranch. We also had a fabulous dinner at Macaroni Grill, which didn't exist yet when I was here in last. The Big Island is modernizing with more chain restaurants! Now if they would only bring Appleby's and the Golden Coral to the Big Island, my father would be in seventh heaven.

I have gotten more gutsy and have been feeling the lymph nodes on my neck. They are still there. I don't feel any change, which ticks me off a bit. I had been hoping that the Herceptin would just melt my tumor away, and it hasn't yet. Stupid cancer.

Nikita, my friend, asked a question in a comment relating do my track coach's experience in continuing getting the drug that was working for him even though he didn't qualify for the study anymore. He asked if there are any other ways of getting the drug for people who don't qualify anymore for a further phase of study.

My coach asked the organizers of the study if he could continue taking the drug, and the company said sure, but if for some reason Medicare would not cover the drug once it was up for approval, he had to sign a waiver saying he would pay cash for all the treatments he had received up to then. If course he couldn't stick his wife or himself with that kind of burden (tens of thousands of dollars, or maybe even hundreds), so he went to the VA. The VA agreed to pay to give it to him and pay for it. So he is getting the treatment, but you have to keep trying and keep asking. Don't give up if you are excluded from another phase of a study that was working for you.

I have gone to a naturopath in Kona. Considering that my cancer is such a challenge, and I have become more an more interested in how I eat affects the inner workings of my body, it seemed like the next logical step. Several family friends who have all had Stage IV cancer (lung, and colon) have SWORN by their naturopaths. So although Luis is fairly skeptical I have decided to start taking a massive amount of supplements. I am also exploring homeopathy. I have learned quite a lot, and it makes me very hopeful, and I will explain what I am taking and why in another post. Too much info, and I don't want to overwhelm my dear readers ;)