Home from the cruise

This photo was taken of Gord and I by our lovely neighbours (Vince and Anita) in the next door stateroom on our cruise. The photo is of Gord and I on our balcony, we were waiting to go ashore on St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands.

We had a great time on our cruise, despite that fact that we had a few days of poor weather and also a couple of very rough sea days.... even so, the ship was beautiful, the islands too, it was relaxing and re-energizing all at once. We visited Puerto Rico, Antigua, St. Thomas and Bahamas..... turns out we LOVE cruising as a vacation and I only wish we had another one booked to look forward to!

I am feeling very well, I had no real restrictions (apart from getting extra sleep), and I enjoyed the entire vacation.

Medically, a bit of news... I finally have a Saskatchewan oncologist, and will see him January 19. The CT scans were unfortunately dissappointing, as I was hoping for further shrinkage of the tumors, but this did not happen. However, there are no new spots, and it is hard to tell if I am stable, based on the last CT scan. So, the plan is to rescan in 8-12 weeks (I chose 8) and that will tell us what we need to do next. So, I am still on "chemo-vacation" over Christmas, and I am VERY grateful for that.

Cheers to everyone...... Joanne

New York, New York

This photo is of Gord and me on the "Lady Liberty" harbour cruise, just as it passed in front of the Statue of Liberty.

We had a fantastic time in NYC.... more details to follow. We were there for two nights and one full day (two partial days) and we made the most of it. We toured all over Manhattan, saw "Wicked" and the "Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular". The city is amazing anyway, but to see all of the Christmas decorations was really a splendid experience.

My appointment at Memorial Sloan Kettering was also really good. It was a very thorough case review and they were very compassionate, honest and very thorough. I left convinced that I have been on good treatment paths in every instance along my journey with breast cancer. And, I also got some good advice for next steps as I continue to manage the disease. I already knew that I have an aggressive cancer "triple negative" for hormone and oncogene receptors, and so the only tx options are chemo. However, they reminded me that there are many chemo options and we discussed these (as I have with my oncologist here in Canada). And reviewed any possible experimental options (none where I live at the moment, unfortunately)

Thanks to my cousin Sean, who helped me get connected with one of the most respected breast oncologists in the USA... I am very grateful to have had the opportunity, even to meet and discuss my case with this well known, and well published physician.

I had a CT scan on Monday, just before leaving for New York. The NY docs had a quick look at the summary, but it needs interpretation by my oncologist, will get to that after next week... because.......

Tomorrow, Gord and I leave on the vacation we had previously planned - a Carribean cruise. So will provide another update when we return.

Cheers all...........