362. The number of days between Patrick's cancer diagnosis and officially being able to use the word REMISSION. REMISSION BABY!!! What a year. He's done. No more chemo. No more meds. No more restrictions. No sign of cancer on his "end of treatment" PET scan. Clinical Trial success - 100%. THANK YOU to everyone who [...]
So. May was exactly that, M.A.Y.H.E.M. In fact, at one point Patrick actually looked like that guy in the Allstate Insurance commercials – the mayhem guy. Let me rewind and start at the beginning. Early May – Patrick and I went to H-town for cycle two of phase two. Everything was smooth except that it kinda wasn’t. After [...]
June 9, 2017 - I will send a "Patrick update" this weekend (he's doing well), but first... This is the hardest thing I've ever had to write --- On Thursday, June 1st, my dear and precious friend, Wendy Pollard, passed away peacefully with her husband Jim by her side. Please keep the family, especially their three [...]
Go ahead and get some coffee (or wine) and make yourself comfortable. I have a story to tell. Three actually. FRIENDS— On Tuesday, April 11th we went to MD Anderson for Patrick’s appointment with Dr. Wang to go over the results of his colonoscopy from the previous week. You remember. The 40 hour fast he [...]
Today is Monday, April 10th. The eight-month mark since Patrick’s diagnosis. On our way out of town for spring break in early March, Patrick received the fantastic news that his bone marrow is negative for Mantle Cell Lymphoma. Cheers and checkmarks!! One more test in the “done and passed” column. Not a bad way [...]
February 9, 2017 Has it really been six months since Patrick started treatment for Mantle Cell Lymphoma? Wow. That's so strange to me. Because on one hand, life goes on and time continues to race by at lightning speed. But on the other hand, I hardly remember what it was like "before cancer" and it feels [...]
Every year we add a new, symbolic ornament to our Christmas tree. A couple weeks ago, while getting sidetracked in the seasonal department at Target, my eye caught the ornament pictured above. Aaaah Target. You go in for paper towels and dog food, and you walk out with paper towels, dog food, a chenille throw, two photo albums, mascara and [...]
Hello all, It didn't rain this time!! It's a Christmas miracle. Our visit to MD Anderson this month brought very good results and no surprises. Patrick is continuing to improve and his lab work was excellent again. Some nodes are completely free of cancer, others are not quite 100% free, but they ARE continuing to shrink. So [...]
Maui, December 2010 Patrick, the girls and I went to Maui for the first time in December of 2010. Christmas week. Amazing. Left a piece of my soul there. Truly. One afternoon, the girls and I went down to the beach without Patrick. He went for a ride up Mt. Haleakala (the volcano) [...]
It’s been awhile since we’ve had anything new to tell. Patrick’s been enjoying not having treatments every week. He’s been diligent with his juicing regimen and is feeling strong. But the respite from the weekly road trips ended last Wednesday and we drove back down to Houston IN THE RAIN OF COURSE for a CT [...]
ANGIE BURKE 