My MaverickWomans Cancer Journey

[Maverickman74]

You all know me as the Maverickman. Some of you may even know the my wife is a 5 year survivor of stage 3 breast cancer. A couple years of chemo, 4 surgeries, and 5 years of hormone therapy and she was feeling pretty good about things.

Unfortunately this spring she started having nausea problems, after a lot of back and forth about medication symptoms, she finally got scans this summer. It turns out she is diagnosed with Cholangiacarcinoma. It is a rare build duct cancer. It is aggressive and does not have good life expectancy. However there is plenty of treatment options and when they work they work well and people get many happy years with good quality of life.

So 6 days after her diagnosis we are sitting here in the chemo chair getting life saving treatment. I'm not a religious man but if y'all have any gods or other methods please send her your best hopes. We are getting a standard chemo treatment for this disease as well as the "as seen on tv" miracle drug Keytruda for immunotherapy. The life expectancy curve is going up for this disease. Current government programs such as the "Cancer Moonshot" are helping to find ways to keep people alive and well so they can keep giving their personal gifts to this society.

As a reminder our medical system in Hawaii is tragically understaffed and underfunded, as are many medical systems around the country and world.

Please encourage anyone and everyone to get involved in medicine or donate to help us all help ourselves. We are all in this fight and we will all need help in this life at some point or another.

For me this post is a therapy, but it is also a message of hope. Hope that we will cure this disease in our lifetime and that my wife will live a long and happy life.

Also wanted to shout out to Granger Ford. We remember Albert he was the first one I talked to about buy a new Ford.

Thank you all.

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[Meintc]

I sent my prayer for you and your wife and family. It's a tough road. I lost my spouse in 2020 from a very aggressive leukemia. I understand what you are going through.

 

[fossil]

Sorry to hear Shane, I lost my wife to pancreatic 2 years back. Stay Strong.

 

[Hunters Edge]

Prayer sent. Best wishes for your wife's prognosis and/or illness.

 

[Maverickman74]

Thank you all very much. She is on the last chemo bag today in the Kaiser clinic in Wailuku Maui. I went and picked her up some lunch and immediately after she ate, she went right to sleep. She is so strong, one of the drugs burns as it goes in. And the nurse said some people scream as it flows in. She said her pain was a 5 but it was probably a honest 7. She's just that tough. Even after these years a month ago she was roofing! I can't even imagine a life without her. I owe her literally everything for making our life what it is today. 12 more min of chemo now and her first treatment is done.

Cholangiacarcinoma is a rare disease and occurrences are rising. If anyone feels interested in knowing more about it. Just search Cholangiacarcinoma Foundation. It was started back in 07 by a victims family. It's now an amazing wealth of research, information, funding, and hope for this rare cancer. As I finish this post it looks like she is stirring awake. A lil smile, then out again. I love this amazing woman so much!

 

[Maverickman74]

Sorry to hear Shane, I lost my wife to pancreatic 2 years back. Stay Strong.

I sent my prayer for you and your wife and family. It's a tough road. I lost my spouse in 2020 from a very aggressive leukemia. I understand what you are going through.

Im so sorry. These diseases are just not fair. I don't understand why they take the best of us.

 

[IHateSpeedbumps]

As someone dealing with stage IV cancer myself, I am here if you need someone to talk too. Just message me.

 

[Maverickman74]

As someone dealing with stage IV cancer myself, I am here if you need someone to talk too. Just message me.

Thankyou, I had a hard time trying to decide whether to "like" or "sad face" your reply. Im very sorry you are dealing with that. We didnt get exact staging on ours yet but it is likely stage 3 meaning it is contained to the liver at this point. Her breast cancer was also stage 3. That was effectively curable. With this though even a stage 2 has very low 2 year survival rates. I hope we are in the lucky few, as I hope that your condition is able to be controlled. I went through this with my mother as a child for 9 years she survived. But it toughened me up for the challenge I faced with my wife 20 years after my mom passed.

This feels just so wrong given its an entirely different cancer and she survived the other so well. I promise to reach out if i feel i need to talk. I do want to extend the offer both ways. If you or anyone else on this forum feels the need, the only real good anyone can do in this world is help each other. My message box is always open.

I do love this community we have here.

 

[IHateSpeedbumps]

Thankyou, I had a hard time trying to decide whether to "like" or "sad face" your reply. Im very sorry you are dealing with that. We didnt get exact staging on ours yet but it is likely stage 3 meaning it is contained to the liver at this point. Her breast cancer was also stage 3. That was effectively curable. With this though even a stage 2 has very low 2 year survival rates. I hope we are in the lucky few, as I hope that your condition is able to be controlled. I went through this with my mother as a child for 9 years she survived. But it toughened me up for the challenge I faced with my wife 20 years after my mom passed.

This feels just so wrong given its an entirely different cancer and she survived the other so well. I promise to reach out if i feel i need to talk. I do want to extend the offer both ways. If you or anyone else on this forum feels the need, the only real good anyone can do in this world is help each other. My message box is always open.

I do love this community we have here.

Thank you.
I was completely unaware of my cancer till I basically died. I went in to the ER thinking I had a bowel obstruction and ended up with 7 units of blood by the next morning. My liver was failing and most of the oncologist wanted to send me to hospice. But one of them decided to give me a chance and I have been fighting for a little over a year now. My 5 year out look is good but after that it drops quickly.

My biggest regret was not paying attention to my health. Looking back there were warning signs but I was young and dumb.

If you suspect anything, see a doctor.

 

[Maverickman74]

Thank you.
I was completely unaware of my cancer till I basically died. I went in to the ER thinking I had a bowel obstruction and ended up with 7 units of blood by the next morning. My liver was failing and most of the oncologist wanted to send me to hospice. But one of them decided to give me a chance and I have been fighting for a little over a year now. My 5 year out look is good but after that it drops quickly.

My biggest regret was not paying attention to my health. Looking back there were warning signs but I was young and dumb.

If you suspect anything, see a doctor.

Man that has to be rough. Speaking of rough my wife now hates speed bumps, even in our Tremor we have to slow wayyy down or it jostles her liver. It doesnt help that we live offroad either. We slipped though the cracks for months aswell. For the last 5-6 months she has gone from nausea part of the day to full time to vomiting every morning. She went in every month for hormone shots but every time she spoke of it everyone assumed it was a side effect not a separate issue. We should have pushed harder. But here we are. The liver is an amazing organ(that i never even thought about until 3 weeks ago), the name of the game with cholangiacarcinoma is getting tumors stable or shrinking them to the point of resection. Ours is currently inoperable atleast it is in Hawaii. But if the chemo works and we can get it to retract back into the left lobe we have a chance of lower risk resection. She took the treatment well today, we are so thankful that she had a biomarker gene that can be targeted. That is our shot at long term survival.

We knew progression was always a chance before, but this has just changed our every thought and move about the future is with a huge asterisk. We were so used to planning for the future. We are builders, expanding our home, developing our farm, now we question everything on quality of life. Im sure you deal with similar struggles. Im happy you had the will to join a community like this and keep thinking forward. I hope one of these billionaires starts throwing money at research to halt or cure these conditions that plague far too many.

 

[cclark]

While we can enjoy, talk, show off, and debate things about our Mavericks, it's the things that you and your wife are going through that puts life into perspective. Though we may not know each other, THANK YOU for using this forum as a way to express your feelings during this difficult time.

You couldn't have said it any better with your words:
"We are all in this fight and we will all need help in this life at some point or another."

From my family to yours, our thoughts, prayers, and continued strength going forward.

 

[MM Mav]

@Maverickman74 oh man I am so sorry to hear you and Josi are having to wrestle cancer again.
I pray treatment is successful in shrinking her tumor to allow for a resection.
I'll be keeping you all close in thought and prayer.
Hugs friend!

 

[Maverickman74]

While we can enjoy, talk, show off, and debate things about our Mavericks, it's the things that you and your wife are going through that puts life into perspective. Though we may not know each other, THANK YOU for using this forum as a way to express your feelings during this difficult time.

You couldn't have said it any better with your words:
"We are all in this fight and we will all need help in this life at some point or another."

From my family to yours, our thoughts, prayers, and continued strength going forward.

@Maverickman74 oh man I am so sorry to hear you and Josi are having to wrestle cancer again.
I pray treatment is successful in shrinking her tumor to allow for a resection.
I'll be keeping you all close in thought and prayer.
Hugs friend!

Thank you very much. We are hoping for a miracle. But we know that the love and joy we share and spread together will make everything alright in the end.

The good news at the moment is that the infusions went well, she feels a little hungover but her nausea is better than it has been in months. The medications she received along with chemo are the main reason for that, but I want to believe that the therapy is already easing the growth rate and perhaps starting to draw that tumor down. With her breast cancer, initially her lymph nodes appeared to have tumors in them. After 6 months of chemo they took them out and found no cancer in them. That makes me think that she responds well to treatment. If that is the case, hopefully we can keep her around long enough for a " cure".

Yesterday she was still feeling well, just very sleepy, possibly some neuropathy starting and a little shaky getting around. I think tomorrow and Monday will be the days to tell for sure if she is turning around on this nausea symptom. By then the 3 day anti nausea drug will be out of her system. Time will tell.

I do want to thank everyone for their kind words. With this type of thing we do have to focus on the important things and I am always doing research and looking for options. However this community is a good distraction, when I need to focus on something else. Thank you all for being here and making this a fun place to interact with fellow car enthusiasts.

I also want to say that our Tremor has been great for Josi. The AC is icy, the seats are comfy, it can fit all 3 nieces and nephew, plus the dogs can keep their stink in the bed of or ride up front to give her kisses when she needs em.

 

[Maverickman74]

I haven't updated this much lately folks. It's been a whirlwind of a month. Learning about this disease, navigating treatments, healthcare, applying for disability, working extra hours at Twin Falls in the tractor to keep up with everything. It's been a big month and I am just getting used to our new routines.

So far Josi has had 3 chemo therapy treatments. 2 of which have been immunotherapy with Keytruda, which is the big game changing one. Our oncologist is feeling good about her overall so far and hopefully that that is from a response to the treatment. We are hopeful to just prevent progression and eventually kill the tumor. So far so good.

Today she is currently in the clinic for a port installation to make delivery of the chemo therapy less painful. One of them actually burns as it goes in. After today it will be a lot easier. This is kinda like finally hooking up Forscan and doing things the easy way. Now we can enable Cure mode. It activates the TCS(tumor control system) and the IRM( immune response module).

I just wanted to let y'all know we are doing well and getting by so far. This community always helps me keep my spirits high.

 

[OldNavyGuy]

Shane, Prayers inbound!

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