Making a Way in the Wilderness

With apologies to Alanis Morissette... Today marks 4 years on Tagrisso, my magic little pill. I owe this pill my life and my markedly improved lung function. My lungs still aren’t normal – there is a lot of scarring, and I have to use a portable O2 concentrator when I fly. But I can now walk up hills, climb stairs, lift, bike, and hike without feeling short of breath. Four years ago today in Prof. Dr. Reck’s office at the LungenClinic, we received the joyous news that I was a candidate for targeted therapy. It felt like winning the lottery because I could avoid chemo and have much better chances of managing the cancer. Genetic analysis showed I had the EGFR (epidermal growth factor receptor) mutation, and that there was a drug to target this mutation and stop the cells from reproducing. I also have the TP53 mutation, but there is no drug that targets it. Tagrisso (osimertinib) was invented by AstraZeneca researchers in 2009 and approved by the FDA in 2015. It and other targeted therapi...

Sunday, June 14 marked 4 years since I was diagnosed with lung cancer while living in Hamburg. Those of you who have followed my journey from the start know that my family and I went to hell and back several times during those first six months. Here I am before, during, and after. The photo below was the last taken before my life unraveled. I went on a photography outing with the American Women's Club of Hamburg. When my doctor said my x-ray showed "infiltration" and I should get a CT scan, I put it off for a day so I wouldn't miss this event. That's how unconcerned I was. The possibility of cancer never crossed my mind, despite my severe shortness of breath. This was my hospital room at the LungenClinic, where I learned my shocking diagnosis. I was sitting at the little table with the doctors and Leland was on Zoom. Leland had to travel to the hospital by train (an hour-plus trip) before we could process the news together, shellshocked. This photo shows me in the...