Sara Walker, reporting live from her home pharmacy. Taking a break from taking drugs to update you on the latest with me.

As you know, I went to Vanderbilt last Wednesday for another opinion and to get initial information on their clinical trial process.

I met with Dr. Berlin, who thankfully seemed to be in a really good, lighthearted mood. We had a very pleasant conversation/exam. He, being the 3rd oncologist I have seen with this skin rash, had yet a 3rd opinion on the best drugs to take to treat the rash. So – to date I think I have had 7 different prescriptions to treat this rash. I have taken a course of doxycycline, a medrol dose pack, and a course of bactrim, with another prescription for minocycline to use in the future. That is in addition to the various prescription creams used to treat it. It has taken nearly all my concentration to take these meds correctly.
Dr. Berlin was of the opinion that it was too early to throw out the vectibix option. He noted that having the skin reaction does raise my odds that the cancer is positively responding to the drug; and it has proven to be a very effective drug in the past. He feels that if I can take the minocycline DURING the course of vectibix administration, I can possibly prevent such a severe reaction from occurring again. He thought it would be worth it to try at least one more round of vectibix and then have a scan to see what it’s doing.
This made sense to me. As much as I don’t want to have to continue dealing with skin reactions, I do want to at least have a clear picture as to if it is helping or not before just tossing it out the window.
So at this point, I have been finishing up the course of bactrim, and will return to see Dr. Penley on Thursday of this week. (I was scheduled to see him last week but cancelled since I was just starting the bactrim and wanted to give it a chance to work.) Assuming he is on board with Dr. Berlin’s opinion, I will hopefully be having another vectibix treatment (perhaps at a lower dosage) next week.
In the meantime, Sarah Cannon and Vandy are each testing my biopsy tissue for other mutations to help guide the clinical trial placement choices.

As to how I am feeling these days, it is highly variable day to day. I have unfortunately been having more bad hours than good hours – having to take pain pills much more often, spending a significant amount of time in bed/on the couch because that is the least painful position. That said, I have been able to go and do the few things that I had hoped to do outside my home – going to see “Wicked” with Dinah and Stephanie, going to see a movie with Molly, Kelly and Vanessa, going to church to participate in the 25 hours of prayer, going to worship services yesterday morning, etc. I have also been able to “entertain” (if you can call it that at all) dear friends in my home and spend some wonderful time catching up with new and old friends here at home.

God continues to get me through one day at a time. And He is using so many of you as His hands and feet.

Finally, I have promised my friends I will mention another special event that is being held to help our family financially. Tomorrow afternoon, Tuesday Nov. 8th, from 2-6 pm at Lipscomb University, several vendors are having an event called “Shopping for Sara.”
The following is copied from Facebook:

SHOP FOR SARA TOMORROW

Location: Lobby of Hughes Art and Engineering Building on the Lipscomb University Campus

Come do your holiday shopping and benefit our sweet Sara Pigg Walker!

Vendors include: Stella & Dot, Thirty-One, Usborne Books, Itty Bitty Children’s Boutique, Ye Peddler, Ramona & Company, and Kelly’s Kids!

SILENT AUCTION items include: Tiera Betts photography session, Live music for your holiday party from musician Erin Sparks, celebrity styling session from Stella & Dot, All-Inclusive trunk show from Stella & Dot, autographed Tim Tebow football, 2011 World Series baseball, Christmas painting from Emily Wiles Nielsen, SNAP fitness gym membership (2), Vera Bradley travel set, Petunia Picklebottom diaper bag, TOMS gift card, nutrition consultation from Healthy Beginnings LLC, and more from Anthropology, Brentwood Interiors, Usborne, Thirty-one and MORE!

The more the merrier, so bring some friends! Yummy refreshments too! The Hughes building is the new building behind Mcfarland and Crimson. Additional parking available at Stokes across the street.

Proceeds will go to Sara Walker’s family.

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We are a most blessed family.

I leave you with a favorite Beth Moore quote that summarizes many of my thoughts these days:

“The biggest reason why I can trust in the sovereignty of God is because I am so utterly convinced in the sweetness (goodness/love) of God.”

One day at a time. It really is the best way to live…

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