Dawn Marie

Patient and advocate for better diagnosis, treatment and quality of life for people living with neuroendocrine cancers.

Part Twelve: Where PRRT & Me part ways

In August, I went to see my specialist in Iowa City and was presented with terrible news. The lesions in my liver went to 5% tumor burden in January 2017 to 30% tumor burden in August 2017. PRRT was completely ineffective for me. (Or maybe it was effective and the results could have been worse.) But, my tumor activity was never this active prior to treatment. Doctor O’Dorisio told me

Part Eleven: In front of the eight ball

So, it’s been a ridiculously long time since I posted and for that, I am sorry. I meant to update in May as a one-year anniversary of my first round of treatment and I was still slogging through some side effects. If you remember from the last time, I posted about my third round of treatment being a doozy. It was, and maybe, still is. Let me explain. The double

Mindful Zebra: My Skin Is Telling Me What?

Hey, good looking, have you been noticing subtle changes with your skin? You might want to get your cute booty to the skin doctor ASAP. Patients living with neuroendocrine cancers including carcinoid are frequently familiar with two of the classic symptoms of the disease including flushing and diarrhea. Subtle, often unrecognized symptoms that are often associated with isolated benign diseases can sometimes run concurrent with patients living with neuroendocrine and carcinoid

Meditations for NET Cancer | Mindful Zebra

If there is one simple thing neuroendocrine cancer patients can do to bring more clarity and calmness to our daily lives is meditation. Even five minutes a day provides a number of health benefits including decreased depression, mood regulation, increased focus, pain alleviation, blood pressure reduction, decreased cellular inflammation, and increased compassion. That’s just to name a few! If you want to read about more of the benefits of meditation,

Part Ten: Round Three was a doozy

I left for Europe a week earlier this time to visit Munich with my sister and Oktoberfest. It was actually her first ever trip to Europe and even though I did round two by myself, it was nice to have the company. We really only had two and a half days in Munich, one day at the festival, one day at Dachau Concentration Camp and the first half day to