Our story

In November 2022, Suzie went to the ER for what she thought was sciatica. After a CT scan, the doctor said, "We found a mass." It was stage IV kidney cancer.

Since then she's been on several treatments: cabozantinib, Opdivo, Fotivda, and now lenvatinib with everolimus. Each one brought something new. On the earlier medicines, she spent weeks in the hospital with colitis and gallbladder attacks. Each time, the answer turned out to be on the drug maker's website: known side effects, listed in the fine print. We just hadn't known to look.

Then came an 11-hour surgery to remove her right kidney, her adrenal gland, lymph nodes, spots on her liver, and the gallbladder that had put her in the hospital.

For a few months, the cancer was gone. Then new spots appeared on her liver. She went back on lenvatinib and everolimus. Within a few weeks, the skin on her feet began changing color, and one foot would feel much warmer or colder than the other. She saw a cardiologist several times. She had CT scans, MRIs and ultrasounds of her legs to look for a blockage. They found nothing.

So Suzie asked on social media whether anyone else had seen this. Several people answered: "I have."

That sent Tim digging. After three days, he found it buried in a published clinical study: color changes and temperature differences in the limbs had been reported as a side effect of her medication.

We took it to her oncologist, one of the most respected kidney cancer specialists in the country. It was new to him, too.

That told us something. Even the best doctors can't know every side effect patients report. There are too many drugs, too many reports and too little time in an appointment. And patients shouldn't need three days of research, or a lucky post on social media, to find out they're not alone.

Not long after, Tim said to Suzie, "I wish there was an app for that." That app became I Feel You.

It wasn't only cancer

At the same time, we were helping care for our parents. They're on different Medicare Advantage plans, and when one of them lands in a hospital outside their network, nobody there has their records. Keeping track of their medications, doctors and history fell to us, often from memory. That's another gap, and it's on our list.

Who we are

Tim and Suzie have been married since 2007. For the last few years, we've spent our time together in waiting rooms and hospital rooms, and in between.

Noted Care is what we're building from that time: apps for the gaps between appointments, each one started by something we needed ourselves.