Usually when I bog I have some thoughts as to what I want to say. This time I am typing by the seat of my pants. I will probably be shorter than I should be since I am also cooking dinner, but the lap top was open, a rarity on our house, and I prefer to type on a real keyboard. So here goes....
I went for a PET scan in June and results came back positive for active cancer cells. My cancer is back and has now spread to my bones. Mostly in my pelvis. There are some spots in my chest, lung and ribs, etc. So I started chemo that day! I love that my doctors don't waste any time waiting around for it to sink in. I am on 2 chemos at once, one is an IV that I will get once a month. The other are pills that I take for 14 days straight and then am off for 7 days. I will also be starting radiation this week. It took a little longer for radiation to get started.Because your hips hold you up, I had to get some X-Rays to see if there was enough bone left to keep me from collapsing on myself. If my bones were too weak, a surgery would be needed to pin me together. After meeting with the doctor and reviewing the X-rays, we decided not to have the surgery. The surgery to prevent the crushing pelvis is the same as it is to repair the pelvis. So in hopes of saving me some pain, a surgery, and because I am already treating the cancer, it is a better risk to hope that nothing breaks.
I will start updating my blog as I get more results, and have anything funny or newsworthy to share. I don't really have too many thoughts on it right now, maybe I'm just used to it, or maybe since the last recurrence was so devastating this one isn't so bad. At least I can breathe this time! My side effects have been keeping me busy. The pain from the cancer alone is pretty bad, and fairly constant. The IV chemo makes me sick with fever and vomiting for a while after treatment, but the pills, so far, aren't as bad. Unlike the other chemos I have been on in the past, the IV one will not get worse as it goes. The other positive news is that neither chemo causes hair loss and my MRI, brain, was clear. Radiation will cause fatigue and some skin irritation, but that should take a few treatments before those start causing me any discomfort.
Of course my family and friends are amazing, as always! My cousin Sarah and her family made us some delicious food! My guys were so grateful, me too! Food has been pretty low on my list and there have been many days that I forget or just can't make dinner so the help has been amazing! Having been on chemo before, mouth sores are something that I am working on now to avoid and my mom bought me a case of my favorite oncology mouthwash. Thanks Mom!
That's all I have to share right now, I will update more soon. Thanks in advance for the prayers, and for reading!
12 years ago
