My schedule is a little off this week so I apologize for hopefully not writing a completely random post. I was supposed to have chemo Thursday, May 10th, but I had a girls staycation planned for May 11th-14th. I WAS NOT GOING TO MISS IT. I’ve missed a couple of trips already so this one needed to happen.
Pushed chemo back and had my 14th treatment Tuesday, May 15th. I am feeling good. The only side effect I am feeling at the moment is fatigued. I’ve been sleeping well at night. That has changed. The last couple treatments, I’ve noticed falling asleep and staying asleep has been difficult. My mind would not shut off, but my body sure felt exhausted. My appetite comes and goes. It is hard to figure out what I want to eat. But, if someone asks if I want ice-cream…no hesitations there! 😉 I was feeling good today. I got out of the house (two days post chemo) and went to a nursery to walk around for a while and find some neat plants for the garden. I’ve had a couple of stomach aches, but luckily nothing needing to come up. And oh boy, my mood swings. I’m kind of embarrassed to talk about this, but I did say from the start that I would share it all (for the most part…Lol) But, yes I can get moody and I feel so bad when I do. My brother has been such a trooper. Hahaha I’m not saying my mood swings are horrible, but when you cannot control them, it can be a big deal. I try the best I can to control it, but sometimes you just can’t. #cancersucks
The CT scan I mention in my last post, I wanted to take some time to talk about it. I did post something on Instagram about the phone call I received from my doctor. We had a follow-up apt with my doctor two days later. Word of advice, always have a follow-up apt with your doctor face to face to discuss. That face to face meeting made way more sense than what I thought I heard on the phone. My tumors are NOT actually growing. Two have remained the same and one has slightly decreased in size. Woohoo! My tumor marker has stayed around 15 for sometime now. So it hasn’t gone up, which is what I like to see. Of course decreasing that number would be ideal. The tumor that has decreased in size has a weird fluid like sack attacked to it. That sack is measuring 9.5cm. It is weird and strange. The sack is clear so my doctor isn’t concerns at the moment. If the fluid looked more like a marble look where you cannot really see through it, we would have a problem. That would trigger the sack is another tumor or the previous tumor is growing.
Let’s talk about this girls staycation! First off, this was much-needed for me. Being with some of your close girlfriends make a world of a difference. I really do cherish the relationships I have and I feel very blessed to have such an incredible support team. Plus, I love that it keeps growing. More the merrier!!! We stayed at a resort on Bainbridge Island, WA. It was so relaxing! Went to the spa and got a facial, ate yummy food (I had a decent appetite), walked around a cute town, shopped, but also did a lot of relaxing. We took a boat out both Sunday and Monday thanks to my friend’s connections. 😉 That weekend was exactly what I needed. Plus, I met some pretty cool people.
On top of that, my friends and I met this really cool guy who has his own shop on Bainbridge. It is a cool funky store and he makes/sells his own candles. Well, long story short I shared my story with him. He gave me the biggest hug and I cried. He went next door to a wine tasting room and came back with a bottle of wine for me. He also gave me one of his candles. On top of all that, he treated me to ice-cream. I was blown away. My heart-felt so good not just because my story clearly touched him, but his kindness was unbelievable. There are good people out there!
Next chemo is May 31st. I will follow-up with a CT after to see what this fluid sack is doing. If nothing changes, I will remain on the chemo I am on. If this chemo isn’t working, we will than explore clinical trials and immunotherapy. I also went in this week to get genetic testing done and the results should be back in 2-3 weeks. I am very curious to see what comes back from that.
Thank you all for reading this and for all your support!
#BeBrave
xoxo,
Audrey
Auggie's Bloggie 