Half way there!

 With the worst of this round of chemo behind me, I feel like I can proclaim that I’m halfway done. Three down and three to go. Thankfully, this round felt pretty uneventful. If anything I’m learning how to manage my side effects a little better and figuring out what foods still taste good. I’m also so thankful that we’ve been having a mild winter. It’s been good for the whole family. The kids have been playing outside in the snow and I’ve walked laps around our neighborhood with friends and neighbors. We even got a weekend away at a friend’s cabin to enjoy family time and a much needed change of scene. I’m trying to soak up the good moments while I’m feeling good, and I’m already dreaming of what this summer will hold. Hopefully, summer will be filled with lots of sunny warm days and the end of active treatment for me.

Monday January 18th, I’ll be going in for my fourth chemo infusion. I have a few extra appointments scheduled during this round, and I’m looking forward to getting more information and insight. I have a PET scan and echocardiogram on January 28th. The purpose of the echocardiogram is to check my heart function to make sure the chemo isn’t causing damage to my heart. Because I haven’t had any major side effects and my bloodwork has been good I’m assuming that my heart is doing well. It will be good to have confirmation of that assumption. The PET scan will show how much the cancer has shrunk after four rounds of chemo. My oncologist seems optimistic that it’s possible the chemo could be so effective that the cancer undetectable already. Of course, that would be amazing news! I’m trying not to get my hopes up too high because I don’t want to be disappointed if my scan still detects some cancer. After months of chemo, I just want to see that it’s been worth it. Regardless of what we see in this PET scan, I will still finish out the full six rounds of chemo. I’ll have another PET scan after round six and that will determine if I need to keep going with more chemo. 

On February 1st, I have an appointment with a Mayo surgeon to learn more about my surgery options. The surgery decisions have been weighing on me. It’s hard to wrap my mind around the idea that I might have to convince a doctor to operate on me because it’s not standard practice to operate on stage 4 cancer patients.  I honestly don’t know that I’m fully convinced that I even want surgery. Who am I to disagree with the doctors and demand surgery?!? Do I really want the complications and risks that come with surgery? And what about reconstruction? I have so many questions about the benefits and costs of surgery. If surgery means I’ll have a nice long life with my family, of course it would be worth all the risks! I’m hoping that this appointment will give me enough answers to my questions that I can feel confident in my decisions about surgery and make a plan for the next step of my treatment. 

How to pray:

Pray that this fourth round is just as manageable as round three. 

Pray that my echocardiogram and PET scan on January 28th bring nothing but good news; no heart damage and no evidence of cancer!

Pray that what I learn from my surgical consult in February prepares me for my next steps of treatment. Pray that I would get the information I need to make a wise decision about surgery.