3.5 weeks!!!

Friends!

Can you believe we’re only 3.5 weeks away from chemotherapy being done? I have a hard time still grasping that I have had cancer, there’s no way I can grasp that it’s almost over. Also, I love the quote I used on this blog because throughout this season God has just continued to show me over and over again how resilient He made the human body to be and how in control He is of all situations. I plan to talk more about what He’s shown me in this season in a separate blog later.

The past few weeks have been going well for me! I’m going to recap what’s been going on in a week-by-week format since that worked well last time!

Week of 5.27.19 – This week I started round 11/14 on Tuesday because of the holiday weekend. I went in for an overnight stay till Wednesday. This week was the last week for me to receive one of the drugs we call the “red devil”. This was the drug that gave me awful mouth sores in the beginning. I reached my maximum lifetime dose on this drug and can never receive it again. The drug can have later impacts on the heart, such as congestive heart failure (how fun), so each year for the rest of my life I have to get an echo done to make sure my heart is still going strong! Thursday I had PT which was nice so I could continue strengthening my leg.

Week of 6.3.19 – I had a long day on Tuesday. We had an appointment with the oncologist for a count check and a quick dose of chemo to finish up round 11/14. After that I had PT which was hard because my counts were 0 and I was tired. The PT people are wonderful though because they’re so understanding of how I feel. Thursday I had PT again and we took updated measurements of my ankle since it had been 30 days. I am supposed to be able to flex my foot upward and get to 0 degrees but my foot is measuring at -14 degrees. This means I have 14 degrees to go in order to be at 0 and hopefully then we can begin the process to get a brace for my foot once I can get to 0. I feel like we’re close but it just takes a long time to stretch out these calf muscles!

Week of 6.10.19 – This was a crazy week. On Tuesday I was supposed to go in and have a 5-day chemo. However, my body had different plans for us that day. We went in to the oncologist and my blood work was terrible. My counts were 0, platelets were 10 and hemoglobin was 4.8. Talk about BAD. So I didn’t go in for chemo that day, instead I had 2 blood transfusions to raise my hemoglobin and 1 platelet transfusion to bring my platelets up. The next day I felt wonderful. Oh I felt so much better after receiving blood. Since I wasn’t in the hospital this week I was able to go with my family to Tulsa to see my sister and meet our newest family member, my second niece, Eliza June. She’s perfect and snuggly and we already adore having her be apart of the family. It was definitely worth being delayed from chemo to be able to meet her. Friday we did a count check again and my counts were great! 2400 which meant I was able to start my 5-day chemo which was round 12/14. Surprisingly this round went really well. I was so happy to have minimal nausea and no vomiting it was a miracle.

Week of 6.17.19 – I was released from the hospital on Wednesday from my 5-day chemo. Then on Friday, Cole and I traveled to Fayetteville to see Les Miserables on broadway. What a show. It was truly incredible and a must see. I hope it comes to Dallas so we can see it again. We spent the rest of the weekend with his family, resting and enjoying our time. We both needed the break and had such a joyful weekend.

This week – We’re all finally caught up! Yay! Today I had PT which was great. I got some new exercises to do at home that i’m excited to try. Thursday I’ll have more PT and Friday i’ll have more chemo. Friday will be a long outpatient chemo. It will last from 9:00am-4:00pm-ish and will begin round 13/14. Can you believe that? Round 13/14 wow. Honestly, I still can’t even comprehend that I’ve made it this far or that I even was diagnosed 8 months ago but here we are, almost done.

I will update this more frequently as we are coming to the end and will have final scans soon! But for now, below is a list of prayers as we are still finishing this battle and doing our best to finish it strong and faithfully.

Prayers:

No nausea from chemo on Friday

My foot to be able to reach 0 degrees and for my ankle to continue to strengthen in PT

All cancer cells to be dead and dead forever

Arthritis in my hands to go away – I didn’t talk about this but it’s a side effect of a shot I get and boy it hurts!

To continue staying faithful to God as the end is near & knowing that He will use this season for the glory of His kingdom