Humbling River

1 year cancerversary from the start of my treatment has arrived, with humbleness and appreciation that I have for my body being able to be as strong as it has been this past year.

With that being said though, I have now gotten progression on my cancer, my last scans have shown that I have two new nodules on my omentum (omentum is a curtain/apron of tissue that covers your abdominal organs) along with moderate ascites (liquid that fills that cavity). Along with my bone mets increasing in size.

Therefore my current treatment is no longer working and I have now moved over to 2nd line chemo called Ramucirumab plus Paclitaxel (RAM + PAC). Same as before, I will be getting infusions every two weeks but this time there will be no needing to take a chemo pump home. Only one day infusion. Sliver lining there.

Also I will now stop icing chewing as this new chemo cocktail doesn’t affect the mouth as much, but I am having to move over to icing my hands and feet during it. Neuropathy might hit me a bit harder now.

With this progression, I now am back to having “measurable disease” so I am circling back to clinical trials. Sadly due to the holidays at lot of physicians/researchers seem to be out of office. So I will have to be patient and await a bit before getting those balls rolling again.

Along with my progression I have been dealing with over a month long fever that can only be controlled by acetaminophen. After a quick trip to the ER (will think harder about ever doing that again 🙄) I’ve had all sort of labs done and nothing infectious was found, so right now they are considering it to be a cancer fever that we hope the new treatment will eliminate.

The ascites also has been difficult to deal with and we are trying to control that by getting me on trial run of diuretics. Its been about a week and I have seen a bit of reduction so praying that this continues to disappear.

Sidenote: I have also gotten something called Frozen Shoulder on my right shoulder which has left me with minimal mobility. This might have been due to my chemo induced menopause. I will be starting physical therapy soon to see if I can bring it back.

So all in all, a bit worn out, but moving forward with hopes in the new year.
If there is one thing I can share for those around me, please realize how much of a privilege it is to have just a normal boring day. A day where you can work, exercise, cook/eat, drive, climb stairs without a second thought, that to me is heavenly. To just be normal, is blessing that is unnoticed until you lose it.