I wanted to take a moment to reflect on what the past year has consisted of:
3- "girl surgeries" the last ridding of my baby room. I also had the unfortunate opportunity to experience a nasal gastric tube. SO UNPLEASANT
Then wound up with pneumonia again to find out my lung cancer had yet returned. Followed by horrible, terrible, headaches in which I found out that I had a tumor strangling my pituitary gland. This was also around the time I had a bad mix of medication and surely amused the floor nurses. Though the show of the medical hallucinations was kick @$$ for the most part. They were surely something I did NOT want to deal with the whole time. The medical staff also had a bit of a hard time convincing me they were not reality. To the point where they point an alarm around my bed. HA!
They used the Gamma Knife to kill the tumor around my pituitary gland. They only got to use 30% of power they planned as the tumor was too close to the coaxis of my optical nerves and didn't want to risk my sight. Thank Jesus it worked and the tumor today is still dormant. I am on meds since the gland is still blocked, dormant tumor-YEA!
In September, they thought I had a "drop tumor" in my spine and I came close to having my first radiation. 11 AM the day of the doctors office called in and said not to come. They wound up finding out that it was a benign tumor after surgically removing it. I have a beautiful 4 inch scar on my lower back.
So, last I left off, I think, is the spinal tap. Which I didn't have a horrible time with, but as you probably read they found cancer in my beautifully clear spinal fluid. This resulted in them inserting the port in my brain.
The day before Thanksgiving, I had the port (omaya) put into my head. They released me on Thanksgiving day. Unfortunately, I was back in the hospital that evening vomiting.
In December, I've had 6 chemo sessions. One and three were horrible. The only way I know how to describe them are what it would like to be in hell. It was 2-3 hours of burning up and sweating through my clothes. The medical staff did their best to ice me down. Then, I was freezing cold. My body just emptied out afterwards. I was pretty exhausted after. They always remove as much brain juice as they put in chemo. (They can only tell if the fluid is cancerous, not how much cancer there is. Weird, huh?) The secret way to keep everything in check for me was to me at a 45 degree angle. Also they have to remove and insert the injections one cc per minute....a.k.a. super slow.
I wound up in the hospital with uncontrollable vomiting the week before Christmas. I had a low grade fever. They were very concerned that I had some sort of infection, which they never did figure out but the vomiting did stop. I was released December 21. I had a great Christmas with my family and wound up with three weeks off treatment which was quite nice.
With the New Year, new treatment:
Tomorrow, I begin my first brain radiation treatment. I will have this five days a week for two weeks. I asked my oncologist the side effects. I think he wanted to avoid my excitement or expectation over the possible loss of my hair. He has minimal hair himself and has been heckling me from the beginning. I just look as it as part of the experience. The Radiologist doctor said there is a good chance, I will lose my hair. My Oncologist is also planning on changing my chemotherapy for my lung, after radiation. When, asked again, about the side effects he said we would talk about it later...hmmmm
Anyhow, I want to leave you with this song. It's a favorite of mine from my beloved Anchor Fellowship in Nashville, TN. I love that place, I long to visit soon!
