Thursday, May 24, 2018

It's been a while....

I haven't written for a while. Since I wrote last, I went to the Emergency room twice, received another round of Immunotherapy and 1 round of brain Radio Therapy. Since the 1st infusion of Immunotherapy, I had a lot of problems with shortness of breath, constant coughing and pain where the tumour was. Since it was and is such a new drug, the doctors couldn't tell me why my pain is happening and how to manage my pain. I had to do a lot of self-investigation and exploration, etc. I am still in some pain, but nothing like 3 days ago. So I'm hoping that I am finally getting all the serious symptoms more under control than before.

I had a consultation with my prime oncologist a few days ago. I was asking her about life expectancies, et. It was very sobering that she told me that if I had not checked myself into ER on March 13, and started chemo therapy right away on March 27, I would have passed away by now. I appreciated her honesty. Sometimes one doesn't notice how fragile life can be.

Since I'm looking at 1 family gathering milestone at a time as one of the milestones for my cancer journey, the next one coming up is my wedding anniversary this Summer. I hope I will be healthy enough to go out for a fancy nighttime meal with my husband to celebrate.

I'll keep working hard on my Cancer journey!

Tuesday, May 1, 2018

I attended my daughter's birthday party

This past weekend, I attended my daughter's birthday party at an indoor playground. I missed my son's party because I was in the hospital, so I was determined to get myself well enough to attend my daughter's party. Since I was so weak for so many days after the 2nd round of chemo, I really wasn't sure if I was going to make it.

The 2 days before the party, I made sure I ate and drank a lot, rest as much as I could and not get stressed out or rush around. On the day of the party, I rested in my bed until it was time to go to the party. I had a great time mingling with the other parents, and watching the kids having fun. Everything was going great until the 2.5 hour mark when I suddenly felt unwell. Luckily, my brother was able to drive me home quickly. But I did it! I consider it a small win out of this long journey of cancer/treatment, etc.

I think I will just continue to take these little wins each week to keep me focusing on the positive things in this journey. I'm going to have Immunotherapy tomorrow and I hope I won't get too ill from it. It is supposed to be less harsh on the body than chemotherapy. But knowing me, I'll get all sorts of uncommon side effects (e.g. vomiting, extreme shortness of breath, etc) that the nurses won't be expecting. I have prepared a list for tomorrow so that the nurses will have precautions on hand for me.