New Year, New Beginnings

Hey guys! Happy New Year to you!

I just wanted to write a little note to update you on my journey. Today was my fifth full day off of chemo since starting on December 27^th. Hallelujah! I needed this break! I have had to travel to and from Rochester every week, except one (last week), since the very first week of December. But even on my off week, I made a trip to Saint Cloud to be with my family and attend a celebration of life for my uncle who recently passed. That is a lot of driving hours and hotel stays and unfortunately, there is no end in sight.

After I was released from the hospital for the muscle issue in December, I got to go home to spend Christmas with my family. We had a lovely time with my whole immediate family (six siblings) coming to Grand Marais to spend it together. We celebrated at the beautiful White Pine Lodge up the Gunflint Trail one night and my brother hosted us all the second night. It really was amazing for all my siblings and our children to spend that time together. Then we had a couple more get-togethers with my husband’s family and some friends. All in all, it was a very good Christmas!

New Chemo Treatments

The day after Christmas, I had to return to Rochester to get prepped for a new chemo protocol. This time it is a mix of two new chemotherapy drugs that I have not had before. The potential side effects vary in severity but I’ve been warned numerous times that it could get bad. Thankfully, at 2.5 weeks in, I am handling it pretty well. The worst part is fatigue. I just try not to stress and take it one day at a time.

The plan going forward is to do 14 days on chemo and then 7 days off through March 14^th and then rescan. This includes weekly infusions and daily pills during the 14 days stretches so the trips to Rochester will continue. I will start my next 14 day stretch on the 17^th of January. However, there has been some mixed information reported to me by my team of doctors so I’m not sure that we are all on the same page. After another consult with my lead oncologist and my integrative medicine doctor, I may request a change of plans. We shall see.

In the meantime, I have been doing my best to stay strong and healthy. I keep myself very busy which I think helps with the chemo side effects and with general mental health while going through all this. I did have to cut back a bit on my work schedule due to the weekly travel and the low blood counts. My job is not the most sanitary job, so I need to take extra precautions to not get sick while the bulldozer that chemo is, is wiping out everything good and hopefully bad in my body. I am continuing on making plans for my future and refusing to partner with what some doctors are saying. They might be doing the best they can based on their training, but they certainly do not know how many days I have on earth. Only one guy does. That’s where I will be putting my faith and trust. I believe 2024 is going to be a good year, despite how it has started out for me.

Never Give Up

I have noticed recently that there seems to be an uptick in cancer and other diagnoses. If you are someone going through a health struggle, especially cancer, please remember to stay hopeful. Get a second opinion. You have to advocate for yourself. Remember that not everyone responds to treatments the same. Also, God created our bodies with amazing healing abilities. We just need to harness it and figure out what works. I have been doing so much research on cancer and reading countless testimonies of people who have healed from stage 4 cancer. There isn’t a one size fits all method for treating it. Some people do only conventional, some do holistic methods, and some do a mix of both. I fall in the ‘mix of both’ category. It’s just too bad that our health system is so broken that the alternative therapies don’t get covered by insurance. Some lifesaving therapies are just plain out of reach for the average person like me. But I’m going to continue to fight the beast with everything I can. I want to give one of those healing testimonies one day and help encourage others to fight, too.

God bless you all and I hope that 2024 will be a good year for you, too!