June 5th Update

I feel like I need to give an update on what is going on. It’s kind of complicated. I went a head and had chemo last Thursday. This chemo takes place every 3 weeks. I was very disappointed in this but I also know God has a plan. Days 3 and 5 were rough. Not only physically but mentally. I have been put on oxygen. It has made me feel so much better. After each surgery I’ve had I’ve been told I’m a terrible breather so this wasn’t a shock to me. 

Michael and I are also pursuing natural remedies. My food has dramatically changed. I’m juicing and eating a lot of veggies. I’m drinking veggie broth. I’m taking some all natural supplements to help my body heal. I am also doing hyperbaric chamber treatments and they seem to be working. 

I want you all to know I’m choosing to live. God has called me to something bigger than me. He has also commanded me to pray for healing. And that’s what I am doing. Do I know the ultimate plan He has for my life? No. Only He knows the number of my days. Only He knows my future. So keep praying those bold prayers! I’m still living! 

Legs and an update

Several weeks ago during my quiet time I heard God ask me if He took my legs away would I still praise Him? That to me was an easy yes. A few weeks later - 2 Saturday’s ago, I started feeling my legs get weaker. Riding the bike wasn’t helping. Stretching wasn’t helping. Nothing was really. I can move them. I can stand on them. Walking is HARD. After an episode yesterday that just took everything out of me I realized what was going on. So I praised God for preparing me in advance. And we have moved to a wheelchair. I can still move about the house but it’s pretty tricky. 

Last week when my doc told me there is only a 10% chance this chemo works...she also told me I had a month to live. My next chemo treatment is a month away...I do not feel like I am on her timeline at all. We are praying boldly that this chemo is KILLING this nasty disease. That my lungs will be healed FULLY. Will you join us in that prayer?!? I am a fighter - but I still need people holding me up. Thank you in advance 

#alreadywon 

Updates

I’m not sure where to start on this update. 

Tuesday we were given the 6 month prognosis. When she gave me the news a fire started in my belly. I was even more ready to fight and FULLY believing that God can and will heal me. 

On Thursday we went to MD Anderson for a second opinion. The doctor told me basically the same thing. However, he also told me that I don’t fit the statistics. The statistics for people with my disease are much older. I’m young. So he didn’t feel confident saying I have X amount of time left. 

He also said that what we need is for radiation to have worked on my brain. He said that the whole brain radiation should have made the Mets go dormant. And if that’s true we will check every other month to make sure they are still dormant and no new ones pop up. So again we are asking for everyone to pray for complete healing. 

As for my lungs. I’ve been so focused on my brain - but my lungs are pretty bad. Usually the chemo kind of works on the lungs and people just have to keep switching chemo to keep it at bay. However we are praying that God would heal me. We will check in a few weeks to see if it’s working. If not we can change. Here is the good news - on April 22, 2020 a new chemo was fda approved for my specific cancer. So that is good news. 

I had a rough day 3 but it wasn’t as bad as when I was on radiation. I’ve also had 2 really good days in a row. We have definitely figured out that my back pain is nerve related. My lung catheter is sitting on a nerve causing all the pain. But we have figured out some ways to help it and my doc has put me on some nerve meds. It’s also helped me sleep more! I was averaging 3-4 hours of sleep a day. I’m now sleeping 5-7 a day with naps. 

I have chemo on Tuesday. We are praying that God would completely heal me. And we are asking that you pray that also in FULL belief that He will DO IT. 

#alreadywon #completehealing 

Pictures from our Hair Party

If you watched our video you can see me snap some pictures. I wanted to share them with you. The kids loved cutting my hair - except Callen, because he learned in school this year that we only cut paper. So he just watched. 

This was everyone’s favorite and they thought I should leave it like this. 

My scar is healing nicely. 

Family Hair Party

We had a fun night as a family cutting my hair 

Family Hair Party

Monday

Tomorrow I have to be at the hospital at 8 am. I will do radiation treatment #6 and then head over to the hospital. They will take a chest X-ray and then decide if I’m having 1 or 2 procedures done. I will for sure have my port placed. If my lung is filling with fluid again - which we all seem to think it is, we will place a catheter in my lung that allows Michael and I to empty my lung from home. 

I’m also having some stomach issues and would love your prayers for those as well. 

Thank you for praying for me. 

A rough weekend

After chemo on Tuesday last week I jumped straight into radiation. To say that my body was exhausted would be an understatement. On Tuesday I had told my oncologist I could feel some fluid on my lungs. We decided to let the chemo do it’s job and try and dry up the fluid. Thursday and Friday I started having a weird side effect from both chemo and radiation and that was swelling in my belly. Friday night into Saturday morning were terrible. I was in a lot of pain and hadn’t slept. On top of the chemo just making me feel blah. We called the on call doctor and talked to him and he suggested we go to the ER. That made Michael and I very uneasy and we began to pray and have several other people pray that somehow my doctor would be notified and we would hear from her. If she said go to the ER we would go in a heartbeat. About 30 minutes passes and we hear from her! If I could make it to Monday it would be best for me. So...to make it to Monday we kept me very comfortable through 

medication. So I slept all weekend. Today we headed to the Woodlands for radiation and my doctor put in orders to drain my lung. We drained it and I feel so much better. I can breathe and the pressure in my lungs and abdomen have gone down a lot. My ribs are sore but I can handle that! 

Prayer Requests 

Tomorrow I do round 2 of chemo. Pray my numbers are where they need to be. 

Pray that this fluid does not come back!! That the chemo will stop it from happening again. 

Pray that the side effects are minimal now that we’ve solved one issue

Pray for complete healing!!! 

Join me as I go through my first round of chemo...again

My chemo vlog 

chemo vlog

Quick Update, chemo round 1

Yesterday was round 1 of my new chemo. As of today I will have 8 rounds of this chemo. Beyond that - I’m not sure. I know we are all on the same page that we are watching all of my body very closely and our goal is to kill any and all cancer cells floating around in there. 

This chemo was very different from my last two. My last two infused over 2 hours and 4 hours. I would be in infusion for 5-6+ hours each time. This chemo is pushed over 5 minutes...yes FIVE minutes. Now I still had to do blood work, meet with my oncologist, take pre meds, and then have chemo so I was there for 3 hours but still - it was so much shorter than before. 

I’m not even 24 hours out from chemo so I’m not sure of the side effects yet. I can say that the pre meds gave me a killer headache- a lot of medications tend to give me a headache. Once we got that under control last night I felt so much better. 

I also got my radiation schedule yesterday. My radiation oncologist is ready to get this started now and not wait another week. Which is fine with me - these minions need to be killed inside my brain. So I start this Thursday! I will have 10 treatments total over 10 business days. I will skip radiation next Tuesday so I can do chemo. They have warned me that I will be exhausted. My oncologist is taking me off of the steroid except on chemo days so hopefully I will be able to sleep deep and give my body the rest it will need. 

I will be losing my hair again. Last go around this was something I mourned. And I will probably be sad when it happens...but I have a strange peace about it this time. I don’t get to have a hair party with my friends this time. We may have one with just the 5 of us. We haven’t decided yet. 

Happy Easter