Scan Update

It’s been a stressful and emotional couple of days with scans and appointments, but I’m finally feeling like I can breathe a tiny bit better now. Yesterday I had a spinal MRI, CT of the chest/abdomen/pelvis, and met with the radiation oncologist who treated the lung nodule back in May. Today I met with my oncologist.

Our day yesterday was quite emotional because when we left the appointments, the doctor didn’t have all the information. Based on what we Did know, it sounded like there was a possibility of recurrence in the spine, as well as several new lung nodules. If the tumor had come back in the spine, there was a good chance I would need to have surgery Again, in addition to radiation, and then we would discuss what’s next for the lungs. 

We left her office feeling completely defeated and devastated. It took every last ounce of my willpower to not completely collapse on our long walk back to the car. As soon as we entered the parking garage, I fell apart. I cried and cried and held onto Brandon for I don’t know how long… cars passed and the world went on around us while our world was seemingly falling apart. After pulling ourselves back together, I got a notification that the final chest CT report came back, and it showed NO definite new growths. The lung nodules that have been present have continued to grow but at a similar rate as before. And the lung nodule that was treated back in May has responded well to the radiation! While not great news, it was much better than what we were originally told. 

Ok. So now we were looking at “only” the possibility of really bad news with the spine. Since my surgery was with a different health system, we’d have to wait until the images could get pushed through, and for the team to review and compare to yesterday’s scan. 

This morning we met with the oncologist. She said that she talked with the radiation oncologist and surgeons on the team who reviewed the post-op MRI images and yesterday’s results, and there is NOT concern for recurrence at this time! The area they were uncertain about is “just” post-operative changes in the spine. Therefore, they do NOT think that surgery is warranted again! 🙌 Everyone on the team does think that radiation is a good idea, however, to make sure things are “cleaned up” so that surgery isn’t necessary again down the road. The surgeons think that my spine is still healing, but healing well, which was good to hear. 

So at this time, it sounds like the plan will be for radiation to start the week of the 18th. I’m waiting to hear back from them about all of that. Treatment will increase inflammation in an area that is already very inflamed, which means pain and deficits are likely to increase for a while. Additionally, because of the location, I will probably have an extremely sore throat and hoarse voice for a while. They’ll give me medications to help with it. And, of course, worse fatigue! Yay!… 😒🙄

The brightest of spots is that the abdomen and pelvis still look good, so no changes there!! After all of this, the plan is to rescan everything in about 3 months. 

Still with me here? Ugh!! It has been a fricken rollercoaster, and I’m over it! I’ve never been a fan of rides! 

I’m going to do my best to enjoy the weekend with the kids and Brandon, knowing that with my already limited abilities, I have a lot to try to get done and prepare before radiation starts again. You all know I will do my best to continue updating as best as I can. I appreciate your patience with these updates, as sometimes I really need to rest (physically and mentally) before I can write everything out… aside from taking care of my responsibilities as a human and mom 🙃

Shoutout and thank you to the BP Cancer Group for my t-shirt and all of their support over these past few years. It’s such a fantastic group from my little hometown, and their annual cancer auction is actually going on this weekend! (www.bpcancergroup.org) 

Love to you all! Thank you for your continued support. I’m praying and working every day so that I can someday share my miracle story with you all 🫶💜