Saw my man today. Actually, my surgeon- but he's "The Man"- for my follow up appointment. His exact words... "The chemo seems to be working. It's still a very serious situation, but not hopeless." Yay for "not hopeless." I love his no nonsense candor. I got my stiches out so it's not QUITE as uncomfortable. My next surgery won't be until Feb, and that will be a repeat of what I just had. So onward with the chemo. (I was supposed to have chemo this past Monday but there was a little mixup and it's only been 3 weeks since surgery, so chemo actually resumes this coming Monday) Since I won't have any surgeries for a while I get to add Avastin to the chemo cocktail- which to me is a good thing. The harder I can go at it, the better. And the pain in the ass side effects are a temporary small price to pay for coming out ahead.
AND>>> As if having the rarest of Appendix Cancers wasn't enough- I had blood sent off to Colorado (I think) for genetic testing to find out exactly WHAT strain of DNA this came from so my family can have testing done on that strain to check for their possible pre-disposition for getting the same cancer... The lab called my Oncology office 3 times and said they have never seen anything like what I've got. All results were inconclusive and they were stumped. So I'm thinking they should be paying ME for the blood so they can play with it and learn.
I AM the Diamond In The Rough.
"Lucky" me. It would figure.
Regardless, my girls (and the rest of my family if I have anything to say about it) will be getting screened as soon as they turn 18. I will leave it up to them- but I will also push having an elective appendectomy. If the appendix is not there, there is little chance (though still possible) that they will get Appendix Cancer.
Grrr. I fight on.
Make them pay up for more testing of your unique type of cancer.
ReplyDeleteyeah for "not hopeless"!
ReplyDeleteI think "never seen anything like it" is awesome too, since if few have had this same thing, how can they know the outcome???? Maybe your rare cancer is going to respond in rare and amazing ways to the treatment.
ReplyDeleteYay for a good update! We will continue to pray!
So glad you have a blog! And sooo glad to see that you are fighting on girl!! I've often wondered how you're doing since you were discharged after "the" initial diagnosis. "Whatever came of that sweet Belpre girl that I was fortunate enough to care for in the hospital?" And here you are!!!! Wait til I tell Rita how awesome you're doing ;o) I'm thrilled to follow your blog! Keep on keepin' on girl!!
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