Mea Culpa

Or perhaps I should have titled this “She’s Baacccckkk.” In either case, after a prolonged hiatus, I’m hoping to start writing again, thanks to the urging of family and friends. This first post of 2016 will be a bit different, however – more of an update than one of my thoughts brought to life on paper – and I apologize upfront for the length of the post. I am covering 10 months, after all!

During the early days of summer, I was at a family function at which I was greeted by a lot of relieved-looking faces. I was surprised to learn how many people had been worried about me because of my absence from the blog and Facebook. I’m so sorry to have caused such concern, and I’m going to do my best from letting that happen again.

When the new year started, I was strongly feeling the effects of chemo, which made me tired all the time, among other things. Still, I went back to school to teach full-time. I was able to do it, but not much of anything else. As a result, writing – whether it was on a blog, Facebook, or communicating in general — went by the wayside.

So, here’s the latest (which means rewinding a bit):

At the time of my last post, I had just started a clinical trial at Roswell Park Cancer Institute that combined an approved chemo drug with an experimental one. The purpose of the trial was to see if the experimental drug would increase the efficacy of the approved one. In my case, it worked – for a while. After two months, my tumors had shrunk, overall, by about 25 percent. One of the biggest tumors was shrunk in half. However, by that time, the drugs were starting to take their toll on my body. Welcome, 2016.

The next five months would be a roller coaster ride (see the About Me page if you want details). My body was so battered by the end of May that I was sadly taken off the clinical trial, which I was convinced had given me an extra seven months of life. My body was in such bad shape that my oncologist said I had to stop all treatment for at least two months – not something a Type A cancer warrior wants to hear! I made the best of it, however, and the best was great!

As my body healed and I became stronger, I was able to have a WONDERFUL summer! I finished a long-held dream to drive all of Route 66, nearly 2,500 miles through eight states – a dream I started making come true 12 years ago. I got to visit with family and friends near and far as I “road tripped” to Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, the Carolinas, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. I sat on my patio to watch the sun set over the lake, hung out with friends at the beach, watched scary movies with my sister, and enjoyed quiet moments at her cabin in the West Virginia mountains. Last weekend, I attended my 40^th high school reunion.

Now I’m back to work – in more ways than one. I am once again teaching full time and, as a write this, I’m in the hospital receiving a new chemo treatment. It’s probably no surprise that since I was not undergoing any treatment during the summer, the cancer progressed. Several tumors are now at 2cm, a “line in the sand” if you will. When they get bigger than that, symptoms can start. I have experienced some already, but they have been short-lived. Our goal now is to stabilize the tumors so they don’t get bigger and to stave off new ones. I am on the waiting list of a couple clinical trials focused on immunotherapy, which the oncologist says is my best option right now, but they have yet to open and I’m at the stage where we can’t wait any longer to do something, so I’ve started a new chemo drug that was approved by the FDA less than a year ago for my specific type of cancer and has had some success in Europe. I’ll return to the hospital to get it for 24 hours at a time every three weeks.

In the meantime, please keep praying for this drug’s success and for a clinical trial to open soon and, while you do that, I’ll be writing.

Share the strength.

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