The Delayed Update

 Well, quite a lot has happened since my last update. JOSH WAS HERE!!! We celebrated his birthday a few days early. We went to the movies and stayed up late playing games. It was WONDERFUL! Then early Saturday morning, Josh, Samantha, and Anthony left for the long drive to California. Samantha and Anthony made it back safely a week later. My grandbaby is now the size of an orange. Next ultrasound is May 27. Hopefully she will find out whether the baby is a boy or a girl. 

I had my usual round of chemo on May 4. It was just oh so wonderful...NOT. May 9, I had my scans...followed by Dr. appointments all week. Sorry I didn't update sooner. I got a "what for" from several people on Sunday. I just wanted more information first. My scans were stable! There was no new growth. My liver spot shrunk just a tiny bit - 1.9cm to 1.7 cm. The ovarian mass also shrunk a little. The peri mets haven't grown. My first appoint was with the colorectal surgeon. She would be the one doing the cytoreductive surgery- HIPEC is questionable. She said surgery is a go, I just needed to meet with the liver doctor. That appointment was Friday at 1:30. However, on my way home from doing a repeat ctDNA blood test, she called. She said she had some free-time and asked if it was a good time. OF COURSE. So, she mentioned that the liver spot shrunk. She asked how chemo was going. I was honest...I feel good (for the circumstance) about 3 or 4 days out of every 14. She of course wants to do surgery sooner rather than later, since it is toxic to the liver. I was told it would likely be early June, but if anyone wanted to do one more round of chemo, it would be late June. Phew! She said she would contact the doctors and someone would be in tough. 

Well, Monday morning rolled around and I hadn't heard anything. I got up and went to the infusion center for my pre-chemo bloodwork. Then I waited in a virtual waiting room for my oncologist appointment...I waited an hour. UGH! He came on and mentioned all the things the surgeons had said. Then said we will PAUSE chemo to prep for surgery. He will get with the doctors to get in on the schedule for  the first or second week in June. Y'all! That is close. My brain needs more prep time for this. I am over the moon excited, scared, nervous....all the feels! The only thing that could stop the surgery is the diagnostic laparoscopy. That will happen the day of surgery...I didn't want to surgery prep twice, so I am confidently praying the lap is favorable. With it, they will be looking at the tumor deposits in my peritoneum. They can be under represented on scans. If there is/are way more than anticipated, surgery will be cancelled.

SO...all that being said, pray for there to be no more than what is anticipated. Pray for surgery to be a go and be successful. Pray for my nerves...and for the family. This is a major surgery that has many risks and potential complications. It also has the potential to be curative...in the stage 4 cancer world, that doesn't happen often. Pray for me now! I have only a few weeks to try to rebuild my stamina. I have to get walking and lifting weights. I need to be in as good of shape as possible. With chemo last year I was able to workout and run on my off weeks. This one has been rough and just daily tasks and walking around take every ounce of energy I have. Praise God for this good report along with all of the requests.