Chapter 23 - From Chemo to Conference

It’s been a long, hard Summer, with very harsh chemo (my 17th session now in the books).  In one sense, it’s been worth it.  My blood markers have been great and improving each time they are drawn, but unfortunately, scans in mid-July showed disease progression to more parts of my body.

That’s the rub with cancer and chemo…the cancer figures out what the chemo is doing and kinda shape shifts and turns into a different configuration so it can keep spreading.

So here’s the new game plan:

One more light chemo on 8/5 (just one of the cocktail elements) to keep the growth that I have had, stable….

Then, I’ll head up to NY to have another surgery at end of August (it *should* be a simple “robot-assisted” surgery…two nights in the hospital, max) to cut out some more of the prominent areas that are showing up on my scans as cancerous….

Then, my doctor wants me to resume the harsh chemo for 2 months (4 cycles) - attack, attack, attack…

THEN, given that there is no more new areas at that point, we’re going to do radiation on any problem area that are left.  This will be a 3 week ordeal and will probably entail me getting an Airbnb in NJ, but they’ve said the worst thing about radiation is fatigue and that, I can handle.

This is all very tentative and can change on a dime if things either dramatically grow or dramatically shrink while on chemo.

I’m at an industry conference right now - the first one I’ve been to in over a year.  It is very good to see my network (the #1 thing people have been saying to me is “You don’t look like you have cancer/you’re going through chemo!”, which I certainly appreciate but if they only knew how between each session, I’ve been going back up to my room, extremely sick to my stomach or just wiped out beyond belief).  But I’m here and it is proving to be very good for my mental health.  Plus, I probably won’t be able to attend any of my Fall conferences, so I need to “make hay,” as they say.

I would ask for your continued prayers and good juju.  Thank you to those of you who continue to do this for me.  I know “sympathy fatigue” is a real thing and we’re going on over a year now that I’ve been dealing with this diagnosis.  If you can keep holding onto me, then I have a chance of getting through this. 🥰

Much love to all of you,

Kate