Friday, January 22, 2016

An Update

I'm still taking a blogging hiatus, but I thought I'd give you all an update.

 

After a whole battery of tests and procedures, on December 14 I was diagnosed with advanced stage ovarian cancer. I'm being treated by a gynecological oncologist at the Siteman Cancer Center in St. Louis ... his treatment plan is for 9 weeks of chemo (I will have session #6 next Tuesday) followed by surgery to remove as much of the cancer as possible followed by more chemo. Thankfully I'm tolerating the chemo quite well. I tire somewhat easily, although not nearly as much as I did early on. I've even been getting to the Y a couple of times a week lately to do some walking ... I don't walk too fast nor too long, but I'm able to stay somewhat active, for which I'm thankful. And my hair started falling out within the first week, so I decided to take matters into my own hands and had my DD shave my head. Other than that, I'm doing fairly well, all things considered. And the chemo is working ... my ovarian cancer marker counts were down almost 50% from December 4 to January 11. A huge praise!

 

I've been feeling good enough, too, to be able to attend all my grands' swim meets ... you all know how much I love to watch them swim. Their team even designed a special cap to encourage me in my journey.

 

My daughter and son-in-law graciously opened up their home to us. It is such a blessing to me to spend time with my DD and my grands. You all may remember that not only did DD travel this road last year with her step mom, she's also a nursing student and is able to understand all my medical reports and knows what questions need to be asked. She's taking such good care of us ... I'm still unable to gain back any of the weight I've lost, but at least I'm not losing any more. ;-)

 

I don't know what my future holds, but truth be told even though I thought I was in control of my future prior to my diagnosis, I wasn't ... none of us know how many more days we'll have here on this earth. I'm determined to enjoy every day the Lord gives me, and when He calls me home, I will be ready. My prayer is that you all can claim that same hope.

 

Take care, my friends. Kathy