Everything is coming together for success! 02/14 Port Placement/ROUND ONE Don’t worry, we celebrated Valentine’s Day one day early! Chronologically, The First Hero, Tammy at Anderson Family Cancer InstituteAll of her scheduling allowed for the first dose of chemo to happen same day as port placement!! (And she was creative!) Arrival JMC Feb 14, 7:30am Anderson Cancer Center…
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Stay Buckled! The ride isn’t Over!
Drove to Tampa last night with my trusty sidekicks, Mom and Andy. Not so good dinner at Longhorn and a leaky bathroom ceiling at Embassy Suites and subsequent room change at 1:30am rounded out our night. We met with the Peritoneal Surgeon, Dr Dineen and his Fellow, Dr. Strong. After much discussion we left with…
Finally, not the Final update!
How is this possible, you ask?? I can tell you… For approximately a year and a half my scans have remained clear. In September 2023 my routine blood work showed an excellent CEA of 1.1 (a routine tumor marker, 3.0 or less is normal), BUT my Signatera came back positive (0.04)! UGH! YUCK! (Remember, Signatera…
It’s Been a Minute
Let’s catch up! -Graduated to every six months scans with blood work still every three.-Port removal July 2nd after 17 months of no evidence of disease (NED) Shouldn’t I claim being Cancer Free?-Blood work 9/27. CEA tumor marker results right away 1.1 (normal is 3.0 or less) My lowest one yet. We are ecstatic!!-Saturday, 10/07…
Prayer Warriors!!
Prayer warriors!! It’s that time again! CT scans tomorrow! Please that my scans are CLEAR and that I am Cancer free! For those that are following, my CEA is currently 1.2 and my Signatera is negative!
Giving Back 💙💙
You do NOT need to be present to win! Our ladies group, Fab & Fun Friends is hosting a March Colon Cancer FUNdraiser! Raffle tickets are 5 Tix for a $25 donation! In this 50/10⁵ half of the money raised will go to charity and the other half will be evenly split by five lucky…
Yikes! A Third Surgery! Seriously!?!
Both my liver surgery (2/3/22) and colon surgery (3/30/22) were completed thru a long midline incision from my xiphoid process to my pubis (think sternum to several inches below my belly button). After the second surgery, I noticed a lump smaller than a golf ball just to the left of the incision in my abdomen….
Happy New Year
SCANZIETY is a real thing. No matter how positive you are in thought and action, it’s impossible not to have some anxiety before each scan. Currently, I am on a routine to be scanned every three months alternating between PET and CT scans to watch for cancers return sneak attack! Thanks to insurance (sarcasm) my…
Punch Line:
Clear Scans! Dance of Joy!
Arrive at the Gold Valet bright and early, just in time for blood work. (Gold Valet, such a fancy name I think for something not so fancy). My mom and Andy camp out in the waiting room while off I go. I have the nurse draw blood from my port since I am due for…
Scan Results
Ok, it’s a little complicated. There’s some activity on liver and colon but only in surgical areas, so this could be meaningless and just due to the surgical trauma to those areas. There is asymmetric nonspecific activity in the left tonsillar region but this could just be from swallowing during scan and almost unheard of…