Quick update

It's been a long time since my sister and I have updated you all on my health status. No excuses for this so I do apologize. This blog entry won't come with my typical life lesson- just a clear update on me- not something I usually enjoy writing about. 

About a month ago I spent nearly a month in the hospital for... you guessed it: more stomach issues. That damn radiation really did a number on my insides- an all too common happening.  I shouldn't complain at this point as after dealing with some brutal pain for months, the surgeons and doctors fixed a lot of my problems. So hopefully you won't have to hear about my stomach issues for a long time. 

In the meantime, I still deal with a lot of nausea and vomiting and general weakness on a daily or every other day basis. It gets pretty frustrating for me but I believe some of this is a nice effect of the chemo pills, or more specifically, PARP Imhibitors I have been taking. I am no longer on traditional chemo which is very nice, especially for my hair which is growing back wavy and crazy. But more so, it's a little easier on the mind knowing that I don't have poisons pushing through my veins- a feeling only a cancer patient can explain. But these pills, although one of the last ideas of treatment from my docs, is not chemo, they're still not easy on my body. I get sick more often now than when I was on chemo. Throwing up has never been my favorite thing, so you can imagine it to be pretty hard to forcefully consume six pills daily, knowing they're "probably" the cause of my discomfort and vomiting. I am heading to Texas on Monday to check in with my doctor and nurse who prescribed this. Yet again, I am the only one with my type or cancer to try this inhibitor, leaving me a study of one, again. So unsettling. This is when we seek that "hope" again- That it's killing at least some of the tumors in my body. To better understand theses pills, here's some background: the first time I went to MD Anderson, they tested my original tumor to see if there was a genetic mutation- which luckily,  months later, we found out there was. This allowed for a targeted treatment which are the PARP Inhibitor pills I am taking now.

We wait one more month to get scanned to see If these pills have done anything. As crappy as I feel on most days, I'm willing- for all the loved ones in my life- to give these pills a full-hearted chance. So we wait another month in hope. Maybe we have a lesson here: Never give up before you know if there is a solution to something, especially when it comes to the hope your loved ones have in it.

Photo caption: Just four little ones worth fighting for.