August 10, 2007

Hello everyone, so sorry it's been so long. Things are crazy getting ready for school to begin. Well, I now have only 7 radiation treatments left (ending on Mon., Aug. 20th). Things have really gone great so far. No burns on my skin, but I've started to have what I call "the worst heartburn known to mankind." My radiation oncologist put me on two prescriptions to hopefully help that because unless I'm drinking plain water everything else pretty much feels like acid going down. Hmm...maybe it will help me lose some WEIGHT!!! :) Otherwise I'm good. I met with my regular oncologist on Wednesday. He said the radiation would probably make me quite tired the week after I'm done (which will be the first week of school--oh yay), and that we can get back to chemo as soon as possible. I'm going to meet with the nurse for the chemo teaching on the next drug next week and then get started right after we start school (either the last week of August or the first week of September). He doesn't think I'll lose my hair with this one, but it will mean going to Walnut Creek once a week for infusion before school; three weeks on/one week off. I don't think it will be too bad. I'm up for the fight. I will not have any results for a while on the radiation, as they said we have to wait six weeks after the last radiation treatment before a PET scan, because it keeps working that long. It is miraculous that my blood levels have still never dropped and have remained basically normal through everything! I really feel great and believe I'm going to win this fight. I know I feel that way because of all your prayers and support. I thank God for all the friends and family I have with me on this journey! Love to you all! I'll update again when I have more news (probably September).