Hi everyone--
Well the results came back this morning from my CT scan and unfortunately, the cancerous nodules in my lungs have begun to progress again. The good thing is the progression is minor (only a few millimeters) and it has not spread anywhere. We want to "nip it in the bud," so I will have a chemo teach for the drug Doxil on Friday, and will begin back on chemo next Thursday, the 24th. I have regained a lot of strength in the past three and a half months being off chemo, so hopefully things will go well on this drug, and maybe we can finally get me into full remission. I truly appreciate your thoughts and prayers. They are getting me through, so please keep them up :)

Hi everyone--
I thought I'd just briefly update you. I saw my oncologist for the first time since my last chemo on June 4th. We are going to do CT scans every two months. Unfortunately, the first two month CT is already here, and I will be making an appointment for next week sometime. I say "unfortunately," because it's been so nice not to have to deal with chemo and to start feeling like my old self. I've loved being back at school with my wonderful students. I've had so much more energy! I started my pulmonary rehab class at Lifestyle Rx (it's basically an exercise class in the gym where they closely monitor me). It feels wonderful to exercise again. I am praying for the scan to have good news so I can stay off the dreaded chemo and out of the hospitals. As long as things go well, I will have monthly bloodwork, monthly checks with the oncologist and CT scans every two months. Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers for clear news on the CT and bloodwork. I truly appreciate the support you all give me! Your prayers help so much!

Post-op news

Hi everyone--
I had my post-op appointment at Stanford today. All is healing perfectly. The doc says since nerves heal at a rate of 1-2 mm per day, it will be at least 3-6 mos. for all to be normal again. That is the down side to this surgery. The up side is it was a better long-term option for a singer. He said the nerve he used was a "really good one" and that I should expect a good & full recovery, but I have to be patient. During surgery he placed the left vocal cord back where it should be. We looked at my larynx with a scope and he said there was very little swelling and things looked really good. I will go back on Sep. 29th and if he feels I need it, he will inject collagen into the vocal cord to give me more of a voice while the actual healing is still taking place.
I will go for my first monthly check with the oncologist on Sep. 2nd. Please keep the prayers going. I thank you so much for your support!

successful surgery!

Hi everyone! I was released from Stanford today and am home. I haven't had to take one pain pill since the surgery! I have some soreness, and the doctors said my voice would actually get worse before it gets better. I'm having some troubles breathing and swallowing, but they said that was all normal. The breathing problem is due to phlegm that started from the surgery. The swallowing issue is because they had to cut muscles that help me swallow in order to get where they needed to go. Both problems will clear up--hopefully very soon. He rotated my left vocal cord to the midpoint so that my right cord could meet it. He also grafted part of a nerve from another place in my neck to repair my damaged recurrent laryngeal nerve, and my singing voice won't be back to normal for a few months (3-4), but the speaking voice should be back much sooner. Right now I'm still having troubles talking on the phone, but as soon as it heals I'll be calling you! They also had to cut through many nerves that go to the skin on my face, so the bottom left side of my face and neck are completely numb on the outside. It could be six months to a year for that to completely heal. No big deal. It's not really bothersome. Both my doc and his assistant said the surgery went very well. In fact, the assistant said, "I was right next to him and was his right-hand man the entire time, and I can tell you the surgery could not have gone more perfectly." As if I don't know why. Thank you all so much for the prayers & emails. They help to heal me both mentally and physically!

Hello everyone,
I wanted to quickly update you on my City of Hope visit yesterday. They were wonderful. It was great to hear (and validating) that after reviewing all of my info, the totally agree with my course of treatment from what I've already had to where we are planning to go from here. My doc will be very happy and his head can now get even bigger. :)
My surgery on the paralyzed left vocal cord is on Friday and I have been counting down the days. Please keep all the medical professionals working on me, my doc and me in your thoughts and prayers on Friday at 1:00 as I have my surgery. I pray that it will be successful and that I will be TALKING and SINGING His praises again very soon!! I can't wait to be TALKING with you all again!

Miraculous!

Well, I got my PET scan results, and it is a miracle! The decrease in size & especially cancerous activity is so significant that we are going to stop chemo! We will just have monthly checks for now. The miraculous thing is that usually I have PET scans in-between rounds of chemo, but in this case I have been off chemo for six weeks and we still had this significant decrease. Originally they always told me that even if we had a decrease, we would probably still go a few more rounds of chemo before we stopped. So I'm assuming that it must have been quite a bit for them to say we could stop for a while. Anyway, I'm very happy.
Also, thanks to my incredible aunt Ani, I am flying to southern California on Tuesday to get a second opinion on my cancer at City of Hope. It will be a day-long trip and then my long-awaited surgery for my voice is a week from tomorrow on Friday, July 24th! I'm counting down the days! Please keep me in your prayers, for the City of Hope visit to be helpful and the surgery on Friday to be successful. I am so thankful to God for this wonderful news & thankful to all of you for the prayers of support!

I know it's been a while. These past two weeks have been extremely tough. Coming out of a very stressful last three weeks of school, I ended up in the ER the day after graduation. I went back three more times that same week. It turned out I had a lung infection and a UTI. I'm on so many meds right now I can't believe it, but most of them will run out in a few days. I've just been sleeping away the past two weeks. The good news was that while I was in the ER they took a CT scan of my abdomen/pelvis and all was clear. The scan also caught the bottom of my chest, and when they compared it, it was exactly the same.
This chemo drug I've been on (Taxol) really took a huge toll on my body. I cannot tolerate it. My hands ended up with a horrible rash that burned and itched horribly. It gave me continuous body pains (muscles and bones) than nothing would help. There are so many other things I could go on and on. Anyway, I'm going to have a PET scan probably next week to make sure there is nothing of any urgency right now, so I can concentrate on getting strong for my voice surgery at Stanford on July 24th. I just can't wait. It will be a 2-3 hour surgery where they will rotate my left vocal cord and may also borrow a nerve from another place in my neck if necessary. I'll be at Stanford at least overnight, if not two nights. He says I'll be able to talk right away, but the voice will sound strained until the swelling inside goes down.
When I recover from the surgery, the plan (pending PET results) is to go back to chemo, this time on the drug Doxil.
Sometime in all this mess I've got an 8th birthday party to plan for Amanda, so please pray for strength! I cannot thank you all enough for your prayers and support.