New Year, Renewed Motivation! (Post #4)

Hello everyone and welcome to my fourth blog post, I’m glad you’re here!

I want to say thank you so much to everyone who has reached out to me to check on me during this long gap between posts and updates. If you've read my last post, you know I have been battling depression during all of this, and it has been such a warm feeling to have folks check in on me. I wanted to put a note up at the front, because if you read anything at all, I wanted it to be this - thank you!

A review of what has happened so far: I broke my wrist in March 2024 and two weeks later I went to the Emergency Room with significant unrelenting pain in my right chest - especially when deep breathing. A CT found lung nodules, a PET scan confirmed they were cancerous. (More info in the first blog post) A bronchoscopy at the end of April confirmed that the nodules were indeed a metastasis from my cervical cancer that was diagnosed, treated, and determined to have no further evidence of disease in 2020. I had a central line placed, called a port, and had my first chemotherapy appointment in late May 2024. A few days later I ended up in the ER with more pain and difficulty breathing - this time due to pleural effusions. Managing my pain was quite an issue over the few days, but after chest tubes drained the fluid I was released a few days later. More information on those events can be found in the second blog post. After that, my chemotherapy treatments were pretty uneventful, but the side effects took a toll on me physically and emotionally, which you can read more about in my third blog post. That leads us up to August 2024.

What's been happening since:

I had a repeat PET scan in mid-August, a week before my last scheduled chemotherapy appointment. My doctor said she couldn't have hoped for better results, and the cancer was responding very well to the treatment. However shortly after my PET scan I caught the COVID virus. It knocked me out pretty well, but even with my weaken immune system, I was able to power through. As a result of having caught COVID, my infusion was delayed three weeks. As my infusions are three weeks apart, by the time I got to my last infusion, I was six weeks out from my last treatment. This break was extremely refreshing and rejuvenating for me. I was truly loathing my chemotherapy and the effects it had taken on my body. I had gained some strength back and was able to eat somewhat normally. It also meant that the last infusion didn't take as great of a toll on me as it would have had I had it at the normal scheduled interval. I truly understood people who refuse treatment in that moment, because without that break, I don't think I could have handled another treatment, mentally or physically. It would have been interesting to see my labs at this point, because even with the extended break between infusions, my labs were in the dirt and I was barely above passable to receive my last infusion.

While the last infusion did temporarily bring back some of those irksome side effects, I thankfully recovered from them with each passing day. I was able to return to my normal eating habits, which has been a true delight! I gradually increased my walking and standing time in efforts to rebuild muscle and stamina in my legs. I bought some ankle weights to boost results, and I even had my eye on one of those at home stepping machines. I went out to walk around in stores, but less frequently as I wished as it can be hard to find adequate places to rest or use the bathroom quickly when I need it. It was embarrassing to cut a shopping trip short, or have people wait on me while I take a break, even though it was generally with my family. I know it is silly to be embarrassed by the effects of this treatment, but I think that's easier said than done. I just recently purchased a small adjustable dumbbell to help build up my upper body strength. I'm currently weighing the option of joining the local gym now, especially as there is a pool that would offer another option for exercise with less stress to the joints.

So, what happens now?

Since my last chemotherapy infusion in late September, I have been receiving immunotherapy infusions every three weeks, and will continue to receive them for 2 more years. I am receiving Keytruda and Avastin, and these two should help boost my immune system to actively fight against the cancer. They are still given through an IV infusion in my port, but instead of an 8 hour day spent mostly in the infusion chair, it's down to roughly a 3-hour visit overall. I still have my labs drawn and meet with my doctor each visit before the infusion and will have repeat PET scans every so often to monitor the effects of treatment and be vigilant of reoccurrence.

In early December, I returned to work as a nurse on a cardiovascular intensive care unit. It was an astronomical change in my activity level, and at first that was rough to handle, but I feel like I'm easing into the flow much better each week. I'm happy to be able to use my knowledge and skills in something that interests me, and it's truly wonderful to see my colleagues again. A rough component of returning back to work though is that I moved away from the area when I entered treatment, and I currently live four hours away. Therefore, each week I commute up, get a hotel room, then commute home after my three work days. It is extremely difficult to be away from my teens each weekend, and it takes a serious cut to my income, but I try to remind myself it's only a temporary arrangement - there are certainly times I'm better at remembering that than others.

Moving forward, one big resolution this year was to get back to myself and my interests - without overcommitment (if that's even possible for me!) For me this means a few things, such as: improving my physical and mental wellbeing, increasing my Spanish language fluency and comprehension, getting back to reading and sharing books with others, and sharing more overall on this website. I'm hoping now that my physical and mental health have improved that I'm ready to commit to writing more blog posts, including things like my personal cancer journey updates, diving into some things I experienced but didn't delve into much yet (ex:how did I handle cancer financially?), talking about specific topics of cancer treatment that might help others (What's a PET scan like?), and hopefully crossing some bucket list items, to name a few. I hope you'll keep following along, reading along, and sharing with others who it might help!

Happy you are all here with me and stayed until the end of this post and I'll see you next time!