GOT HIT IN THE HEAD WITH A BRICK….

Okay, I went and had my Pet Scan and blood work done this week. And my Oncologist informs me that my cancer is growing. There is the Brick and it hit hard. The cancer in my liver and in my hip has gotten bigger and brighter, meaning the cancer is on the move. So much for all my hopes and prayers! Well then we get down to the brass tacks of the situation: and wow, A SOFT LANDING!!! It appears that the cancer that I had in my lungs (and there was quit a bit in my lungs) and in my chest wall has been missing for the last 10 months. No where is the cancer to be found in my last three Pet Scans in those areas! Imagine that. What does this mean, well, I now have options that I did not have before. The cancer in my lungs and in my chest wall could not be removed. Too many, too big and not an area easily to get to. But now all that has all changed.

I am going to have the cancer in my liver removed by Cryoablation Therapy, which is a procedure done by entering my body through an orifice and then burning the cancer, thereby removing it. Then I am going to have radiation to remove the cancer from my hip. What does this mean, well, it means that for a time, I will be cancer free!!!!! Yippee!!!! How long is anyone’s guess. But because I have a very slow growing cancer, hopefully for a very long time!!! These procedures are not a walk in the park, but a walk that I am willing to take.

I am now on a different hormonal treatment; I started yesterday. It consists of two pills that are supposed to be much gentler on the body than the ones I have taken in the past. It is a set of pills that I could be on for years or for the rest of my life. These new pills would not have been given to me, if I was not going to remove the cancers in my body. I am taking this hormonal treatment only to be sure that the cancers in my lungs and chest wall do not reappear. So I have a course of action!! I am cautiously optimistic!!!

But what really bothers me is the fact that if I did not ask questions, request to increase my dosage of the pill I was on, thereby delaying me from starting to take the Chemo pill, none of this would be available to me. All my doctor’s kept telling me that I should take the Chemo pill. All of them. They all said it was the next protocol for my type of cancer. They would have considered the fact that the cancer was gone in my Chest wall and lungs to be due to me taking the Chemo pill. Thereby missing this opportunity. I forced my doctor to think outside of the box and to really look at me as an individual with individual needs, desires, cancer stats and history. One size does not fit all!!

I have been telling you through my blogs not to give up on life, to live it, to enjoy every minute of it, but in order to accomplish that you must be your own advocate when it comes to your own health. You have to ask questions. Demand answers. If you do not get them, go elsewhere. You should do research. You must make your own decisions. Doctors are only human and they are overworked, tired, in love, have family problems, whatever. They may not always make the right decisions for you. But if you push, question, act on behalf of your own welfare, they usually will come to the right decision. Look at me, I pushed and I now have a course of action that may in fact give me my life back, for however long. I have nothing to lose by going down this road. I will be humming a lively tune as I make this journey. Do I wish Lewis was here to make this journey with me, yeah, without a question of a doubt. But I know that he will be by my side humming the same tune as I am as I make my way.

Life is not merely surviving!!!!