Another pivot in treatment

Hello, friends and fam. I got CT scans Wednesday (after 2 rounds of one of the strongest chemo regimens possible—ifosfamide is actually mustard gas!), and unfortunately these damn tumors are still growing.

The new plan is to stop this particular chemo and get surgery in June. We have to wait for my body to recover, but in the meantime we’ll do what we can to make the environment inhospitable to tumor growth. I’ll go on hormone blockers (the primary tumor tested positive for hormones) and a chemotherapy pill called Votrient which targets the vascular system—the blood supply for the tumors.

While this news isn’t great, and it's terrible that I’ve been on 2 different intense chemo regimens since Feb and they failed to stabilize or shrink the cancer, at least there isn’t evidence of new tumors. And I’m relieved I don’t have to be in the hospital for 4 more rounds of toxic chemo for the next 3 months. I also am just ready to get these tumors out!

I do want to take a moment to shout out my awesome visitors and support team while I was in the hospital these last two rounds. Katherine was here the first time and was a huge help with the kids, household tasks, etc. while Liam was still teaching. Thank you, Katherine!

My incredible sister Siobhan and her partner James surprised me with a singing telegram!! Yes, they hired circus performers to come sing for me, and we had a dance party in the hospital room. It was absolutely wonderful. The nurses said they had never seen anything like it!  How lucky I am. Thank you, Siobhan and James! 

And I’ve had wonderful visits from Rynee, Elissa, and Molly. It helped so much to break up the day and have lunch with a friend. And thanks to everyone for the well wishes, calls, gifts, financial support. It means so much to us. We also appreciate all the offers to come visit and help out. We are figuring out our new schedule for the summer and will definitely let folks know when could be good for visits. :)

Overall, the second chemo round was tough, but I learned to stay on top of the nausea with more regular meds and that stopped me from getting dehydrated! My hemoglobin and white blood cells were both really low which caused fatigue, wooziness, hungover feeling, and put me at high risk of infection, but fortunately we got through those rough days.

The kids are doing great. Nora is potty training and rocking so far. Fiona has been with us all week because her daycare classroom had 3 covid cases (they had ended the mask mandate, but Fiona was still wearing hers, which helped protect her and our whole family). 

They had a school art show when I was in the hospital. I was sorry to miss it, but look at these photos!

Fiona found a shirt that made her "look like Mama." Haha!

I'll end with my facepainting skills. Maybe I should take up a side hustle at bday parties and carnivals:

Sending love and gratitude to everyone,

Molly