Late but worth the Wait

I'm sorry it has been awhile since my last post. My classes take more work than I had originally anticipated and I haven't been bouncing back from chemo as much as before.

I went down early Thursday, Feb 16 with my aunt Becky to get my lab work taken care of. The wait was a bit longer than usual and the nurse had some trouble getting a blood return. Luckily we had enough time for lunch and enjoyed food from the campus center. I had some yummy pizza and Aunt Becky had a salad. I went to class, two literature classes. We had good discussions and I went over and met Mom for treatment. The port worked fine and we were out of there after no time.

Friday was special because my sister, Katherine, came for a visit. Friday Katherine and I went into Broad Ripple so she could buy new running shoes, she has a big race coming up. Then we all went downtown to meet Dad for dinner at Creation Cafe. Saturday night we had a family game night for the first time in a really long time. The last time we had a family game night we played Trouble when I was quite little and I cried because people kept sending my pieces back to the start. This time we played Clue. Turns out we are missing one weapon piece and two of the character pieces. We still have all the cards though so it still works out. Kim took a gamble and lost out. Mom ended up winning which surprised us all. After we finished the game, I convinced everyone that we should continue on to a family movie night. We watched Clue, the movie and it was a hoot. Watch the trailer here if you have never watched Clue Sunday saw the entire Van Wyk clan at church for a great service led by the youth group at Fairview.

The rest of the week went by without much incident. Turns out everyone was hating one of the books as much as I was. It was a huge relief. Classes went along as before. On Friday I picked my friend Nathan up at the airport to move along to the Megabus. It was great to see him for a few hours. Mom went to Chicago for the weekend with Aunt Becky so Dad and I made tacos for dinner. Saturday Dad and I went to work out together and then went to see a movie. We got free tickets and ate at Johnny Rockets and then watch This Means War. It was a lot of fun. It was a good mix of explosions and covert operatives and pretty men. Sunday was more church. I also picked Nathan up from the Megabus and took him to the airport. I spent the remainder of the weekend reading.

Monday and Tuesday of this week were a bit boring, though Monday morning I got to wake up to two lovely little girls playing in the basement, I think college should get President's Day off as well. Wednesday was not so fun. I went in for a CT scan and that was less than fun. They were doing a contrast so they went through my port- which wasn't numb so that was not comfortable. The scan went well on its own but then I got a heparin shot it is did not go well. The heparin makes me feel a lot of nausea and really crummy so I went home and slept it off.

Today was much better.
Mom, Dad and I met with Dr. Azar and he had some very good news.

Dr. Azar had hoped for at least a 50% reduction in the cancer sites (I'm approx. 66% through chemo) Instead we got - NINETY PERCENT! (Or more... he didn’t want to be toooo optimistic)! He said it could have been a better report. He is feeling that I may not have to have radiation this summer, but isn’t saying it is still a possibility or the cancer could return.

I still have to finish the remaining three rounds of chemo and 4-6 weeks after that have another CT scan and PET scan. Between the two the tests will give Dr. Azar a clear picture of (PET) metabolic activity [i.e. energy] and (CT) shape, size, location if any cancer remains - but who knew what beautiful words these could be

As it stands:
liver is normal
spleen, pancreas, adrenal glands are unremarkable
kidneys are normal
bowel, intestines, uterus, and bladder are normal
abdominal aorta is normal
bones intact
heart is normal, aorta & great vessels are intact
(and great medical lingo here (scrabble players note))
the left supraclavicular lymphadeopathy has also nearly resolved.
previously visualized mass effect upon the SVC and azygos vein has improved with persistent attenuation of the left brachiocephalic vein (I think that’s the left lung)

They had some trouble with the blood drawn for my labs so they gave me a "clot buster" but had to draw my labs from my arm. The clot was cleared in time for chemo so that was great. It took a bit of time to get my drugs but they get them and I was home just before 6. A lovely neighbor brought dinner and dessert. It was very yummy.

Thank you for all your support and prayers. They mean a lot to my family and my self.