It's a go!!

Here goes clinical trial #2!! All my test looked okay so I get to start the trial. Bad thing is the therapy rooms are all booked for tomorrow so I can't start until Monday. It's too expensive to fly home and fly back so I'm stuck! David went home today, and mom flew in. Wish I could have gone home with him. I miss my Brayden :-( Gonna have to Skype him and David tonight. I love being able to see him and talk to him at the same time. So much better than just talking on the phone. Thanks so much Amie for introducing me to Skype. I know I'm a little behind, but I do live in Colorado City. Were always the last to know lol!! So I will go in Monday to start. All I gotta do is take pills. But the first day is gonna be a long day. Gotta stay there for 10 hours. They draw blood and take EKG's all day. It's a looooong day of just sitting there. Think the lap top is gonna go with me. One of the side effects of the drug is the horrible rash. I'm still clearing up from that crap and it's about to get bad again. I just hope it's not as bad as last time. Only time will tell. Everyone keep positive thoughts about this drug. It's gonna work!!!!! It has to work. My scans were as expected. The tumors have grown and there are new ones on my lungs. But it has not spread anywhere else, thank goodness. The CT scan also showed a big cyst on my left overy that they are wanting to send me to a Gyno up here to have it looked into further. He used one of those "doctor" terms while describing it. Pretty much said it needs to be looked at. Yay, wonderful. One more thing for me to stress about. I know it will all be okay, but until I know for sure I can't help but think about it. That's about it for now. Just wanted to give everyone a quick update. Hope everyone has a wonderful Easter!!!

Clinical Trial #2!!

It's been a while since I've updated so I thought I'd let everyone know what's been going on. I went back to Houston last week for a check up since my surgery. The surgeon said everything looks good and everything has healed up nicely. I saw my Oncologist also. Found out that the tumor they removed that's sitting in the lab is growing cancer cells "beautifully". Which is a good thing. So we have that there for future use(see my last post about the vaccine). She said my x-ray only showed 1 tumor had grown in size just a tiny bit. That really put my mind at ease. I made myself sick worrying that they were all growing and had doubled in size. I try not to think the worst, but I always do. In all my check ups went good. I got a call today from the clinical nurse. I have to be back in Houston Monday, so David and I are heading up there Sunday. I have to sign the consent to start the trial on Monday, then I have a full week of appointments. Scans, blood work, EKG's, eye check up.....all the "fun" stuff. Then Friday I will start taking the pills. They are a combonation of a MEC and BRAF inhibitor. So they are going to target two of the chains that come before it turns into cancer. That's my way to explain it haha!! I have to stay in Houston after that just in case I have a reaction to the meds. They really want me to stay the full 15 days, but of course they can't make me. After talking with her I decided to stay and if I feel okay and don't have any worries then I will come home for a couple days and then go back. David will be with me the first week, and my mom is going to fly up there for the second week. I'm so glad that we will be staying in a hotel and not the hospital. So I searched the internet all day looking for a cheap, but decent hotel. We got one that has a kitchenette in it so we can cook instead of eating out. Gotta go as cheap as we can. So that pretty much sums it up for now. Looks like Houston is gonna be my home for the next two weeks. I really wish it was summer so Brayden could go. I just really hate leaving him. Especially for that long. But I know he's being well taken care of while I'm gone. When I find out a little more about the trial I will share it with everyone. I'm really really REALLY praying it doesn't affect me very bad so I can work and lead a somewhat normal life.

Not so good day

So my day started out wonderfully until I checked the mail. Ugh, just one more thing to worry about. Okay here's the deal. The tumor they removed from my lungs is going to be kept in a lab and left to grow to produce more cancer cells. Once it get's to a certain point they will take the cells and make a vaccine out of it to put back in my body to help fight off the rest of the melanoma I have. I think that is cool as can be, but there is only a 50% chance the cells will grow. I will not know for about 6 weeks if it works. I thought that was going to be it. Oh no. If the cells grow I will be put in the hospital for 14 days and go through Chemo and IL2 plus the injections of the vaccine they will create. Were talking MAJOR major treatments here! This freaks me out! The IL2 is what I did last year where I was in the hospital for the high dose injections that made me so sick. It kicked my butt BAD! To have to go through this on to of more chemo, MAN scares the crap out of me! I will do what I have to do to get better, but just the thought of having to do high dose IL2 again really really stresses me out. I don't even know for sure if I have to do this yet until we get the results to see if the cancer cells grow, but I feel like this is never going to get easier. Anyways that my wonderful news for the day. I hope and pray the cancer cells do grow and I'm able to do this, but I really REaLLY could do without having to go through the IL2 again.

Surgery update

Sorry it's taken me so long to update this thing, I just haven't been up to it. As most of you know I had my surgery last Wednesday. They went in and removed a portion of my right lung where the biggest tumor was. Found out after surgery they removed about a lemon size piece! Yeah, way bigger than I was expecting. Surgery went good. I had so much support there and back home that I just knew everything was going to turn out okay. All of my last surgeries they knocked me out before I got to the surgery room. Not this time. I had to move from my bed up onto the surgery table then out I went. Next think I know I'm waking up to David coming towards me. I have to small incisions, one under my right arm and the other one on my upper back. They are about an inch or two long and neither one has bothered me a bit. Then I have a spot where the drain tube was inserted on my side that's another story. I think I had the grand daddy of all drain tubes. It hurt in the hospital and it still hurts!! I got out of the hospital the day after surgery. I had no air leakage and nothing draining so I was outta there! We of course stayed one more night at the hotel, just in case, and plus there was no way I was gonna make the long drive home that day. We got home Friday and I've just been resting ever since. Recovering is soooooooo much easier this time around. I still have nightmares about my last surgery, drain tubes, pain pumps....man that was awful! Seems like every day I'm doing a lot better. I still feel pressure in my chest, but it's more sore than pain. I'm hoping to get back to work soon. I hate, hate being stuck in this house. I can't drive for two weeks, and I'm not to pick anything heavy up. They said I should be back to normal in about 6 weeks. I'm waitin to hear back from Nydia, my nurse to see when I can go back to get started on the next trial. The trial is a lot like what I was one. It just consist of taking pills this time though, no chemo YAY! It also targets the BRAF mutation that I have. Side affects are nothing like the last trial. They said sluggishness is the main thing. So no rash, which by the way I'm still working on getting to go away, and no swelling up like a balloon. I actually have knuckles and ankles again lol So as of right now were waiting to get into a new trial. I know it's going to take time to find the right meds, but I know in my heart we will find it and it will keep my tumors from getting any bigger and also keep the cancer from spreading anywhere else. And I'm never gonna give up on a cure being found. Again I want to thank everyone for the continueous support and prayers. Without all of you I don't know how my family and I would make it through this.

On a side note, MY BABY IS TURNING 10 NEXT WEEK!!!!

Another Surgery.....

Okay here's the latest update. My scans showed that one of the tumors on my lungs has POSSIBLY grown in size. All the others are stable and have not changed at all. So in order to find out what's going on with that one tumor they are going to have to go in and cut it out. They are not sure if it actually grew or if it's just inflamed. I go on Feb 1st to meet with a Thorasic Surgeon for my consultation. I will find out then when I will have surgery and what the surgery will consist of. I hoping and praying it can just be done with a scope. I really, really don't want to be cut open, that just freaks me out! What they will do is biopsy the tumor to find out what's going on with it. If it comes back with cancer cells in it that means it has grown. If it comes back clear then that means it is inflamed. If it has grown then what they will do is take the cancer cells, leave them in the lab and let them grow. Then they will make a vaccine out of it and inject it back into my body to help fight off the other tumors on my lungs. I've heard of this procedure before and think it's neat how they can do that. The percentage of it working is 50/50, which when your dealing with cancer that's a high percentage. While the cancer cells are growing they will start me on another clinical trial. It is similar to the one I was on except the side affects are not as severe as what I'm fighting now. Good thing is the cliniccal nurse I have now is also over this trial, so she's not getting rid of me yet LOL IF it comes back where the tumor was just inflamed then that means the trial I was on, was working because all the other tumors are stable and did not grow. So they will start me back on the trial. So pretty much we don't know the next step until after I have have the surgery and they test the tumor. As of right now I am not on any treatments. They have to stop it until they find out what's going on. I came home with 3 more bottles of pills YAY lol!!! I'm telling you I have a mini pharmacy going on here lol. They gave me a pill for my magnesium because it's low, then they gave me "water pills" to take to try and get some of this water weight off because I am swollen from head to toe!! I have cankles and no elbows HAHA! I know, not funny but I gotta laugh about it sometimes. Then I have to take potassium pills. I have no clue how I'm going to remember when to take all this pills everyday. Some I have to eat with, others I don't. So confusing!!!

I think that's about it. Like I had said it's not the best news, but then again it could be worse. Really I just have that one stubborn little tumor giving us problems. When we find out what's going on with it, then we can proceed on. Its awesome that the other tumors are stable and that it has not spread anywhere else.

On a brigher note I only have 3 days, 3 DAYS till I fly out to California!!!! I need this get away so bad!!!!!!!!! I get to get on a plane and head somewhere other than Houston! I get to go see my very best childhood friend and celebrate her big 30 with her, and then we get to go watch the Ellen show, I'm beyond freaking out I actually get to do this! Danelle & Ellen here I come!!!!!!

We missed our flight!!!!

Another round of chemo down the drain YAY!! My doctors appointment went well. It was just a check up to see how things are going with me. They are a little concerned about the swelling in my arms. Even though it is a side effect of the drug they still want to make sure everything is okay. So I have to get an ultrasound of my arms to make sure I don't have any clots. Freaks me out, but I know they are just being safe. They gave me the orders to bring home since we had a plane to catch and we didn't have time to do it that day. Called the hospital here in town and they can do it. I thought I'd have to go out of town. They are to call me tomorros, Thursday, to let me know when to come in. They told me the people that do the ultrasounds are only there on Thursday. I know in my heart everything will turn out okay. It's just the meds plus a side affect from my surgery making me swell so bad. My ankles are really swollen to. Not much that can be done about it except keeping my arms and legs elevated. I was told not to wear my sleeves because they are putting too much pressure on my hands. Let's see...Oh yeah they put me back on the antibiotic I first started taking when I broke out in the rash. They changed it the first time because it kept me so sick to my stomach. Well the stuff they put me on is not working. The rash is somewhat coming back and I can feel it coming back on my scalp. So I'm back on the stuff I started with. So far it has not made me sick, so were doing good.

My chemo appointment ran late so we missed our plane. It was supposed to start at 2pm and they didn't get started until 3:30. We really weren't worried about it because when I pulled up the schedule on my phone it showed another flight out at 7:20pm. But when I called to change it they told me that the last plane was the 5:30 one we missed. We were not happy!!! lol So we had to stay in a hotel overnight with nothing but what we had on our backs. Never had to do that, and never want to do it again lol. We flew out at 9:20 the next morning and I was so glad to get home. I havn't done much but sleep since we got home. I get pretty weak and light headed for a couple days after Chemo. I should be back to normal in a few days.

My next appointment is January 20th. I go for restaging again. So it will be a long couple days of Scans again. I'm excited to see how much more the tumors have shrunk. That's about it for now. I want to wish everyone a very Happy New Year, it's gonna be a good one!!!!!

It can't get better than this!

All the prayers have been answered. He listened and knew I needed help.

That's right, THE TREATMENTS ARE WORKING!!!!!!!!!!!! Some tumors shrunk and some disappeared! Now that's some awesome news!! After 1.5 years of fighting, we finally found something that works! I cried tears of joy for the first time in years. I finally got the news I was wanting for. I have hope again. After so much bad news I was really starting to lose hope. I feel 100% better. I can't stop smiling. I feel like a new person. My doctors ROCK and I owe them so much! My PA said that my doctor was jumping up and down when he saw the results. My clinical nurse even cried after visiting with me. No more sitting on the couch depressed over what lies ahead. I'm ready to face the world again and start living my life like normal. It couldn't get much better than this!

**Today, you should celebrate what an unbelievable life you have had so far: the accomplishments, the many blessings, and, yes, even the hardships because they have served to make you stronger. Just as a gem cannot be polished without friction, nor can a life be perfected without trials. Take time to acknowledge your life and to praise yourself.**