Check-ups

I'm not going to MD Anderson a fraction of the time, but when I do, I'm spending most of my day there. Yesterday, I had blood work, met with Dr. Ibrahim (breast oncologist) and Dr. Weston (Gastroenterologist at MDA that monitors the cyst in my pancreas).  I was under the impression that the checkups would get further and further apart until they felt it was no longer necessary. Apparently, they will both follow me forever. I was a little shocked about that at first... But I guess it can't be a bad thing to have doctors in one of the best institutions keep an eye on you, right?

Dr. Ibrahim said my blood work and tumor markers looks great! As long as symptoms don't present themselves or blood work looks off, I will not be getting surveillance MRI's or CT scans.
He will continue to see me every 4 months for blood tests and checkups.

Dr. Weston wants me to have an in-depth MRI and CT combo of the pancreas, but not until May of 2021. The appointment ALREADY showed up in my MDA portal. ha!

It has been 2 years since I started this blog. Two years since I was diagnosed. And 2 years since I felt that life would never be normal again. BUT... I'm seeing glimpses of normalcy and it makes me so happy!  I'm taking my time, but little by little I'm getting stronger physically.  My babies seem completely unaffected by the past 2 years, which is such a HUGE relief to me. I still have some minor residual treatment symptoms but it's completely manageable. I do wish I could remove certain dates from the calendar because I find myself re-living those dates (some form of PTSD maybe?). Still, I continue to feel appreciative of this GREAT life and I wouldn't change a single thing. 💗

Ditched the Wigs!

I've been wearing wigs and hats since I lost my hair at the beginning of December 2017.  I didn't want to even try getting a real haircut because I refused to wear it short. In my mind, I had another year of wigs (making it a total of 2 and a 1/2 years with wigs). 😫 A sweet friend finally convinced me to let her give me a haircut and add some color.  Laura owns two salons in College Station (Celebrity Spa and Salon) and was the only person I trusted during such a vulnerable time. I knew she would do a great job, but I was convinced I would not venture out in public with short hair, NEVER-EVER!
This girl proved me wrong and 5 hours (and a couple of happy/emotional tears later), I walked out of the salon without a wig or a hat!

It's still very hard for me to feel comfortable with it being this short, but it has been liberating.  It feels so good to begin the rebuilding process! 

Dec. 2017

July 2019 (hair didn't start growing back until chemo ended in May 2018)

Tara (hands down one of the biggest players in my support system 💓) and sweet Laura! There are several days/milestones in this journey that I will remember forever and this day is one of them. 💝

Deported!!

This is old news by now, but I'm updating the blog so that I can keep track down the road. I had my port removed on Friday May 24th. I chose to not be put under general anesthesia and I'm very glad I did. This was my 5th surgical procedure in a year and a half and going under anesthesia was getting old. Well, going under wasn't, but waking up from it was!
The procedure itself only lasted 30 minutes and after some tugging and pulling, they took my old friend out.
Recovery was so much faster and we headed to the beach the next day. I felt strange without it for a couple of weeks. I still touch the area looking for it and still wear the seatbelt in my car under my arm to avoid it touching my port, but I no longer miss it. I am beginning to see glimpses of normalcy and it feels SOOOO GOOD. I love EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. I appreciate the little things in ways I can't describe and the bumps on the road, are just that... Best of all, I still believe that life is good. Very good!

MDA wouldn't let me keep the port, so I got a picture instead.