Round 5: Seeing the Future
Round 5, week 2 was another good week! Our primary doc/oncologist actually noted that after Round 6, we could be moving away from IV chemo into less aggressive treatments including radiation and chemo pills once a week!
Here's the lastest from Melisa:
"I was able to meet with the head doctor and confirm the game plan. We continue with 6 rounds of chemo. Do another set of scans to confirm the progress. Then we switch to a less aggressive regimen. Most likely, radiation and chemo in a pill form. All good news! Now I just have to keep my head in the game and do all I can do to help my body recover after each dose of chemo. So Sept 6th should be my last full dose of chemo…my light at the end of the tunnel 😊. I have NEVER been to a hospital as many times as I have in the last 4 months. Feels kinda weird that I feel so comfortable there. As I walked into the room for chemo one of the nurses says “welcome back Melisa”. I am very lucky to be at such a great hospital, surrounded by people that seem to really like their job and I am extremely thankful. Can’t wait to start growing my hair, eyelashes & eyebrows back. But in the mean time, I always have picture of myself with Snapchat filters to laugh at.
“In life, you have 3 choices. Give up, give in, or give it your all.” - Charleston Parker
Keep Fighting the Chemo
The trick to these chemo treatments seems to be balancing the chemo with recovery. It's a horrible combination of things going into the body and it takes it's toll, which is why they do blood tests before every chemo treatment to ensure the patient is strong enough for the treatment.
Melisa had done well with chemo up until getting rejected for treatment due to low numbers a few weeks ago. She recovered and is back in treatments again now.
She's watching what she eats very closely, has a super shakes she drinks, vitamins/juice plus, and has cut sugar and other things way back. She's been making bread so we can control ingredients and we've gone non-GMO and organic where we can. At some point we'll post the info on shakes, bread, etc... but suffice to say for now - food and diet play a big role for her in the chemo recovery process each week.
Steady as She Goes
We continue. As long as the numbers keep coming up good with each test or scan - we hold. Doctors said that a good result for them is 'stable', and Melisa is improving. So we're in for Round 6 and then we evaluate all kinds of new options as numbers come back good (we know they will).
Part of those options may include leaving the trial that's been so good for us... And that is a bit scarry. We'll cross the bridge when we find it -- day by day, step by step.
We'll also post more news as we know it... And appreciate your patience between updates.
ONWARD!
We wish good fortune to you all, positive results for us all, and we thank you all for the continued support and messages we constantly receive for Melisa.