Not so great news

Since the last blog:

*Underwent round 11 of chemo. Was so excited about being so close to being done.

*I had been having headaches off and on usually in the morning when I first woke up. Also the headaches would make me physically sick at times. I could be fine one day and then sick the next. I was thinking that there could be something off with my shunt. I called my doctor and she had me come in for a brain MRI at 8:00 in the morning, yuck! When I got to visit my oncologist later that morning she had me do a lot of different things that she doesn't normally do.

We then got to look at the MRI and the MRI did not show nice results. I found out that the shunt was working properly however I also found out that the cancer was coming back in certain regions. Turns out that the chemotherapy that I had been using is working fine however it is carried by the blood and there are certain regions in the brain that are not well supplied by the blood and these are the regions that are having tumor growth (leptomeningal spread). In particular the surface of the brain along with the central region of the brain. I fell to my knees when I found out about this but one of the first thoughts that came to my mind was "well I guess I'm just gonna get to see Jesus earlier than I thought". The doctor told me she wanted to start me on a different kind of treatment, this time a biological agent done through infusion once every two weeks. She couldn't give me a definite time of treatment. It could be 4 months it could be 8 months, it all depends on how well my body responds to it. I needed some good news so I asked if I was going to lose my hair again and she said NO! She said the main side effects are fatigue and having a hoarse voice.

She needed to run more tests and make sure that the cancer wasnt returning anywhere else so my sister Laura and I stayed in Denver and ate and went to the denver museum of science and nature. We saw an imax film and it wasn't very imaxy like I remember the imax movies to be. This one was more of a documentary. We then headed back to the hospital for an MRI of the rest of my spine. We then got to stay at my friend Kalla Paige's house. It was so good to see her!!!! She is such a sweetie she made us dinner and made me oreo balls :D

Thursday I came back in to get a lumbar puncture but they couldn't get enough fluid to be able to monitor how well I'm doing with treatment through those means. Dr. Dameck said this is typical for people with shunts. Good thing was that there was nothing they saw in the MRI's that would keep me from giong home.

Friday evening I flew home. Igot in at midnight and was greeted by my dad and little sister Steph who started crying pretty much as soon as we started hugging. I love that girl! When we got outside of the airport my mom was waiting in the car with ANDY'S!!! A strawberry and oreo vanilla concrete :D

Saturday-Tuesday I tried to spend as much time with family as possible.

Saturday evening we had an icecream party at my cousin Erin's house and the family all sat around visiting with eachother and playing games. They have a small indoor basketball hoop for their daughter Avery and so the boys and myself decided to play a game of horse. I could have totally beat them if I could have made the random must be flexible shots that I attempted.

Sunday I went to church at Strafford and then Sunday night went to church in Fair Grove with my grandma. It was just so great to see my original church family again even though there were a few people who I missed out on seeing. It was quite the surprise to some of them that I was there and it was tearful but all in all I love those people and I am so thankful for all the prayers and support they have given me through the years!

Monday I went into Springfield to get a chance to see my new second cousin Lillian Belle who was 7 lbs and 21 inches. Such a beautiful little girl and numerous joyous family members there waiting to greet her.

Tuesday Stephanie left for Harding. I think she cried a little bit more than she was expecting to but in the end I'm sure she will be fine. And I'm going to have to do my best to send her packages! Maybe Laura and I can work out a system. After Mom, Steph and Michael left Dad, Grandma and myself went back into Springfield since yesterday we had not gotten the opportunity to see Amber or get to hold little Lillian.

When I arrived in Denver Kassidy and her brother picked me up and we proceeded over to the hospital for my first infusion of bevacizumab or avastin. My sister Laura and my friend Tim showed up also to sit with me. The infusion wasn't so bad, the worst part was them having to find my and actually getting it to work on the first try. The infusion was done in about 30 minutes and then I was free to go. No anti-nauseas necessary. I did feel tired later but not too bad.

Wednesday I was a little more tired than usual throughout the day but by the time church came around I was feeling quite well! Here's praying for more good days!