The Road Set Before Me

Mom’s treatment went well yesterday. Something we are very grateful for, especially after last week’s treatment “drama” as mom would call it. Dad again went to treatment with Mom and they trudged their way to the Cancer Center through the snow on Friday.  This treatment was just one chemotherapy shot, so it was very quick. When mom gets the immunotherapy shot, it's very slow and painful, so she is always pretty excited when she doesn’t need to get it. She will get both treatments next week. Friday evening my Dad and I attended a Christmas Choir Concert at Redeemer College that my cousin Victoria is a part of. The concert was wonderful and sounded amazing! My mom wasn’t feeling well enough to attend, but we did take some photos and videos for her to watch later. Friday evening Mom did experience some side effects like a slight headache and some nausea. She wasn’t able to sleep much last night either, but eventually got about 3 hours of sleep. Next week will be a busy one for her wi...

  Hello, it's Dawn writing this time. Alyssa has had a busy week so I thought I'd write on the blog tonight instead.  🌼 First of all, thank you, thank you THANK YOU for all your prayers & support for me and our family. It means a lot to all of us!  Treatment today went well but I can't say it was "uneventful". I didn't react to anything and the treatment itself was fine, BUT I had an "epic gastro event" when arriving at the cancer center doors. I wasn't sure if I would share this and I am not sharing it to highlight the drama but to share my reality.  This also highlights the caring that comes with wedding vows of " in sickness and in health " that Andrew and I made.  🌼 I began a new drug this past June and it has mostly been a game-changer for my gastro issues...but there are surprises. Today was the day, no warning and I'll spare the details but I was so thankful for Andrew's help and for a caring nurse!  (And a shower ...

  Written by Alyssa. Treatment this week was uneventful again, and we are grateful for that. Dr. A ended up lowering Mom’s steroid dose because he believes the cough that she’s had for the past couple of weeks is caused by the steroid she’s on. Additionally, this seems to have a positive effect on mom’s ability to sleep after treatment. On Friday Mom began to experience some vertigo symptoms, which caused us a bit of concern, but thankfully that seems to have subsided today and mom was able to go outside and decorate her window boxes with greenery for Christmas! This is something she always looks forward to doing every year.  Mom’s bloodwork results this week again show that she is responding really well to her treatments. We praise God for continuing to bless her treatments! Thank you again for your continual prayers and words of encouragement for us, and especially Mom, as she walks this road set before her.   Prayer Requests: Mom’s low blood pressure continues to ...

Written by Alyssa. I want to apologize for mistakenly telling everyone that mom's treatment was switching to Friday this week. That was incorrect. Mom still had her chemo appointment on Tuesday for this week, and she will switch to Friday next week. Mom’s treatment went well today. The immunotherapy treatment mom gets is pretty painful, so her nurse suggested she try using a heated blanket to see if that helps to ease the pain a bit. Mom isn't certain if it actually helped with the pain or if the fact that she just loves warm blankets was distraction enough, but she said that it did help make the treatment feel more comfortable. Praise God for that! Mom had a nice conversation with another patient who was also getting treatment today. She  was able to share a bit of her journey with her and encourage her with the words of Psalm 139 about how all of our days are ordained "before one of them came to be” and how great of a comfort it is to rest in the peace of God’s sovereign...

Written by Dawn. Hello friends & family,  Treatment yesterday was uneventful so we're thankful for that again. It is painful but rather quick (5 minutes for the immunotherapy and seconds for my chemo) but there is prep time, waiting for pre-meds to work and pre & post vitals. At treatment, the infusion machine was not working so my nurse had to do the infusion by hand, slowly pushing the infusion into me over a period of 5 minutes. For ME it was more comfortable than with the machine, but apparently it is tense work for the nurses, putting pressure on their hands, so I suspect those machines will be repaired asap, or I hope so for the nurses. Manually giving the infusions is also more time-consuming for the nurses, but on the upside we get to chat with them during that time!  Mentally I had a bit of a difficult day on Monday. My treatments have been much easier this time around (although I'm cautious to say that!), and yet the side-effects have been more subtle and I f...

Written by Alyssa. Today Mom had her blood work done and an appointment with her Hematologist/Oncologist, Dr A. The results he was looking at were the ones we shared a couple weeks ago where the graphs showed incredibly positive results to treatments. The doctor was impressed with her response to the last two rounds of treatments and said that it is very important now that they “stay the course” to allow the treatments to continue to do their job.  Mom has noticed that while the treatments have been difficult they haven’t left her feeling as terrible as they did when she went through treatment in 2021/2022. She discussed this with Dr. A, and he stated that because she is healthier now that is likely why she is feeling this way. He also said this is one of the advantages of starting treatment before negative symptoms have begun to appear since it eliminates some of the risks from secondary issues arising.  The beautiful view while walking to the hospital. The doctor also sent M...

Written by Alyssa. Life is full of simple moments that bring joy to our lives. I was contemplating this a bit today. The weekend was a good one with Mom resting a lot on Saturday which helped her to make it to church on Sunday morning. (another thing to be thankful for!) On Monday our family got together to celebrate Thanksgiving together. As is Moms Thanksgiving tradition, she insisted we take some family photos while we were all together. Mom felt up to walking to our neighborhood park and we got some really nice photos together before heading back home. (again, a simple moment that led us to gratitude!)  We had our Thanksgiving meal at our house since this allows Mom to leave and rest for a bit if she feels like she needs it and she can join the rest of us again once she’s feeling better. This worked out well because at one point Mom began to feel nauseated and she did leave to rest for a bit before rejoining us. Often times Mom’s weeks follow a cycle of Monday being “normal”, n...