Devastating but Hopeful about Treatment

 

It has been a little over a week since my last post probably because things have been pretty quiet but devastating. We had hoped that Part B of my treatment would have destroyed the rest of the leftover cancer cells but s didn’t so we had to make a major change in my treatment. Chemo will most likely still be in my future but I am now going to do immunotherapy a very high-tech and expensive ($100,000 per treatment but the insurance should cover most of it) treatment, especially for those whose chemo is not working.

“Immunotherapy is a cancer treatment that uses your body’s immune system to find and destroy cancer cells. Your immune system identifies and destroys intruders, including cancerous cells. Immunotherapy boosts your immune system so it can do more to find and kill cancer cells.

Immunotherapy for cancer is a very effective treatment that may help some people with cancer live longer. Medical researchers are developing new immunotherapy drugs to treat more types of cancer.” https://my.clevelandclinic.org/

Basically, I will be on a 24-hour infusion for the next 28 days of a drug called blinatumomab (Blincyto) with a three-day stay in the hospital to get things started. I will then take a bag of chemicals home and it will be my shadow as it will go everywhere I go. I have had to do that in the hospital but not sure how a trip to the store will go. Unfortunately, there are side effects similar to cancer including nausea, vomiting, mouth sores, fatigue, and flu-like symptoms, among others. So that is not exciting. There are also some very serious side effects that I have to watch for hence the stay in the hospital to get started. 

I said we are deviated and for good reason, as it doesn’t bode well for my prognosis. The 5-year survival rate is significantly reduced and if this doesn’t work I will have to have a bone marrow transplant which is a last resort type of treatment. So we pray that immunotherapy works.

We still remain hopeful and know that all things are according to His will. 

“I have adopted several mottoes that help me deal with my condition day to day. One is “You’re alive until you’re dead.” Another I found in an e-mail message: “It’s not the number of breaths we take in this life that matters, but rather the number of moments that take our breath away.” I have had many of these moments. One of the surprising things I have discovered is that I can be happy even when facing death.” (“Living in the Shadow of Death” By Lois McCune Sewell September 2006 Ensign) 

I am not necessarily staring death in the face at his point but I agree with her that I’ve seen many blessings in my life, I can’t deny God is in the details of my life. For example, after I was laid off from my job my severance package lasted just long enough for me to get on unemployment. Then once I had started cancer treatment my unemployment stopped. I applied for Social Security disability and it got approved and the first check will come next month. I was expecting a much longer wait. Though these amounts are less than half what I used to make they have been a major blessing in helping us get by. I want to say how grateful I am for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints welfare program. It has been a major assistance these last many months. We have not gone hungry and we have always had a roof over our heads thanks the the God’s program. I want to thank all that give to the Fast Offering fund that makes it all possible.

The Lord loves us and is mindful of our needs and John 14:18 “I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.”