Sorry it has been so long since my last update. Thank you for your continued prayers.
Things have been going fairly well. Still doing lots of at home therapies. The neuropathy in my feet continues to improve a little bit each week. My low back also seems to be improving as well. I still get the shooting pains down my legs from time to time as I walk, but it is getting less frequent. I will be getting my next infusion tomorrow.
Prayers:
- That my feet will continue to heal from the neuropathy.
- That the nerves in my low back will continue to heal.
- For prayers for my family - God knows!
PIc: We hosted Thanksgiving for 11 adults and 5 dogs!
This last Tuesday I met with my oncologist (Dr Brown). After looking over my Nerve Conduction Velocity and MRI results she decided that there was no reason why I shouldn't start back up on my Keytruda infusions every three weeks. The tingling down my legs is caused by the bulging disc in my lower back not as a side effect from the Keytruda. So, I started back on Keytruda that afternoon.
Dr Brown also got the results of my Signatera blood test back. I do still have some cancer DNA in my blood. She said it was only a little bit, the score was <20. They will retest me in 6 months.
Ever since my infusion I have been very tired. So I have been trying to rest more which is hard with all the therapies I do every day.
Prayers:
- That I can continue to receive Keytruda with minimal side effects.
- That in 6 months my blood test will show no cancer DNA
- Devin is still doing PT and seems to be healing very well.
Pic: Of me getting my Keytruda infusion. It only takes about 30 minutes once they get it from the pharmacy but it takes about an hour while we wait for it to arrive from the pharmacy.
Phew...it has been awhile since my last update. The old saying goes, "No news is good news."
I had two weeks were I didn't have any appointments so I just stayed home mostly and focused on all the home therapies I am doing. There's a lot and some of them are an hour long and I need to do them twice a day. So, it is very time consuming. Devin and I keep researching about neuropathy and finding new things to try. We figure why not give it a try. The worst that can happen is it won't work.
Devin reached out to a colleague of ours when we heard he was getting great results with patients who have neuropathy. Devin talked to him several times and we decided to give it a try. The program is called Blueprint to Neuropathy. It is a 90 day program that can mostly be done from home. It consists of nutritional shakes, clean eating and two therapies. The Anodyne which stimulates blood flow and the ReBuilder which stimulates nerve regrowth.
I've been doing this for 10 days now and I have to say that along with the other things I have been doing I have started to get feeling back in my heels and the middle part of my feet. This is huge because it means I can walk better and I am using less energy to walk. So I'm not as tired by the end of the day. I might still be wobbly at times while walking but I feel confident that we will reverse the damage done by the chemotherapy.
I know several of you have asked what all I am doing for therapies and nutrition. I will be putting together a list of everything in a different blog post, so stay tuned. Let's just say there are so many that I have to set reminders on my phone to remember to do or take things at certain times of the day. Lol! My brain isn't as good at remembering as it used to be. I'm working on that too!
Thank you to those of you who were praying for me on Monday, October 9th. I felt your prayers and because of that and a little help from some Valium I made it through my two MRI's. They scanned my lower back and pelvis.
On Tuesday, October 10th we met with Dr Patt (orthopedist) to discuss my results and my options moving forward. He went over the results of the Nerve Conduction Velocity Test and the two MRI's. The NCVT showed decreased nerve activity in both legs but more so on the left. The MRI's showed a large disc herniation at L4/L5 and a smaller one at L5/S1. He discussed how the radiation I had at the beginning weakened the bones and the metastasis that was in the bones and now healed have left some major holes in my bones which is allowing the discs to move into areas they aren't suppose to be in. Which is causing me significant pain when I am walking/standing.
For treatments we talked about doing a series of injections called a spinal block at L4. This will make it so hopefully I won't be able to feel pain in my legs when walking. He also discussed doing surgery to fuse L4/L5/S1 to hopefully stabilize the area. He gave me a 50-50 chance of feeling better and healing properly. It seems that my body has really taken a hit from all the radiation and 4 types of chemotherapy. He did talk to us about how 1/2 of all disc herniations might heal themselves within a years time. With this information we all felt that at this time my best option is to try the nerve block. It is scheduled for after Thanksgiving. That was the earliest time they had available. I am on a waitlist for an earlier opening. In the meantime I will continue to build my body back up both nutritionally and with therapies.
I have been off of Prednisone now for the last 5 days and my sleep schedule is slowly returning back to normal. However, this is also causing me to have more pain in my legs and low back. I am managing it with some over the counter creams as best I can and resting when it gets too bad.
I go this coming Tuesday, October 17th to get my blood drawn. meet with Dr Brown (oncologist) and get started with my Keytruda infusions again. At least I am anticipating the infusion since the MRI ruled out that this was caused by a neuritis from Keytruda.
Prayers:
- Continued healing for Devin's torn tendon. He seems to be healing well and has started PT.
- For me as I get started on Keytruda again. That my body will be able to use it to keep the cancer away and that I won't get any of the side effects from it.
Pic of me doing one of my therapies. Notice my hair is coming back in slowly!
