Turtley Awesome

Wednesday's not-a-surgery turned out to be more a-surgery than I'd prepared myself for, but in any case, a success!  

The surgery was done laparoscopically with the great bonus to that being that there's video of the process.  Just that alone made my little nerd heart very happy to see.  I've said many, many times throughout this process that I wish I could see what was happening inside my body.  Now I know!  The tumors turn a pale white as they're treated with the microwaves and die.  All of the doctors were impressed at the response and they've seen and done this quite a lot.  

Bagel bite got a pass on this one and we'll do a follow up treatment depending on how the liver mets respond over the next few months.  BB is very small and very superficial, so there are multiple options there.  Before the surgery, they collected cells from the tumors to make a "vaccine" that is currently in the process of being made for me.  It's quite possible that BB could meet its demise then.  Fingers crossed that's the case because we all know how much it likes to be poked at.  *cringe*

Recovery wasn't without bumps--the dreaded day 2 came with some very spicy nerve pain in my shoulder and neck.  Thankfully, that passed after a couple more days, but since being home, I've been pretty well flattened.  I'm steadily becoming more of a 3D model again and honestly pretty impressed with the number of vertical minutes I had today.  

I had a moment of appreciation today (though truth be told, I have a lot of them these days) for the timing of this process with my body and the time of the year.  Dying leaves, changing colors, storing nutrients, hibernation.  My body is right on track.

I posted the update below on the GoFundMe page, as well, but copying here for those who get their updates from the blog:

Success!

I'm really, really excited to share that the microwave ablation of the liver metastasis went perfectly last week--as expected or better than expected. Your donations helped make it happen and continue to make treatment in Mexico a possibility for me. We're on the right track and will keep going as long as we can. As people learn about my case both in and out of the medical field, there have been incredible donations to help make recovery a possibility. My gratitude for all of you reaches the sky. Please keep sharing. It started as my medical journey, but now it's a story of hope for not only myself, but many others. With love, Emily





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I gotta fix this

Image
 Oh dear.  Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. You know what looks really bad?? A BLOG about CANCER that HASN'T BEEN UPDATED IN 6 MONTHS !!! Hands up if you thought mine bucket hath been klonked! I've been writing quite a bit and sometimes even think it'll turn into an update for the BLOG about  CANCER  that  HASN'T BEEN UPDATED IN 6 MONTHS,  but then it becomes something more for myself than for public consumption and so here we are. Not great at the updates, but very much alive and thriving. Did I mention that chemo and I are going to do this little dance for- maybe -ever? Sometimes I want to know how long forever is, and sometimes I don't, so I'm still not sure how to answer the question when asked. "Indefinitely" pops out most often, while I squelch, "I guess as long as I want to keep waking up in the morning? *shrug*" Too dark? Ok, fine. Hi, do you need a walk? The very, very good news: I've finagled my way into a longer cycle between infusi
Read more

Happy Anniversary, Chemo

Image
It wasn't until we got home from the hospital yesterday that I realized that it was my one year anniversary with chemo. Leannda asked me to find the picture from Day 1. Scrolling through my phone, I laughed when I looked at Leannda and she was wearing the same sweater, and I was wearing the same shirt on Day 1 that I wore to the Maggie Rogers concert on Tuesday night, chemo day 365.  As years have gone by, touch points have arrived throughout my cancer journey and Maggie's music has turned out to be one of them. (And maybe Leannda's sweater and my shirt?) The month before my surgery in February 2019, Heard It in a Past Life was released, and in that month, I played the hell out of it. To make the point, the CD(!) is still in my car that has a CD player(!) and it will forever live there. This lead me to an earlier album (The Echo, also absurdly masterful), where I found "Satellite" and played it over and over in the February snow, waiting for my surgery date. There
Read more

She's musing about trees again

Image
I'm so grateful to be going through treatment at this time of year.  The trees and I look the same.  Familiar, but different.  Shedding old seasons, quiet, hibernating, but very, very much surviving.  Except for darling sharkoma, who has been greedily slurping its chemo and then complaining why it feels dead inside.  Bottoms up, y'all!  Happy New Year! If you were to ask me if I'm superstitious, there would be a long pause before a 50:50 shot at answering yes or no.  (I'm also a libra, so tralala) Sometimes it's just a little thing that can make the difference in happiness, confidence, whatever.  Keeping things the same for the sake of familiarity is sometimes all ya got.  I hesitate sometimes to write an update because things change--and have changed SO many times--that I feel like I'm just telling you about the same rollercoaster ride that I keep taking turns on except maybe its painted a different color.  Alas, that's just the truth of how this goes... He
Read more