Settling Into the Process

It’s been a while since our last update.

My bad.

A few highlights.

The 4th of 6 treatments will be on Monday, December 8th.

Maybe that’s not a highlight. Just a fact.

Erin had an MRI on December 2nd. And an oncology appointment on December 3rd. And our Dallas oncology virtual appointment on December 5th.

Appointments upon appointments.

We were hopeful the MRI on December 2nd would show some sizing or measurements or progress toward tumor regression.

The MRI came back a little confusing. Not saying much honestly. We reviewed it with our Lubbock oncologist.

“I don’t see anything there.”

The Dallas oncologist said something similar:

“The radiologist would have put sizing if there was anything to size. I’d bet it’s gone.”

Gone.

Not one hundred percent confirmed, but it seems likely it isn’t measurable at this point.

Which is good news.

And yet, you are not deemed “cancer free” until post-surgery, which happens post-chemo — which for us should happen sometime in February.

At that point, they will test what they remove and look for any remaining cancer cells.

No cancer would mean pCR has been achieved — a pathological complete response.

If cancer still remains, it changes the treatment to complete the 52 weeks.

And so, the journey continues. With treatment 4 of 6 on Monday.

Erin seemed to have “cruised” through the first two treatments, but this last treatment was tough for a few days. Our goal with treatment 4 of 6 is to pre-medicate and alleviate many of those symptoms that tend to start Friday post-treatment and last until that Monday.

And today, the 4th treatment.

Six weeks from the final chemo.

Forty weeks from the final immunotherapy.

And so we settle into the process. Into the journey. And what may seem long will eventually be distant.

That seems to be the way life works.