Thinking of you Virginia / Compwalla, and hoping you'll ...

I just finished my first week of chemo. Pretty brutal. I learned a hard lesson: take the anti-nausea meds on a regular schedule whether you think you need them or not. I was feeling ok and didn't take any before bed on Friday, slept in a little on Saturday, and got behind the curve. Spent all day Saturday barfing. Couldn't even keep down sips of water and nibbles of saltine. Sunday was a little better. I managed tea and rice and crackers. But it left me dehydrated and I would nearly faint every time I stood up so I had to go back to infusion Monday for a bag of fluids. It was really bad. I couldn't even stand up in the shower. I showered sitting on the floor of my shower on Sunday night. Ugh.

I had a scan two days before I started chemo and compared to my November scans, the two little lung nodules are growing. Saw my oncologist yesterday and he said that starting chemo was the exact right thing to do. We're going to do another round of chemo and then rescan me in March. We're hoping the lung nodules shrink and if they do, yay. If they don't, we will talk about ablation or radiation. He said since everywhere else looks good he wants to "bathe my organs" in chemo to kill any cancer at the microscopic level before they become nodules. We are hitting it hard with both conventional and oral chemo to try and push it down for as long as possible. Chemo is not curative for this cancer; we are basically trying to buy me time.

They did foundation one testing on my tumor and didn't find any gene mutations that would respond to any targeted therapies either approved or in clinical trials. Next is looking at immunotherapy and other chemo clinical trials. The bottom line is that unless we can find something new, this cancer will keep coming back and will eventually kill me. Adrenal cancer is wickedly aggressive and notoriously unresponsive to traditional therapies. But I don't have diffuse metastasis and my team is hopeful that I will be here at least a few more years. Maybe by then they will have made progress (GO JOE BIDEN!) that will be the answer for me and others fighting this fight.

I'm sorry that the nausea snuck up on you. I hope that all goes better in the second round of chemo. And, I hope that the chemo clears the lung spots.

You have always had a strong spirit and that will serve you well! It sounds like your team has a plan A, and other plans ready tomgo as the need should arise. Continued vibes, thoughts, and wishes for strength and clarity as you move forward.

I think of you often and admire your courage in the face of this terrible diagnosis.

Thank you for your update, I've been thinking about you. Hugs to you and your family.

You're in my thoughts. Hang in there!

Virginia, I am sorry the chemo is being so rough. I am sending good thoughts and wishes your way. Take care.

Keeping you in my thoughts.

Keeping you in my thoughts. {{{hugs}}}

Virginia - ((((hugs)))), love and healing being sent your way!

I'm another that thinks about you often. It sounds like you have a good team of doctors helping you. I hope the chemo goes as easily as possible. Hang in there.

Virginia- I think of you often, also. Thanks for updating.

We are ALL behind you! Stay strong!

And seriously.... Get yourself some good medical marijuana! It helped my mom with nausea, among other things.

But she had to do edibles...