Update

(Please click anywhere within this post to read the WHOLE post) I am feeling really quite well!  I've been more active than usual and have mostly figured out how to handle the digestive stuff that bothered me for a year!  What a blessing!  I know, beyond a doubt, that this is a result of God's mercy and I truly feel the prayers and support of my friends, family and local church. God is good!  Life is good!  No matter how this thing called life turns out, I hang onto the HOPE that we have in our Creator, Jesus Christ.   He has a plan.  He is merciful.  He is here with us. He cares.  He leads.  He comforts... He does it all. ... New Hope, Pennsylvania... Because my right ribs have been hurting, I had a routine CT scan a little early - in July and followed up with an appointment with the Oncologist today.  I was quite confident that I was going to quickly write and post the blogpost already formed in my mind.  But, I didn't. ...

(Click on photo to read entire post) It's been about 4 months without cancer treatment, which has been such a relief.  I still have little, annoying symptoms, but nothing terrible.  So my darling husband, John, and I decided to take a lovely vacation to the UK.  We celebrated our 46th anniversary there!  I'm a genealogy freak, so, as John would say, we spent a lot of time "visiting Cheryl's dead relatives."  Churches and graveyards.  Lots of castles too, but those are unfortunately not my relatives. After the trip, I had another CT scan of the liver that showed the bile duct cancer tumor is a little bigger.  Today, the Oncologist said that, since I'm not feeling too badly, we can wait for 3 months and do another scan.  I am very content with that!  Life is a gift.  We just keep moving until we can't. This old hymn by Fanny Crosby is especially meaningful to me right now.  All the way my Savior leads me; what have I to ask beside? Ca...

I had a CT scan last week and although the tumor is basically the same size, the Oncologist said that it appeara to have fewer living cells.  A beaten up tennis ball? I'll have another CT at the end of May - in 3 months.  It is a relief to know that I won't be going through any treatment or having to make decisions about it during that time.  The stomach issues continue unpredictably up and down, but I think I'm getting a better handle on controlling the symptoms with diet and medicine.  The back pain has been helped greatly from the exercises I got during PT.  It's important to be vigilant about both issues, because it seems to help a lot if I do. (click text for more) I'm grateful for many things:  For the confidence and knowledge I have that, despite my many flaws, God loves me is in control of my situation - no matter how this thing turns out. I am blessed by my praying & caring husband and family, dear friends and lots of brothers and sisters in fa...

I finished the last of 15 Radiation Treatments today!!   It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. Unlike Chemotherapy, I've felt well enough to go to a few concerts and events, shopping and to church!  It's been great to feel a bit more normal. Unfortunately, for yours truly, the impatient patient, I must wait until late February or early March to have the next CT scan done and a measurement of the tumor. In the meantime, that part of my liver still needs to "cook" and I'll probably be "stewing" because I like things to go really quick! Since I last blogged, I had some back injections as well as a Physical Therapy assessment and have been doing some stretching exercises for the mid-back pain.  The pain is the same, but I have hope, that in time, it can get better.  After Christmas, I'll start going to PT twice a week for a few weeks and reevaluate then.  The Orthopedic doctor wasn't sure if the pain will go away with this approach, b...

I will be starting Radiation Treatments tomorrow morning, so that means I'll be done before Christmas.  I may sail through without any immediate side effects, but can expect some nausea and fatigue.   Hmmm. Sounds like Chemo.  In fact, it sounds like the side effects of just about everything medical, doesn't it? In the meantime, I've been generally feeling so much better!  I'm out and about more, so my attitude is more positive.  I have hardly any nausea and I'm starting to recover from the fatigue from the Chemotherapy.  I still have some neuropathy (numbness and pain in feet and legs) from the Chemotherapy, but it could decrease or go away as time goes on.  I am still dealing with back pain, but at least I have a bit more clarity about what is causing it.  I've had some MRIs and a couple of visits with an Orthopedic doctor.  I'll have a few sessions of Physical Therapy to help me with exercises etc.  The doctor feels that mid-back...

   I finished chemo and had a CT scan done at the end of October. I was disappointed to learn that the bile duct tumor in my liver is still the size of a tennis ball - about 7cm X 6cm. It shrank about 1 cm during the first half of the chemo treatments, but didn't change at all during the second half.  For that reason, the Medical Oncologist said that there is no reason to repeat that particular chemotherapy again. Not disappointed about that part AT ALL! Yesterday, we went to see a Radiation Oncologist at Rush University in Chicago.  He examined that CT scan and surprised us by telling us that I CAN have radiation!  We really did not expect him to say that! It is called IMRT, a highly focused radiation treatment that delivers high doses of radiation and is less likely to damage surrounding tissue.  To learn more, fellow-NERDS can click here .  Since the tumor is still in close proximity to major blood vessels and the main branch of the bile duct, the d...

It took me awhile to grasp this cancer lingo:  A series of chemotherapy cycles is a course.   In my course, each of the 8 cycles had two weekly treatments followed by one week rest.  24 weeks in all.  TODAY, I finished that course of Gemzar and Cisplatin, the go-to first line of chemotherapy for Bile Duct Cancer at this time.  I'm celebrating a milestone today! So, here's what's next. This week I'll go in for 2 more shots like I've been doing for about 2 months.  It's to counteract one of the side-effects of chemo's superb talent for killing cells - whether or not they are good or bad. It's been killing off my infection-fighting cells called neutrophils.  They've been too low to fight infection.  The shots work, but don't bring the levels high enough so, I've turned into quite the hermit.   On October 25th I will have another CT scan to measure the tumor and also spinal x-rays to rule out possible causes for the recent numbness and ...