Cycle 5 recovery in full effect, scans look excellent, and a big decision on the horizen....

Ahhhh it seems like so much has happened in the 4 weeks since I have blogged so I'm gonna try to catch you all up!!

Super Romantic Valentine's Day💘:  Nathan an I spend a very romantic (sarcasm😆) Valentine's Day in the James Emergency Department due to some sudden onset numbness I experienced on the right side of my face, neck, chest, shoulder, and upper arm.  Due to concerns that there might be something wrong with my port, they said they could not access it and had to place 2 IVs.  After several hours in the ED and ruling out a stroke and problems with my recently placed port, the ED physicians chalked it up to my port pushing on a nerve which lead to the right sided neurological symptoms I was experience.  Luckily they let me go home with my promising to follow-up with my oncologist the next day.  Good news is that the right sided numbness has gotten better and is barely noticeable now.

CT Scans results and Cycle 5:  So I'll give you the GREAT news first - my oncologist said that my CT scans look excellent and that she could not have asked for better images.  So before you read further I want you to take a second, close your eyes, breath in deeply, and as you exhale slowly please feel the appreciation that I have for all of the positive thoughts, vibes, and/or prayers that you have sent my way!!  This truly is great news and I want to give it the credit that it's due.  THANK YOU ALL!!  Now, for the rest of the news that I'm trying really hard to not view as negative (one of the reasons why it has taken me over a week to write this blog entry).  During my Cycle 5 visit, my oncologist shared her reservation with me stopping treatment after Cycle 6.  Her concern stems from my "cancer behaving badly" (aka it spreading to my ovary).  She said that even though my imaging shows no signs of cancer we can't know for sure that all of the cancer is truly gone (since we don't have imaging that is sensitive enough to detect cancer cells at the cellular level).  So her worry is that there may be cancer cells that remain and the only way to kill them is to continue treatment.  The other issue is that, because my cancer hasn't behaved like typical cervical cancer, there are no guidelines or studies that can really assist us in making the decision of how long to continue treatment or even what treatment to continue.  Nathan and I are taking these 3 weeks between cycles to think about all the options and will work with my oncologist at my Cycle 6 appointment to finalize our plan.

Feeling Good and Springing Forward:  I have been feeling pretty good these last few days.  I had lunch on Saturday with my sister and my momma (Happy Belated Birthday Celebration) and then Nathan and I spent the evening hanging out with the family.  Today I did something that I never thought I would do - I got a "Hot Lather Head Shave" at Goodfellow’s Tonsorial Parlor.  Shout out to Andrew Carpenter for giving my my first barber experience (and probably not my last).

For now I am going to keep focusing on the positives!!