Tuesday YAY-day!

Results are in! More shrinkage 😂 saying that really never gets old.

My oncologist is super pleased with the total reduction in size. She said it’s like A+ work. I definitely cannot take credit outside of making sure I take my meds and show up for infusions.

Today we celebrated the scan results and discussed a few other things. My thyroid is slowly moving back into the normal ranges. It’s closer with every visit.

The scans showed some thickening is my colon. It’s mild, but apparent enough to be referred to an gastroenterologist. I will consult with them but I will likely have some testing of my colon tissue in my future. My oncologist isn’t overly concerned about it, but we want to figure out why this thickening or inflammation is happening. There are plans in place once we figure out whether it’s due to the immunotherapy or the abemaciclib.

My neck has been really bothering me lately. As have my hand joints. The pain in my neck and hands could be related or maybe not. Also, sometimes an AI can cause joint pain, which my hands and neck are all joints. We have to do some further investigation. I will have an MRI of my neck just to see if there is some obvious reason for the pain.

And finally today we made a plan to deal with my lack of decent sleep. I have been having lots of hot flashes at night and the neck pain isn’t making it comfortable for sleeping either. I have had a harder time falling asleep, staying asleep, and waking rested. It’s frustrating! I have been taking melatonin and magnesium at night but still haven’t had a successful nights sleep in a while. I was told to increase the melatonin I was taking (as much as 7mg more each night) and also to use Ativan every few night if I need it.

I started working out again, very lightly. My ultimate hope is that exercise will help me gain some energy back during the day and help me sleep better at night. We shall see!

Thank you for all of the sweet emails, texts, and cards you have sent me this last week. I really truly love each of them!! You are the best group of cheerleaders a MBC gal could ever have.

I added another infusion to the books today. It’s been 4 months and 11 days since my first infusion of pembrolizumab and there’s so much to be grateful for. It’s a YAY-day! Xoxo