Skip to main content

One Week to Go

Sorry I haven't updated in a while. I'm in the treatment center right now, and I figured I would get a little update on here. The last two weeks I have been doing a lot of resting, and haven't been up to blogging. On the bright side I did have some friends over last week which was really nice. The only new side effect I had to deal with from my last post other than the increased fatigue was a little bit of thrush. If you're not aware thrush is a painful fungal infection in your mouth, and if not treated quickly can get pretty bad. We caught it pretty early, and the prescribed Nystatin cleared it up in a few days. It was pretty gross looking, and it was shocking to see how well the medication worked for it. 

This week is my last week of treatment as long as my scans are clear. You would think I would be really excited right now, but I have a rough week ahead of me. I think it's going to be hard for me to truly be satisfied until I get that final "clear" at the end. So I don't see much reason to celebrate at the conclusion of this week because at this point it still seems a little premature. The only thing to add is that I was reading other Ewing's sarcoma blogs and some patients receive more than 6 cycles, and some receive less. I wonder why. If that extra cycle will improve my odds of this not coming back, then I'll definitely take more chemo. I'll have to ask about that on Friday.

As always keep me, and all of the other people battling cancer in your prayers.

Comments

  1. You've been so courageous throughout your journey. Best of luck to you for a full recovery and a long and healthy life.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Best wishes to you during your last week.
    I hope you have peace until you get the final clear.
    We're rooting for you ♥

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Mike, the cessation of treatment is a scary prospect, isn't it? On the one hand that dreadful experience is done but on the other there is no longer active treatment to kill the cancer. It's a double-edged sword. You know you are always in our thoughts. Mathew has 13 treatments (6-1/2 cycles for you) perhaps because his tumour is in his spine and isn't easy to remove. Those a little older can't take the recommended protocol of chemo; their bodies simply can't absorb the drugs without too much harm being done. There is a 31 year old woman here with Ewing's Sarcoma in her kidney. She could only have 8 treatments (4 cycles) due to her age. I am curious what your Oncologist will tell you. Mathew's counts are too low to continue his chemo right now, but we can already feel the "scanxiety" that will follow after his final round of chemo.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

10 Year Survivor

Hi everyone, its been a while. I think this might be the largest time gap between posts. I've had a tough time with this entry, coming back to it from time to time over the last several months. Every time I finished editing I just did not like it and scrapped it. Hopefully take 4 is the charm, lets get into it. Late in 2023 I became a 10 year survivor and also turned 30. It was a deep time of reflection for me. There were many questions I asked myself, but the most challenging ones included:  Why am I still here?  Am I happy?  What changes do I need to make to become happier?  Am I ready to make those changes?  What are my goals?  What has gone well these last 10 years?  What do I want to do better going forward? Very deep, uncomfortable topics and questions I had been stressing about, but avoiding for years. It was both empowering and deeply saddening to reflect on these topics. I hated to admit it at the time, but I was very unhappy. I was going thro...

First Entry!

Today is my first post on my blog about my battle with Ewing's Sarcoma. The main purpose of this post is to get my readers to know a little bit about me, and to provide a little background of this cancer that I have. First and foremost I am 19 years old, live in a family of 5 with two great younger brothers, and loving parents. I love to play sports, video games, and I'm very passionate about technology. I don't really have a favorite sports team because I don't like to watch sports, but my favorite sport to play is basketball. I'm not much of a bragger, but I am very good at basketball because I'm very athletic. I can dunk easily. Check it out...  mike's dunks on youtube . I am a sophomore student at Penn State University majoring in Computer Science. I'm also from Pennsylvania, in the small Mountaintop area.  Personally, I am a very reserved person, I like to keep to myself. It might be surprising to you that someone that is so reserved would mak...

It's Back Again

Since my last post I have had two sets of scans.  I had my first scan in March, and with that came uncertainty. It appeared to have grown on the scan, but my primary oncologist, and surgeon from last summer remained skeptical of this being a recurrence. My oncologist in Cleveland believed it to be a recurrence. His opinion was that it would need to be taken care of sometime this summer. My most recent scan has now put both of my oncologists in agreement. It's now 99.9% likely to be another recurrence. It is now measured at 9x8 mm, up from 6.8x6 mm in December. Luckily it is growing slow for Ewing's, and at least nothing else has come up on the scans yet, but it is still terrible news. This will need to be taken of, and will be soon. The best option for me after consultation with both of my oncologists is to enroll in the Vigil trial ( https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03495921 ).  It was originally slated to start taking patients at the end of June, but has ...