Cycle 2 of Trodelvy

I wanted to share a quick update on my health. This Monday marked the beginning of week two in my three-week Trodelvy treatment cycle, which included my infusion, lab work, and an appointment with my oncologist.

Unfortunately, my cancer markers have increased on the last two tests, and my liver enzymes have risen again as well. As some of you may recall, I started Trodelvy at half the standard dose because I have historically experienced significant side effects with many treatments. Thankfully, the side effects have been much more manageable than expected.

Because we need to get the cancer under better control, my oncologist increased my dose to 75% of the standard amount for my second infusion this past Monday. I'm happy to report that, so far, things are going well and I'm tolerating the higher dose without any major issues. I'm especially interested to see what my next lab results show, particularly my liver enzymes and tumor markers. For now, my oncologist has decided to complete this treatment cycle and move forward with a third cycle to see whether things begin to stabilize from a lab-work perspective.

If my numbers don't improve, we may need to move up my imaging studies so we can get a clearer picture of what's happening inside my body. Otherwise, my next scheduled scans remain at the end of July.

In the meantime, summer has been full, busy, and fun. The kids are coming home from a week at camp today, and in July they'll be heading to Alaska for a mission trip. They're still raising support for the trip and are incredibly excited about the opportunity.

While they're away, Drew and I are hoping to sneak off for a little getaway of our own—a chance to recharge and enjoy some much-needed time together. I am really looking forward to it.

In fact, Drew took the day off yesterday, and we enjoyed a little day date together. I honestly can't remember the last time we had the chance to do that. We spent the day exploring a new trail in downtown Austin, wandering around, and enjoying some delicious food. It was such a nice break and a wonderful way to spend time together. We have an anniversary coming up in just a couple days and I turn 50 in July. So, those are some fun milestones. I look forward to every one of them. Each day we are gifted is such a blessing!

My prayers for now are as follows:

• That my cancer goes away completely. Praise the Lord for the healing we must believe He is doing in my body!
• That this treatment shows signs of working very soon, and all my bloodwork calms down and heads towards normal range.
• I created a workout plan with the help of AI to help physically strengthen my body. Never in my life have I felt so weak, so it's such a strange feeling. I want the energy and motivation to be able to keep moving.

Thank you prayer warriors!

I will finish this post with something fun. One of my sweet friends who is at camp as a sponsor sent me this photo of Luke and Abbey from camp. Our church took about 160 people total, including 140 students. Camp week is the kids' favorite week of the year, and I can't wait to hear all the stories when they get home.

One of the highlights is the themed recreation team competition. In the weeks leading up to camp, students plan costumes, chants, team spirit ideas, and other creative touches for their assigned teams.

There are many teams competing each day for the camp's "seat of power". I'm happy to report that Abbey's team won on Day 1 and Luke's team won on Day 3, since one of our church's teams won the seat on day 3, the church got to bring home the seat of power — a toilet seat decorated in each of the winning team's themes. 

Cycle 1 of Trodelvy Complete

Good afternoon friends! I apologize for the lack of update yesterday. I was planning on typing something out while in the oncology infusion chair, but I couldn't keep my eyes open once they started the pre-medication drugs. I got knocked out, got home just before 3, accepted a delicious meal from a sweet friend and then fell asleep. I was exhausted and highly drugged. :-) I woke up at 5:30 with a start, so confused about what day it was, and even thinking it was 5:30am. I asked Drew if he could drive us to church at that point to watch Luke and Abbey in the worship band for VBS at 6pm. Hearing them lead worship makes my heart so full of joy! We made it just in time and got to see them even though I was in a bit of delirium. I needed to wake up anyway, so that I could actually sleep at night. 

I was pleasantly surprised that the first cycle went just fine. Not too much pain, no nausea, and just a little fatigue (I actually took some naps.) My biggest complaint was the severe abdominal swelling, which I am not sure if it's from liver issues (cancer) or taking so many steroids. I receive steroids through my IV two Mondays in a row, with one week off. Then, I take steroids orally on days 2-5 after each treatment. I will say the abdominal swelling improved towards the middle of week 3. I also had some trouble sleeping once I stopped the anti-nausea drug that I take on days 1-4 of treatment week. I'm guessing that lack of sleep is due to steroids also.

My liver enzymes are still high, but they were slightly lower than the previous labs. The trend (of the enzymes going down) is good though, and I pray that it continues.

Anyway, I just wanted to update friends, family, and prayer warriors on what life was like around here. I am at that oncology office often---so far EACH week. I am hoping and praying I can get a week off periodically.  We are trying to figure out how frequently I need the bone marrow stimulating injection, as gthat also determines how frequently I am at the oncology office. So far, I was able to convince them I only needed it Friday of week 1. We skipped it for week two as the labwork showed it was still on the lower end of normal. I went back on this past Thursday and had labwork, which showed I needed the injection--I received it again. I was just within range with my neutrophil count on Monday. So, this week the plan is just to be really careful this week and go for labwork and the injection on Friday.

I will finish this post by showing a video I took of Luke (on keys) and Abbey (on vocals) at youth worship practice, which occurs each week prior to "Powerhouse" (youth group). This band was entirely made up of youth. There is nothing sweeter to me than watching my kids worship the Lord. If anyone local is looking for a youth group for their kids (I know a lot of groups take off for the summer), please feel free to reach out to me. Just comment with your email and I can send you information. They have some awesome fun events all summer even outside the normal Wednesday evening "powerhouse" youth group meetings. It's the best group, led by the most amazing youth pastor and team!

(Please ignore the weird angle, as I was trying to be sneaky. ;-) ) Youth Worship Practice

As always, thanks for your prayers!! Love y'all.