We received the CT scan results on Monday, and it was shockingly bad news.  The cancer seems to have just exploded in my liver.  And it turns out that the sickness I've been experiencing is no mysterious virus after all- the nausea, fatigue, loss of appetite and elevated temps are the result of the disease in my liver.  My poor liver is in serious distress.  It is also enlarged due to the damage, and is pressing on my diaphragm causing a persistent cough. 

Here are some direct quotes from the CT scan report: 

"The largest tumor fills most of the left hepatic lobe"
"Numerous new additional metastatic tumors are seen in right and left hepatic lobes."
"The left hepatic lobe segment 2 and 3 are filled with metastatic tumors." 

Oh, and there is also a new lesion in my L3 vertebrae. sigh.

Yeesh.  I read the report and wondered if Dr. Awesome was going to start talking to me about preparing for end of life.  But I had an appointment with her that day, a few hours after I saw the report, and she assured me that this is not the end of the road.  She still says I have a long way to go, thank God. It's just very concerning that we keep losing so much ground in the liver. 

Initially Dr. Awesome was thinking of having me participate in a clinical trial at Yale for the next treatment, but it turns out that it would be weeks before I would actually be able to start the new drug, which is way too long considering my situation.  So this time we will proceed with another chemotherapy drug called Eribulin, which I will start on Tuesday.  Apparently Dr. Awesome has had patients who burned through drug after drug, like I've been doing lately, and Eribulin has been more effective for them.  I'm very eager to begin this new treatment so that hopefully I can start feeling better. 

Last night I woke up in the early hours of the morning with excruciating pain in my upper right abdomen.  I have been having pain in the area where the largest tumor is, but this is so much more severe than what I've experienced so far.  I'm hoping and praying that the new treatment will cause the pain to ease and the cancer to regress dramatically. 

It has been a pretty crazy week, and yesterday I felt so sick I couldn't get out of bed all day.  Between appointments and feeling too sick, I've not been able to write this post until today.  Thank you for your patience in waiting to hear the results!

Oh friends, please pray for me.  This is a blow, but I am hopeful that we can get things back under control.  I'll try to update after the first few of weeks on Eribulin. The treatment schedule is two weeks on, one week off and repeat. 

Thank you as always for your love and support.  It means the world to us.

xoxo,

Danielle