Hello! This is Liesl and again we are apologizing for not updating everyone. I wish I had a good excuse, but I think the honest answer is that most days we don't let this cancer diagnosis interfere with our lives. There is too much going on and so much to be grateful for, so we are very much about living in the present. 

That being said, there has been quite a bit happening. We have continued on the 2nd line treatment in conjunction with a natural path protocol and have added hypnotherapy and acupuncture again. The good news is that as of our early February scans the liver lesions were almost gone. Where there once were 5, we were down to one and it was half the size it had been. All other sites were stable and there was no new spread. 

Now for the news we are very excited about. I have qualified for an immunotherapy clinical trial. This is the cutting edge protocol we have been hoping and praying for. I had to be tested to see if my tumor expressed a protein called Claudin 18.2. It does! So what will happen now is they will basically harvest my t-cells (the body's immunity system), reengineer them in a lab, and then inject them back into me. The t-cells will now be programmed to find the Claudin protein and kill those cells. In theory this would mean that I would not need anymore chemotherapy and it would just be monitoring from here. 🤞

I am so excited as I love the idea of using my own body to heal itself. It is much the same concept I practice with my hypnotherapy and I have been able to control any pain I experience, nausea, and improve my neuropathy. All the while concentrating on my overall health. I no longer say "I have cancer", but instead say that I have a cancer diagnosis.

Of course all of this will take some time and there are still some hurdles to get past. I will have a few more rounds of chemo with my last being 4/15. I will then be transferring care to the immunotherapy department and meet with the attending physician who is conducting the study. I will have more tests for baseline numbers (CT scan, etc) and then on 4/30 they will harvest my t-cells. They then have to send them off to the lab, which will take 4-5 weeks. I don't know if I will have to have chemotherapy during that time or not. Once they receive the t-cells back, they will inject them back into me. I will have to be admitted to the hospital for 2 weeks when this happens to be monitored for possible side effects, reactions. There are some that appear in the first 7 days and some that appear  8-14 days after injection. The hope after that is just follow up tests and monitoring. 

I did listen to a podcast about this type of treatment as they have used it a lot for blood cancers. The one doctor was touting this as a cure for cancer. In my mind that is what it will be for me. I have the feeling this was right for me. 

This journey has been just that - a journey. As we have said time and time again, we are so grateful for all the love and support we have received. This diagnosis has taught me so much, but at the top of the list is gratitude. I wake each day grateful for so many things, but all of the great people that are sending love, prayers, and hope to me every day is what I am most thankful for. I feel it with all my heart. ❤️