Happy New Year!

It has been a long time since I have updated everyone on my fight... so here it goes!

I had my last infusion (of my Frontline) on Monday, December 4th. Frontline is the first (and best) treatment for ovarian cancer. It was a very emotional day. I knew it was my last chance to kill these damn cells with the big guns. After we left Kaiser, Matt and I went to Los Dos to celebrate! The last infusion was the toughest in terms of side effects. I had pretty bad nausea and bone pain, and I was exhausted. I needed to be in my happy place at school with my big and little people, so I pushed through. By Saturday of that week, I was stable. I had an appointment with my oncologist on Tuesday, December 5th and she needed me to take one month off of everything to get my body as strong as possible and ready for the next phase of treatment. She talked to us about what maintenance would look like and told us to enjoy the next month without feeling like dog poop! 

On December 19th, I had my CT scan to see if all of this craziness was working. I was so incredibly nervous this time around. All I wanted it to say was NO EVIDENCE OF DISEASE. That would mean that the past 8 months of hell were worth it. My appointment was at 3:00 so I anticipated the results would be the next day. Sleeping that night just didn't happen. The following day I was at school... it was the second to the last day of school before break... so it was filled with happiness, the smell of sugar, tired teachers and crazy kids. The email with the scan came through, but I didn't want to open it. I closed the door to my office and bit the bullet. It stated the following (along with a bunch of pictures and a lot of medical jargon): 

Interval debulking surgery with minimal residual irregularity at the liver dome as described above, but otherwise no evidence of disease.

I saw the words NO EVIDENCE OF DISEASE... but I also saw those other words... irregularity at the liver dome. I shared the news with my family and we were all not sure if we should be excited or if we should be worried. I called my oncologist and she said that the cancer was sleeping and that was a good thing. I knew I had an appointment with my surgeon on January 5th so I knew I would get more information at that time. 

On the evening of December 21st, we all went to California (Me, Matt, Kylee, Kodi) to celebrate Christmas for a week. I masked on the plane and in the airport and was very careful while in California. We cut down a Christmas tree, visited Armstrong Woods, had lots of time with Matt's family and his sister even threw me a surprise 50th birthday get-together. When we returned home, my sister, brother-in-law, two nephews, mom and dad all came to visit for the weekend. We laughed, played games, went to dinner and just enjoyed being together. Matt and Kylee threw me a little get-together to celebrate my 50th while they were here. It was a great month off.  Exactly what I needed to continue the fight! Oh and I forgot the BEST PART of the past month... Kylee and Kodi moved down from the Dacono area, bought a house in Solstice (Littleton area) and are now 16 minutes away from us! It was a Christmas miracle! 

On January 5th, we visited my gyno-oncologist and surgeon (who I love) for my post-op appointment and for her to look at my numbers and scan to see if all of this craziness worked. I was so nervous to hear what she was going to say. Did she agree that the cancer was sleeping? As Matt and I were sitting there waiting for her, I just had this feeling that it was going to be a great day... and I was right! My surgeon shared that the past 8 months were worth it... the chemo and the surgery were a success! She said that at this time I have NO EVIDENCE OF DISEASE and the irregularity of the liver was from her scraping the cancer off during the surgery. So... at this time... my cancer is sleeping and there are no tumors in my body! It is truly the best news I could get! My surgeon even said... Girl, you had a whole heck of a lot of cancer in you and right now there is none.

Here is the strange part that many of you might not understand... I want to be SO FLIPPING EXCITED... I want to shout it from the rooftops... I want to believe that my cancer will lay dormant for 5-10 years. That would be the best case scenario according to my surgeon and oncologist. But since I am stage 4 and since I have ovarian cancer, there is a 75% chance that it will come back according to my oncologist.  She shared that it might come back in 5 months or it might come back in 10 years. We just don't know. But she did say that this is best best-case scenario and she is very hopeful that the maintenance she is putting me on will keep it at bay for the next few years. Some days I am so excited and I feel like I slayed the beast and some days I live in the statistic of 75%. It all depends on the day. But I am a disgustingly happy person so I know that I will string together more positive days and I will start to believe. I have way too much to do in the next 5-10 years with the ones I love.

Starting this week, my new protocol will be every three weeks a 30-minute infusion of Avastin and every day a chemo pill (Lymparza) in the morning and a chemo pill in the afternoon for two years.  Most people's symptoms are rough for most of the first month (tired, nausea, body aches) but most begin to tolerate the symptoms starting month two. I know some people decide not to do maintenance so they can start to feel a bit more normal and get their body strong and healthy after their Frontline chemo treatment and surgery. I thought of that for one hot second and then decided that if this is what my oncologist recommended for my best chance then... HERE... WE... GO...

I am so grateful for my doctors, my family and my friends. I have a good feeling that this maintenance treatment will keep the beast asleep for years! Even my hair is starting to slowly grow back (even though I look like a little old man). Kylee calls me "Momma Duckling" as it is super soft. BUT IT IS COMING BACK! Good things are coming my way in 2024. I know that I could not have gotten this far without my tribe. If you are reading this, you are part of my tribe. Thank you for loving me, praying for me and believing in me. Your friendship and love help me believe in myself.  

I will CONTINUE to show up!

Love you all,

Franci