Journal entry by Samantha Troyer —
It has been a crazy six months since the last update! I got married, biked across the state of Iowa, moved across the country, traveled here and there and everywhere, started substitute teaching, and am finally getting adjusted to life in Albuquerque. As far as my cancer care goes, first and foremost I am comfortably in the "no news is good news" phase. I had an MRI a few weeks back and everything is looking good. With that being said, it has been frustrating trying to get things taken of. I didn't realize how spoiled I was with the timeliness of my care in Iowa! There's a shortage of medical professionals here, so everything takes so much longer. For example, it takes 2 whole weeks to get the results from an MRI whereas in Iowa I was going over the results with my oncology team an hour after getting out of the machine. It just doesn't seem like they have a solid brain cancer team here, and at my last appointment they recommended a referral to the Barrow Institute. They specialize in neurology and are on the cutting edge of my kind of cancer. I'm currently in the process of setting things up with them, but, as always, these things take a little time. Once that gets straightened out, I'll (hopefully) be going to Phoenix a few times per year to meet with the Barrow folks.
It will probably be a while before the next update. Happy Holidays and thanks for tuning in!
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