I just wanted to share some wonderful news with all of you. Your prayers for me have certainly been answered. I met with oncology at Mayo and as of now, there is no evidence of hepatocellular carcinoma (liver cancer) in my body. The surgical oncologist was confident the entire cancerous tumor was successfully removed during my surgery. There was also no evidence that the cancer had spread and invaded the margins or vascular system. Because of this, I will not need to undergo chemotherapy at this time. At this very moment, I am cancer free! I will be closely followed by oncology and labs and scans will be repeated every couple months to watch for new adenomas or malignant tumors. My greatest fear was how quickly the cancerous tumor appeared and transformed (less than 2 months), but feel assured with such close follow up and monitoring. If something appears, we will find it quickly and can act on it.  I am a firm believer the power of your prayers played a big part in the news I received. How do I possibly thank you? It is selfless, gracious, loving and kind to pray and think of others during difficult times. As one who has felt this deeply, I am overwhelmed by your true love and support of me. 

While I am truly rejoicing in the cancer news, if I'm to be honest, I am still quite scared. I’m cautious and worried. I want to celebrate and let it all go, but I still hold great fears of recurrence that I am working on releasing so I can focus on a full recovery from surgery and resolution of the blood clots. Please continue your prayers for my peace of mind, living in the present moment and a return to full health. 

I am still working on overcoming the complications from surgery, but I am hopeful that each day will get a little better. I am quite weak yet from surgery and because of the blood clots in my lungs, I have shortness of breath with little exertion plus a nagging cough that is more annoying than anything. I met with vascular medicine and an MRI last week revealed yet another blood clot, this one in my liver called a portal vein thrombosis. As they believe I was truly in anticoagulation failure, they made the decision to increase my blood thinner dose to the maximum so that there will be no new clot formation. Hopeful! I'm used to giving myself the shots now and will likely need them for quite some time. 

Thank you all! I am so grateful that I had such wonderful news to share and am doing my best to take the rest a moment at a time. I can drive now and have made it out for some short lunch dates. I am still off work for an indefinite amount of time while my body continues to heal. On my better days, I’m feeling just a slight bit of normalcy creeping back in and that’s a great feeling. Can’t wait to get out and truly celebrate at the end of all of this. I’ve learned a lot these past four months. So much about love, life, family and friends and what matters the most to me in this world. These are valuable lessons and I hope I live my life differently and for the better moving forward. 

Thank you again for the beautiful cards and gifts, the words of support and inspiration and your never ending prayers. I appreciate every kind word and gesture you have sent my way. I couldn’t imagine doing this alone and I’m so grateful I don’t have to. 

Wishing you all a beautiful start to summer! I hope to be joining you out there soon! 

With love,

Traci