Surviving Cancer

Big news this morning as I now have a plan for the treatment of my Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. We kind of already knew, but this new cancer is the likely result of having had chemo for breast cancer. Pretty shitty deal if you ask me. I’ve been in the hospital for almost a week now, and I now finally have a treatment plan. I start today!

The treatment for my Leukemia is very extensive. I will try and explain it best I can, but it is a bit complicated and confusing. So bear with me. It is set up in two different schedules. Schedule A and Schedule B. I will complete both the A and B schedule 4 times each for a total of 8 cycles. Each cycle lasting 21 days. This will get lengthy but I feel it’s the best way to explain. I will start with cycle 1A then go to 1B, 2A, 2B, 3A, 3B, 4A, 4B.

Cycle A’s I will be in the hospital days 1-4 for the chemo infusions. If I’m doing well and my blood counts look good I will be discharged and able to go home on day 4 of each cycle A. I will need an injection on day 6 and another chemo infusion on day 11 of cycle A, but will otherwise get to be at home. Once the 21 day cycle is up, I will start cycle B.

Cycle B requires days 1-3 in the hospital and again, as long as my numbers look good I will be able to go home for days 4-21. Once this cycle is complete, I will go back and do cycle A again. This will continue and repeat 8 times. So when it’s all said and done I am looking at just under 8 months of chemo.

The goal is to get my bone marrow free of leukemia cells and be able to have a bone marrow transplant. The process to start finding a donor will start now, but I will not be having the transplant until chemo is complete.

I have a very long road ahead of me, but what’s different this time around is that we have family. We have the most valuable thing on Earth! So many people who care about us and will be here to help us with anything and everything during this time. Much different than last time, that’s for sure.

This last week in the hospital has been the hardest time in my life. The fear of the unknown really gets to your head. I miss my kids more than anything in the world, and I cannot wait to see them. I’m still scared. I’m still mad. But I need to be here for my kids, and I WILL make that happen.

Thank you all for your prayers. The power of prayer truly is a miracle.

Future updates to come.