Chemo #4 - Let’s Go!

Hi! For everyone still following along my cancer saga - thank you :)

Tomorrow is chemo #4, another quick 2 week turn around from the last one. We will see Dr Daily early for clinic after driving to Gainesville and then head to the infusion center!

I would be lying if I didn't say the last two weeks were extremely hard physically, and emotionally. I continue to have a ton of issues with mucositis and my tongue around day 6-13 after chemo - to the point where I can't eat anything except certain drinks for calories. When my NADIR starts days 6-8 I am extremely weak and it's hard to move at all. On top of this, of course I also was having pain from my chest tube which had been not accumulating fluid for about 5 weeks and ended up getting infected. I continued to have random coughing fits for 2-3 hours at a time which was extremely painful with the chest tube pain - all while being 27-28 weeks pregnant.

But although if it was a hard two weeks it was also filled with some huge blessings that I would love to share. I was able to have a family baby shower where family and close friends came from near and far to celebrate Lyla! Justin made some great BBQ as always. We were blessed to have time with so many loved ones who spoiled her already. My parents and Mandi and Clara came for the weekend not only to host the shower but built furniture and took care of the house etc. I can't explain how blessed I am for the support 24/7 from them even if 3 hours away. We also followed up with fetal maternal as Lyla is strong but very tiny. We have a plan in place for a NICU delivery if she continues to be this small, we know she is in Gods hands and NICU or not is going to be a force to be reckoned with!

Also, the chest tube infection sucks pretty bad but thankfully my pulmonologist quickly got me to UF and removed the tube 2 days ago!!! I am on antibiotics for a week and we pray the infection clears up now that we have removed it. I already feel more like myself than I have in two months. It's crazy what a foreign tube sticking out of you will do to you emotionally after a while with constant physical pain. I feel so blessed that it seems the chemo is working well enough to decrease the fluid creation enough to remove it at this point!! I was able to go out of the house and do some short walks, which is a big deal compared to the last 6 weeks. A special thank you to my Father in Law for driving me to and from Gainesville to allow me to get the procedure really fast as Justin was working!

Although my mouth was the worst yet this time we made a little progress in figuring out some things that still work. I wanted to say my cousin Alexa, who lives with us, is a god send taking care of me on the daily. But she worked so hard to try to come up with some good ideas to make me eat - not only going and buying the stuff, but cooking it and re cooking it and encouraging me to eat day in and out. Tonight I felt good enough - just in time for Chemo number 4 lol to finally eat a real meal. We took a family trip to dinner and it felt so good to be somewhere out of the house eating and hanging out :)

The last two weeks have been hard for me faith wise. I wish I could say the increased issues haven't rocked me at all, but I want to be honest about my walk through this. I went days without opening my devotional or bible, or playing a worship song. I still prayed every day because I absolutely need Gods strength each and every day through this. But, I could feel myself turning a cold shoulder and having a harder time reading encouraging scripture or verses feeling like obviously my prayers weren't being heard. I'm happy to say this has turned around the last few days and I'm happily back to my routine of studying the Bible and ensuring I have time to grow in the word. I know this is not necessary for my salvation, only Jesus was. But, I want to be a wealth of knowledge of bible passages for Lyla and for all other people as I walk through life here. I never want to be unprepared for the moment someone asks why or how do you have the faith you have?

I have a few specific prayer requests for this next two weeks as always if you are so inclined!

• Lyla will jump up in her weight the next couple of weeks as she continues to be even stronger 💗

• My clinic appointment tomorrow we figure out a way to decrease mouth side effects some more, and review my biopsy results with hormone status etc. (looks like it came back positive but idk enough to discuss!)

• Minimal chemo side effects while it kicks butt on this cancer!

• My chest tube infection clears up this week with these oral antibiotics and the whole thing can be in my past.

• That everyone has a thanksgiving where they truly consider all their blessings and how amazing our lives are.

Until next time!

Sami