Maintenance Therapy Begins

Justin, Lyla and I made our way to Gainesville yesterday evening, for a day full of appointments for me today! Thank you to Kacee that let us keep a screeching 2 week old at her house for the night 😂 Today was a huge day in terms of how chemo went and what it meant for my future treatments.

At 630 am I went for a Pet scan, during and since my metastatic diagnosis we were making decisions based on MRIs of all the likely cancer spots since we couldn't do a PET safely while pregnant with Lyla. Then today at 130 we had a follow up with my oncologist for the results and to solidify and begin maintenance therapy plan!

We are blessed to report although I did not get the answer of "no evidence of disease" on this PET scan, that my oncologist said it shows a great response from the chemo!!!! To put it into perspective she said think of it as prior we would have seen the cancer, and now we have to squint at the image to see it! Also of note the cancer in my spine was not as extensive as she thought it was based on the MRI results we had 🥳 The scan also confirmed the cancer to be only where we thought it was before with no other new additional findings 🙏🏽❤️

Due to these results inlcuding the "improved" or surprised spine results my maintenance therapy plan changed a little today. Starting today I will take Lynparza orally (2 pills twice a day to target the BRCA1 gene, it also covers hormone positive or triple negative cancers) I will also have a monthly injection called Xgeva for bone health, and every 3 months Lupron to suppress hormones (same as the Zoladex shot I had for years that I hate - it's a HUGE needle so I am getting this every 3 months instead of every 28 days 😂)

We know what to expect with Lupron (hot flashes mostly). With the Lynparza my most likely side effects will be low blood counts, fatigue, and nausea. With Xgeva possibly some bone pain etc.

We will be praying for very few side effects, knowing that there is NO cumulative dose of Lynparza so I can be on it for however long it works!! Which will - god willing be a VERY long time 🥰

Thank you for all the continued prayers - I am so thankful for them, for all of you that support me near and far, and for my awesome medical team. Like my oncologist said today, just remember how far I have come since September and how severe everything really was. It's a awesome place to start maintenance therapy at and I feel so blessed the chemo worked to get me here! 😍

Justin, Lyla and I are leaving the oncology center full of hope and smiles.