It is has now been more than 4 years since my wife, Leaves on the Current, was diagnosed with a blood cancer as a result of an MRI that detected it along her spine. Since then she went through chemo and radiation, then later an autologous stem cell transplant, and went into remission.
But as of yet there is no cure for this cancer. She is monitored closely, both by blood tests and various forms of x-rays. In the interim she has largely stayed on a low-dose chemo treatment to keep the cancer suppressed ago.
A while ago blood tests showed a slight evidence of the cancer’s return, so she was put back on the low dose chemo.
Several weeks ago a PET scan showed one very small spot similar to the tumors/lesions by which the cancer was originally discovered.
This is going to be addressed by more radiation therapy.
Neither her oncologist or her radiation oncologist (who is consider among the best in the DC area) are particularly worried. They are going to schedule a mock cyber knife to overlay over the PET scan to specifically target the spot then she will undergo Cyberknife treatment — 5 days of consecutive intense and focused radiation to reduce/destroy the spot. Each session will be 30-45 minutes.
In general her health otherwise is good. She still gets tired, has to watch her physical effort. She still gets infusions periodically to continue rebuilding her spine. She now regularly does therapeutic yoga to strengthen her core.
The one sad side affect of being back on the low dose chemo is upon her sense of taste — many favorite foods simply do not taste right. In general I add spices and lots of sea salt and freshly ground pepper to what I prepare for her.
She is again burning through her medical leave, but we will live with that.
In the meantime, our refinance of our mortgage to wipe out a number of our other debts and to be able to skip two mortgage payments has been funded. Her insurance will almost fully cover the treatment she is about to undergo. I should shortly be bringing in some income by substitute teaching — at least, I believe that to be the case. And there is a very good chance that by 5 weeks from now, if not before, I will have signed a contract to teach full time next year.
We still have each other. Which means we can support one another emotionally, and also get on each other’s nerves.
We thank everyone for their continued prayers, holding in the light, emotional support, and love.
Peace.
UPDATE I think I need to clarify, because I messed this up a bit.
She has been on maintenance low dose chemo continually, except for several months last summer where she had to go through another round of full chemo. Her less of taste is a carryover from that.
And the CyberKnife treatment — we do not consider this bad news. Her general health is good. The length of each session is I believe longer because it is a lower power but more specifically focused to the area to be treated. It is not something we consider a major setback, but rather a strong prophylactic response.
I apologize for the lack of clarity — I probably was not fully awake. Sorry.
We again thank everyone for their concern.