{ Prayer Needed }

Monday, November 26th:
Spoke with oncologist who insisted that I take the last six pills from Day 3 that was missed due to vomiting. He believes the cancer that I have is taking the treatment so I need to continue. He prescribed me a refill on my anti-nausea meds and told me to take two of them before taking the 6 pills. I was really worried about being still weak and anxious about the side effects. My aunt called and encouraged me to just pray before taking each pill. So I did just that. I prayed that the Lord would keep the pills down.

I had been having bad headaches since I was in the ER and even after so many saline bags had been administered. I told my oncologist about this. He told me to get a Brain MRI as soon as possible. He thinks if the cancer has spread to the brain it will help to have radiation treatment in addition to the chemo. The last time we attempted to get one I had braces. But since then I have had them removed. But because I began chemo so soon after removing the braces from my teeth, the Brain MRI had not been rescheduled since.

Tuesday Nov 27th
I was able to schedule my Brain MRI for Monday, Dec 3rd. Please pray for this. We also scheduled a CT Scan for the whole body to see how the cancer has shrunk for Dec 14th.

This second round of chemo has been very different from the first time. The first time after about 7 days I was feeling well enough to walk around and do things fairly normally in my apartment.This time I am much weaker. My head hurts often. My neck feels very weak at times and unable to hold up my increasingly heavy head. This could also be because there was a large lumpy mass by my neck that has subsided with treatment. Due to the weakness in my neck and the headaches, I have to rest my head often. My memory is a bit strange. I can't always remember things in a normal way.It may be a week later or two weeks later that I recall something in a conversation with clarity. So forgive me if I don't respond to phone calls, text messages or emails in a timely way. Increased stress also increases my headaches sometimes small tasks that requiring planning can trouble me.

My appetite has been better since Tuesday, but as with the last round my weight is again declining. I have been eating more fruits daily. My sense of smell is heightened with cancer but my tastes are constantly changing. Last time I did not have problems with these foods but this time I absolutely cannot stand the smell of sesame oil in food or being used in cooking. Also, I dislike the taste of cheese which I previously loved.

I am slightly anemic so I need iron. My mom made me an organic grass-fed beef broth the other day. I have been eating small portions but more often throughout the day. If my hemoglobin is low this reduces the ability for my blood to clot and can cause bleeding. Then I will need a blood transfusion.