This update will be quick!
Surprisingly, it was only one day after my last update that I finally got my long-awaited results from the ctDNA test, which is meant to show whether or not the tumor has been sloughing off cancer cells into the blood stream. It’s used to detect early indication of possible spreading, with 95% accuracy according to its documentation.
So on Tuesday, July 25th I took a deep breath and opened the file, which showed NEGATIVE in all caps. Hooray! At least for now, whatever may be left of my tumor does not appear to be attempting to spread.
Round 10 – July 31, 2023
This round began with mostly a routine, uneventful visit, except when I asked my doctor if he had seen the Natera test. He said, “It hasn’t arrived yet.”
I told him, “Well, they sent it to my email. 🙂 It was negative.” I asked, “So, were you halfway thinking it would be positive, or negative…?”
He smiled and said, “I was neutral, because if it came back positive, we would continue treatment. If it came back negative… [he paused and smiled] we would continue treatment.” He explained the point of the test is to track the results over time, so it’s a great start being at zero and we will just check it periodically to make sure it stays that way.
I’m now on day 4 of this round and side effects have been minimal. Needed an antihistamine the last two days to combat some uvula swelling, which knocked me on my can, and some gabapentin to combat my burning feet and hands again like last time, but other than that, easy peasy!
Prep work for my September surgery is underway with more tests in the weeks to come with cardiology, urogynecology, and my GI surgeon. Feeling a little like a lab rat, but fascinated by all that we get to learn through the various medical tests.
On a side note…
Last weekend we celebrated the wedding of one of our Facilitators! Congratulations to Bethany (Theulen) Harger!
The happy couple Bethany and Matt:
Bethany wrote:
“Ok, so what was originally just going to be hardly anything, just because of time, etc., has quickly and easily become an actual open house-reception following the ceremony. My cousin texted me and begged me to let her do a wedding cake. I really hadn’t planned to ‘decorate’, but when you stumble on the perfect thing to use as a cake topper, even if you weren’t going to to begin with…you do it! Who knew a white jackrabbit thing existed??”
She added, “How cute is this? Because straight up, it wasn’t just me, WE jackrabbitted each other. He just didn’t know the term. Yet. Ha ha!”
It turned out to be a great reunion with some of my favorite people on the planet, Cari Skrdla and Dawn Norton:
Plus, some of my other favorite people, Christy Lee, Mike Skrdla, and my own honey, Trevan:
Then, date night with our awesome out-of-town friends, Ann and Tom Ferguson:
In all, it’s been a great week. Good times with good people is good medicine.
Until next time!!
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Thank you everyone for your continued love and support.
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2 Responses
I’m so glad to hear the test was negative! I’m celebrating that! Love you, my amazing friend!
Fabulous! What a fun time! It’s so fun to see everyone celebrating a huge jackrabbit moment together!