Oral Cancer - A Warrior's Journey

12/14/2022

https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=9Opj6dppDbo&feature=share

Kyle Hume - Fine (Lyrics) Fine (Lyrics) - Kyle Hume if F is for feeling overwhelmed and I is for I am not alright Get the best price on the Focal Bathys fro...

11/04/2022

Soooo...I am officially thru my first week of radiation...so far I'm doing great. I'm extremely tired immediately after treatment, my throat hurts pretty bad, but other than that I'm still keeping on. Still eating by mouth...I have had to switch to softer foods like soups, peaches, applesauce, tuna soaked in mayo, eggs, fried not scrambled, oatmeal, and Ramen or any kinda noodles. But that's still really good and I feel like I'm getting plenty of nutrients. I know harder days are coming as I am scheduled to see chemo doctor Tuesday. But right now I'm celebrating making it one week thru radiation and it being the weekend and a 2 day break for me......yay!! I'm going to push thru this and hopefully surprise the hell outta everyone including myself....hence the pic included with this post....I haven't even began to glo yet, this is just a tiny sparkle....just wait...I'll show ya. With God and my amazing support system and the prayer warriors that are constantly speaking to God on my behalf, I'm gonna be just fine and I believe I can overcome anything! No one said it will be easy, but this monster I'm fighting just has no idea who it's messing with. Will post updates as they come. Love you all!!!

11/01/2022

And with Him is EXACTLY how I plan to do it!! I completed my first radiation treatment today just a little while ago. It wasn't too bad I guess. But I did take something to knock the edge off before leaving the house and I made a Playlist of a bunch of great easy listening music to listen to while laying there head strapped to the table with my "Deadpool" mask. I know now that by the end of the 3rd song....beginning of the 4th is when they will come in and free me from the restraint and I get to leave until treatment the next day. This will he my daily routine 5 days a week for the next 7 weeks. I know that tough times are ahead as the side effects haven't kicked in yet. But when they do....it is definitely going to be rough. That's OK tho. Because like the picture says...I can do it (whatever "it" may be) if I just let go and let God lead me thru it. So, Lord, I put all my trust and faith in you because I know that you can bring me to it and thru it. So take my hand and let's get er done.

💪💪☢️☢️☢️ 1 down...34 to go ☢️☢️☢️💪💪

10/21/2022

My new favorite song! Man this hit home. Adding it to my treatment Playlist for me to listen to while receiving radiation. ❤❤❤

Get everywhere you consume music! https://TaurenWells.lnk.to/GNDWYMV Connect with Tauren Wells: Email list: https://TaurenWells.lnk.to/...

10/21/2022

Hello all!! Went to Cancer Institute at Jackson Medical Mall yesterday and was fitted with my "Deadpool" radiation mask for treatment. That was awful, let me tell ya. I was screaming silently on the inside cause your girl is extremely claustrophobic. But I coached myself thru it and made it without having a mental breakdown in the middle of it all. Before that the sweet nurse, bless her heart, had a really hard time getting my IV started. Had to have it for the contrast and other stuff they put in there for CT and PET scans. She stuck me a total of three times and I could tell she felt awful about it. I'm used to it, I have somewhat very tiny infant veins that never want to show themselves when it comes to having to draw blood or get an IV. I just grit my teeth and bare it. But anyways, the results are what everyone is really interested in, right?? Well here goes....

IMPRESSION:

1. Hypermetabolic left oropharyngeal mass, consistent with known squamous cell carcinoma.
2. Hypermetabolic left level IIa node consistent with locoregional or disease.
3. Indeterminate solitary subcentimeter pulmonary nodule. Attention on oncologic follow-up.
4. Otherwise, no evidence of distant metastatic disease.

So what it's saying is no evidence of spread other than what we had already seen in other scans before. Although, there is a small nodule on the right lower lobe of lung.

Yeah read that again....it scared me too. But it's one single nodule which could be anything AND these things are very rarely cancerous. So there, that is what I'm claiming, it isn't cancerous and I'm only focusing on what I KNOW to be cancer at the moment and getting that uninvited demon out of my body. Hopefully getting started on treatment soon. Like within the next week or so. This waiting around is just not working for me anymore.
I will give yall more updates as they come.

10/18/2022

10/10/2022

Went to meet with radiation doctor today. He expects tumor board will suggest next step in treatment will be radiation and chemo. I haven't met with chemo doctors yet but radiation will be 5 days per week for 7 weeks. So a total of 35 radiation treatments. Not sure when or how many chemo rounds until I meet with them and will update as soon as I know something. So my next appointments will be with oral surgeons to discuss final decision of treatment after tumor board meets Wednesday, then will have teeth on left side removed before radiation starts, PET/CT scan on the 19th, fitted for my radiation mask which to me kinda reminds me of Deadpool. (Doc got a kick out of that and said yep that's a pretty good description). Feeling a bit lighter today after appointment because he did say even though it's stage IV it is still at a very treatable phase but did remind me to keep a positive attitude because if I give up, nothing is going to work. He did give me the name of a personal friend of his that is a therapist/counselor and used to work in his office so she knows the ins and outs of it all. So with all that being said, let's get this show on the road. I'm ready to amaze everyone at the amount of fight in me. I know it's fixing to be a tough road and treatment is aggressive, BUT when it comes to LIFE or DEATH there is no other option but to do what you gotta do in order to live. I'm in complete survival mode.

10/07/2022

UPDATE: 2nd biopsy results came in...it was not what we wanted to hear and that's a tough pill to swallow. Meeting with oncologists Monday October 10, 2022 to discuss course of treatment. Do we move ahead with chemo and radiation and hope that it takes care of the very advanced Stage IV tumor that just keeps growing every day we sit around and wait to make the next move?? Do we go forward with the flap surgery and neck dissection which in the doctors own words is a very "morbid" surgery and then proceed with radiation with the possibility of chemo??? These are all questions that will hopefully get answered by Thursday of next week once we meet with the oncologists and then the "tumor board" gets together and discusses their thoughts on best course of treatment.

FYI a tumor board is a group of specialists that meet and make decisions about course of treatment for unusual or complicated cases for diseases like cancer.

Well docs I'll tell u this...there is nothing more "morbid" in my opinion than death from this disease...and I know that medicine is advanced and it is down right amazing the things that can be done for patients in this day and age...so I say WHATEVER option is going to give me life, no matter how morbid it may seem, that is no doubt the route I'm taking.

It's gonna be rough, it's going to be a very LONG journey, but if it ends in victory over this disease, by damn lets get the show on the road. I'm a fighter, a warrior, a badass with a purpose and I will NOT let this defeat me.

I'll post updates as I get them. Love you all. Goodnight.

10/04/2022

https://www.facebook.com/vaultempowers/videos/476028250772329/

10/04/2022

https://www.facebook.com/vaultempowers/videos/1317459905458997/

10/04/2022

Why hide it?? Lol