Fighting with an Army

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The support and love we have received from family and friends has been very humbling and encouraging.  Thanks for all the kind words, prayers, and love!

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Is It Really the Five Year Anniversary of my Cancer Diagnosis Today?!

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August 31, 2023 Is It Really the Five Year Anniversary of my Cancer Diagnosis Today?! 8/31/2023 Five years ago today, this gem of a photo was taken: That photo was taken just before I went into surgery to remove an almond sized lump from my right armpit that multiple physicians were confident was just a fatty deposit. Little did we know when the photo was taken just how much our life together would change following that surgery. I still remember coming out of anesthesia and Kim telling me that my uncle had informed her that what he had pulled out was cancerous. I remember spending days wondering what the biopsy would reveal and hoping that it was a “good” cancer to get, only to find out that it was one of the “bad” cancers to get: melanoma. Not just melanoma, but melanoma that was already in an advanced stage given that it came from a lymph node. Fortunately, my naivete prevented me from responding the way the rest of my family responded. I just figured I’d beat it and move on. As we b...
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3rd Infusion and New Scans

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It's been a while since I've posted. My last scans (CT scan of my body and MRI of my brain) were on July 31st and my last infusion was on August 1st. However, I was just barely able to talk to the radiation oncologist that has helped with my brain yesterday. I wanted to have a clearer picture before I posted an update. So here's the update... As far as my infusion goes...it went well. For some reason it was taking them a really long time to get my drugs to me. Almost an hour I think. Normally it's about 20-30 minutes. But other than that, my body seems to be handling the infusions well. I've made it through 3 of the 4 scheduled infusions with the combined drugs. My fourth infusion is scheduled for August 22nd. Unless some serious side effects kick in between now and then, I'll get through all four which is great. After that, they'll drop me down to just one of the drugs and that will continue, I believe, for about a year. At that point, they'll reevalu...
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