Time Could Not be Going Faster!

Hello out there!!

After getting 2 cycles of this antibody treatment it was time to get scanned.  This treatment made my tumors shrink 25%...great right.  Now the tricky part was keeping them that way. 

As time went on, the months started to blur.  School was busier then ever and I was living out of a bag.  Back and forth to MN, and trying to keep up with the demand of my teacher internships.  My tumors were growing extremely slowly...about 2 mm every 2 months.  In my situation, this is a miracle.  A treatment with little side effects and keeping my tumors growing slowly.  I had the feeling I could do this forever.  My internships were going great!! I student taught in the middle and elementary schools and I could not have had a better experience.  My mentor teachers were so understanding and taught me everything they knew.  Also, I love working with the kids!! It is this semester when I really get the itch to be in the classroom, and have my own students.  But I still have a semester to go.

While in MN, I got to add more experiences to the list.  Dad and me went to a comedy club. I had never been to one before! We got there late and had to sit right next to the stage.....problem if you don't want to get cracked on.  It was a blast though.  The next day we decided to go to this farm where they had goat things; meat, clothes, candles, and other things.  Anyone who knows me knows that I like to try all different meats, and love them all.  On the list so far are alligator, deer, elk, buffalo, and now goat!!  So good!

During the summer, mine and Dan's life was forever changed.  Dan's grandmother passed away.  She was an amazing woman, always happy and ready to have a good time!  It took a while to get used to her not being there; especially since Dan's family all live on the same piece of property.  To look across the yard and grandmom's house and know that it is empty will never be easy.  I never met Dan's grandfather; but I have been told that Dan is exactly like him.  I know that grandmom is still watching over us everyday and will see to it that things work out how they are supposed to.

I returned to school for my last undergraduate semester!!! I could not believe it had finally arrived.  My friends had already graduated, Dan was done with his masters, I was on my own.  Though I was really too busy to notice.  Still going back and forth to MN, coaching volleyball, and knee deep in my internship (which might as well be a full time job in itself).  November was here before I knew it; and it was time to be scanned.  See with this trial antibody, there are stipulations.  Once your tumors have their largest shrink, they can not grow more then 20% larger then that.  So as I was approaching November, I knew the time would  come where I would not be able to get the treatment anymore.  Once the results of the  scan came in, it was confirmed.  I was so mad!!! How can they kick me off a treatment that is working just because it had grown a little.  All in all I think my tumors only grew about 6 mm over the whole year.  I couldn't believe it; but these are the politics of experimental treatments.  So I was no longer going to MN; forced to stop a treatment that I knew was the best for me.  Although, not having the stress of going back and forth really let me focus on school.  It was graduation time, portfolio presentation time, and it would have been too much to handle.   I ended up graduation Magna Cum Laude and was ready to face the world!!! All my friends and family, even my nurse from NIH, came to watch me walk across the stage.  This was by far the moment where all the struggling and stress paid off. 

I did not know how I was going to balance "real life" with cancer.  School works great with  cancer because I can miss and not be accountable for anyone but myself.  Everyone at school already knows my situation; it is safe.  I do not have to explain to a boss that I need to miss every week or so for treatment, I don't know if I would be hired in the first place.  So when I was asked if I wanted to be the graduate assistant for the physical education department and have an opportunity to get my master's degree for free I accepted.  I would have to be in school for another year and a half, but it would allow me to still get treatment and move forward with my life.  If there is one promise I made to myself throughout this experience it was to keep moving forward, and not let the cancer "win". 

So for now I just celebrated the fact that I had graduated from college.  I had made it through all the obstacles, fought the hard battle!! But as the next year progress, I realized that battle was far from over.