Turkey Time Fun

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

All day on Thanksgiving it snowed and snowed and snowed and the kids enjoyed building a snowman and sledding down the hills at the park.

Aubrie lost her 3rd tooth this month too!

The girls enjoyed having swimming lessons each Saturday and are gaining more confidence every day.

                                         Aubrie and her friend Alivia matching at school

Halloween and Park City

This Fall I was hoping to have a few of our own pumpkins from the garden to have out/carve for Halloween, but unfortunately the crazy hot/cold weather we have didn't help and we didn't even get one this year. Grandma Susie gave us one of the only pumpkins she grew this year! It was so cute and tiny I had to compare it to Brynnley's little hand. 

For Grandpa Matt's birthday, we were invited to stay the night at a timeshare in Park City at the Marriott. The girls loved spending time with Grandma Susie and Papa Matt and went swimming and had a fun Halloween/birthday party. The next day we woke up to a few inches of snow! 

This year for Halloween, Brynnley wanted to paint her pumpkin and Aubrie wanted to carve one with the Toy Story 4 character, Forky.

The girls got to dress up for their classes on Halloween and loved having fun in their class parties and parades.

Aubrie's school had their Halloween parade outside in the morning. Luckily it was my late day so I could go to see her. It was so freezing cold and in the 20's that morning but worth seeing my cute happy girl!

Due to the weather being so cold, the girls wore different costumes at night for trick-or-treating. I was lucky enough to be feeling good and took them out for the first hour and then they continued another hour with Jeff.

Trick or Treating with friends Allie and Ezra Bush

This year our theme at work was Peter Pan. I was Wendy which was a pretty easy costume!

October Cancer Update

August

September

October

CT scan Friday October 11:

CT scan results: 

October 11th:

Mesenterey/Peritoneum: There is increased right lower quadrant peritoneal thickening and associated mass in the right paracolic gutter is increased from 2.4 to 3.3 cm. There is unchanged periotoneal thickening adjacent to the rectosigmoid surgical sutures. Resolved left anterior fluid collection.

After meeting with Dr. Werner to follow up on my CT scan we received not so great news. Dr. Werner said she is concerned with what she sees given that I have been on the new medication, Fulvestrant since my previous scan in July. The increased size of the mass (which is on the right ascending colon) has changed in size as follows:

March scan: 2.9 x 3.2 cm   

I then had surgery in April to remove this spot

July scan: 2.4 x 1.7 cm

October scan: 2.0 x 1.8 cm

At this time, Dr. Werner feels the mass is stable/a little larger and wants me to continue on the same medications for the next 3 months until my next scan in January. I am feeling a little disappointed that I had another huge surgery to remove this tumor which is already growing back this fast!!! It is crazy to me that this tumor has the same genetic mutation as the other tumors but isn't responding to my treatment. 

I met with Dr. Zempolich on the 24th of October to review my CT and have her look into severe and sharp pain in my right pubis area. Dr. Z feels the increased size of the tumor on the scan is definitely not scar tissue as we thought it might be because it has increased in all dimensions. The options at this point would be: 1. Consider another surgery which would include removal of the part of bowel with this tumor (bowel resection) or 2. Possibly consider looking into Radiation of this spot if I am a candidate. The terrible sharp pain that I have been experiencing in my pelvis was diagnosed as a muscle tear in my Rectus Abdominis muscle where it attaches to the pubic bone. I have no idea how it happend other than lifting and carrying Brynnley around that previous weekend. 

I was going to start taking low dose Naltrexone at this time as it has been recommended to me a few times by Naturopathic doctors, but every time I go to put it in my medication box, I don't feel good about it. As hard as it is, I am trusting the feeling I have to not take it. 

The side effects from the new medication injection I get every month, Fulvestrant, are really starting to kick in. I have gained at least 10# since starting this medication and almost within an hour of getting the shot, I start to feel extremely bloated. It is so frustrating to me when I have been working so hard to stay active, despite being exhausted every day and to eat clean when the weight just keeps adding on. I started to feel fat rolls below my bra line form and am devastated!  I have really been trying to decrease the amount of soda I have per week, which is tough since I need the caffeine to work,  and to choose good foods over treats and sugary foods as well as exercise at least 3 times a week. I have started back into the water aerobics class on Tuesday nights which is a nice break from the Monday night cardio/muscle class that is a little more challenging. The week off that I took from exercising due to the pelvic pain I had, really reminded me how much I need exercise in my life to help with stress management. I have also tried to focus on listening to guided meditations at night from "The Honest Guys: on you tube to help relax my body and mind from the stress of the work day. 

The joint pain in my knees and ankles has decreased since switching from Letrozole but at this point I would almost rather have the pain than the weight gain. It makes it that much harder to be motivated to stay healthy in this journey, especially when Jeff doesn't encourage me to eat well.