Feeling weak after last week.

I'm currently in a hotel room (by myself for the first time ever.. thanks mommy for trusting me ;)) in Palo Alto for only 14 hours because the clinical trial needs post blood samples from treatment #4. I tried to work my way around having to come back here just for 10 minutes of blood draws but the clinical trial has strict rules.  I'm worn out from a week of treatment and classes, from driving here and knowing that I have to drive back to Cal Poly tomorrow. But hey, good news is I finished my last clinical trial treatment last Monday!! Hip hip Hooray! Now let's pray that my PET scan shows that the trial medicine worked and I can move on to the journey of my Bone Marrow Transplant.

Last Monday went smoothly and that's what matters. As I mentioned in my previous blog, my oncologist gives me Benadryl and steroids before the clinical trial drugs to stop any allergic reactions from happening like they did for treatment #2 because I did NOT want to ever feel like that again. So of course, the Benadryl put me right to sleep and I slept during the whole treatment!! All 5 hours! That was pretty awesome to fall asleep and be woken up by my nurse saying "Hi honey, you're all done for the day, you can go!"

After treatment, my mom and I met up with Julie Lin at the Stanford shopping mall. She's one of the only women that I can talk about makeup with and she knows all the brands I'm talking about it! Lol I love it. We shopped around and had a yummy dinner.

I had to spend another night in Palo Alto, and the following morning(Tuesday) I had some blood draws and then drove straight to San Luis Obispo to make my afternoon math class. My mom and the  Chalker family convinced me to get the Audible app for these long drives so I started Amy Poehler's book for the drive back to school! So far, I was feeling great and no fatigue from treatment.

The rest of the week was hard. I started to feel weak, as if I had just run a marathon. I was tired from just walking from my car to my apartment. During chemo I would feel this same way, and I hated every minute of it. Just like my mom, I'm an on-the-go type of person! I don't have time to feel weak and stay in bed. I had to make up a midterm that I missed from my treatment day, and my homework load felt like it was getting bigger by the minute... At one point, I called my mom in tears. I was overwhelmed.  I also didn't have much of an appetite this week. I mostly ate tangerines and quest bars.

But it's now 6 days since treatment #4 and I'm finally feeling better!!

Only two more weeks left in Winter Quarter which means only 2 weeks left in San Luis Obispo before I have to officially move back home :( It's sad to think about but I'm ready to beat this cancer again!!

I'm procrastinating an essay and presentation due in a few days to write this blog post about treatment #4... lol I guess that's the life of a college student going through cancer treatment!

Spending the day in Napa before treatment #4

Shopping and dinner with Julie in Palo Alto

Matching Mommy and daughter shoes :) 

One. More.

         Whenever I have treatment, my mom and I try to make a little "trip" out of going to Palo Alto. We attempt to get to Palo Alto mid afternoon on Sunday to be able to spend the afternoon at their beautiful downtown. (But if anyone knows my mother, they know this is impossible since she is a very, very busy lady). My mom has quite a few places to eat downtown that she has heard about so we love to check those restaurants out! So for this treatment, my mom and I were able to see a movie together on Sunday night and then spend the night before I had treatment #3 on Monday (2/1) morning.
       The Friday before treatment #3, I had a scheduled CT scan to make sure this treatment was reducing the mass in my chest. Laurie Smith, a mother I babysit for, offered to come with my mom and I to my appointment. Laurie and her family have been so supportive these past few years. Shout out to the Smiths! We went to my CT scan and then ate dinner in Palo Alto.
       I was nervous for this treatment. Like reallyyyy nervous. Treatment #2 went so horribly wrong and was worse than any chemotherapy. Because I had such a bad reaction to the trial last time, I had to skip a whole week of college :( That was hard for me. Soo you better believe I was hoping this treatment would be nothing like the last!!
        I started my normal routine on treatment day by getting my blood drawn (always at least 10 tubes), meeting with my oncologist and then starting treatment. I was anxious to speak to my oncologist because I wanted to find out why I would react so strongly to treatment #2 but not #1. My oncologist tried explaining to me that the antibodies in my body weren't expecting to be getting this immunotherapy again so I had an allergic reaction. She tried to explain that stuff like this happens sometimes, but no one in her trial has had such a strong reaction like I did. We also talked about my CT scan results from Friday. Turns out the mass in my chest hasn't decreased in size... my oncologist told me not to worry because the drugs that I am getting sometimes enlarge the mass at first. When I heard this, I had so many questions. Like, Then why the heck am I getting a CT scan right now if this could be a "fake" enlargement?? Does this mean the trial isn't working and I need chemotherapy before the transplant?? Unfortunately my oncologist isn't able to answer any of these questions. We are going to have to see when I have my PET and CT scan after the trial is over, scheduled for March 17. Pray that my scans will show a decrease in the cancer!!
        Overall, treatment # 3 went well.. Thank God. My nurses gave me Benadryl and steroids before the drugs to make sure I didn't have any reactions like last time. And I didn't! Yay. We just decided to have the drugs go into my system slowly. Instead of being there for about 2 hours, the drugs took about 4-5 hours to go into my system. It was a long day at Stanford, but it was worth it to not have a reaction. During treatment, I slept since I was so tired from the Benadryl.
        After treatment, my mom and I went to Nordstrom and dinner so that we wouldn't be stuck in rush hour Monday traffic. I didn't mind this because I was feeling okay and I LOVE shopping :) I treated myself to a new pair of shoes and my mommy bought me a new shirt for a Valentine's Day present.
          The following morning, I headed back to San Luis Obispo around 4:30 am so that I could make my Tuesday morning class and tutor elementary kids in the evening. I am now back at school until treatment #4!!! (on Feb 22) I am lucky to have my 3 professors willing to work with me and my crazy schedule.

My hair is starting to fall out... :( I didn't think that it would happen during this trial. I hope I don't have to cut it any time soon. My mom has become so interested in food to heal cancer... we still strongly believe that my hair stayed for so long last year during chemo because of the way I ate!!

P.S- We finally got my Bone Marrow Transplant schedule. My sister says she feels like I am a celebrity because I get all my appointments scheduled for me and I have so many "managers" and phone calls with drs. Lol! I wish I felt that way.  If all goes well with the trial and the mass in my chest decreases, I will be spending a lot of time at Stanford for stem cell retrieval and a few rounds of chemotherapy. I am scheduled to live in the hospital for the month of May. I'm just happy I don't have to live in the hospital on my 21st birthday (April 5)!!! My mom and I were hoping to go on a trip to Singapore to see her best friend before I was admitted to the hospital... but I think I won't be allowed to. Hopefully in the near future!!

P.P.S- My mom told me that a meal train has started for my parents and little sister at home.. How lucky am I ??! I live in a great community. Thank you so much!!!

Treatment selfie with mommy

Free massages for patients and caregivers! My first time having time to take advantage of this

Im under those blankets.. somewhere lol 

Normal amount of blood taken..each time