Amy's Cancer Story

A lot has happened since my last post.

1. My mother was struggling with her kidney cancer and she lost her battle on February 19, 2023
2. All my side of the family made it to South Carolina for the funeral and to be my Dad. Even though circumstances were not the best, it was a great reunion of family and life celebration of my mother. Then most of us traveled by plane and car to Valley Forge Memorial Gardens in King of Prussia, PA to the burial site.
3. I was able to have my wound vac removed removed so that I could go on this trip. It is hard to go anywhere otherwise with it needing to be changed every 2-3 days and we had embarked on a 6 day trip.
4. The wound vac is doing a great job. I have learned that along with pulling the drainage out, the wound vac pulls the blood out of the wound and this helps heal it. So that is very encouraging that this whole ordeal is moving in the right direction.
5. My white blood count is still low and I have not returned to taking the Xeloda ( a chemo pill) – as of yet. I am still taking the $23,000 a bottle immunotherapy pill and getting an immunotherapy infusion.
6. This week was rough week. I saw 3 Dr’s. Had three home nurse visit’s and immunotherapy infusion. I was more tired than usual. Dr. Wiess (my bone oncologist) and he thought everything looked great from the surgery.
7. The pain was bad this week too. Today was one of the worst Sunday’s I have had. Quite often, in the morning it takes 1.5-2 hours for my pain meds to kick in. I have to eat first or I will throw up. I did not want my pain to keep me from attending church. I have to learn to manage my pain pills better I suppose. Once the meds kick in, my leg can feel almost normal but that does not always last too long. Then I tend to do to much activity and I am hurting the next day. Please pray for me, this has been a constant battle.
8. My pain is now mostly in the surgical area. Prior to surgery it was all through my leg. So in some cases that is an improvement for pain – now let’s be positive! I think part of the pain now is bone pain. The surgeons scraped my bone hard to make sure it bled. Bleeding is a good thing as it means the bone is alive. The pain is there at the wound and in the area where the drainage was happening – mainly.