So many people have reached out for updates, and I appreciate your patience as it has taken me a little time to write one, this past week has been a difficult one. We went in last Wednesday for Allison’s port placement and to begin her first round of chemotherapy. The port placement went smoothly, and she was moved directly to the oncology floor, where treatment began a few hours later. 

 

Allison received two different chemotherapy medications, followed by 24 hours of IV fluids to help her body flush out the chemotherapy. She also received red light therapy around her mouth, as one of the medications can cause sores in the mouth, throat, and throughout the gastrointestinal tract. After the first round, she felt mostly sleepy with mild nausea and experienced a fair amount of pain from the port placement. 

 

She completed a second round of chemotherapy, along with additional red light therapy and IV fluids, on Thursday and was discharged home Friday afternoon. Overall, she handled those first few days better than we expected. 

 

We truly believed that would be the hardest part and that we would have a relatively quiet three week break before the next round. Unfortunately, the side effects have steadily intensified over the weekend. Allison has been struggling to eat because of the persistent overwhelming nausea, and has had pain from the port as well as intensifying mouth, throat and stomach pain. She is on several medications for nausea which can also be sedating. That, on top of the side effects from the chemo itself, has made her feel confused and overwhelmed at times, even causing several panic attacks. Watching her go through this has been incredibly difficult, and we are taking things hour by hour, day by day, while staying in close contact with each other and her care team. 

 

Her next appointment is tomorrow for blood work, and depending on the results, her team may recommend additional transfusions such as blood or platelets, as chemotherapy can be very depleting. They have reminded us that chemotherapy targets rapidly dividing cells (which is exactly what the cancer is) but it also affects healthy cells that divide quickly, including those in the gastrointestinal tract, skin, hair, and mouth. That is why Allison feels so unwell right now: the treatment is working aggressively, but it comes at a significant cost to her body as it fights to heal alongside it. 

 

Our prayer requests right now are that she would begin to feel better and be able to eat and sleep. We are also praying for an extra measure of peace and courage, as it is so hard for her to face something she knows will make her feel so terrible. We continue to pray that the tumor is destroyed as much as possible by the chemotherapy and that we have good options to consider for reconstruction in February. Please also pray for wisdom and discernment for her doctors and nurses, that nothing would be overlooked or missed in her care. 

 

Right now, the best way to support us is through prayer and, if you feel led and able, financial support. It was such a relief and a blessing to be able to pay upfront for the port procedure because of your generosity! We may set up a meal train for our family at a later time, particularly around the weeks Allison is admitted to the hospital. If you’d like, her dad also has a meal train set up for his family already, as we are all working together and giving everything we have to fight for our sweet Alli. Please email or text me if you would like the link to the meal train. 

 

Thank you, as always, for your continued prayers, encouragement, and support. They truly mean more to us than we can express during this challenging season.