It’s been another busy few weeks. I had cycle 2 of the research medication on February 24. No reactions while I was at the hospital, thank goodness, so I only had to stay overnight the one night. The next day, though I did have some weakness and some vomiting. I chalked it up to just having gotten out of the hospital and the treatment. I then noticed that weekend that I was having trouble standing for long periods. I would feel weak and nauseous. My follow up bloodwork on Monday March 3 looked OK and I felt mostly OK. But then on Tuesday I started noticing some pain across my liver and into my chest. So Wednesday when it didn’t subside, they recommended I go to the ER to make sure that I wasn’t having a blood clot or anything with my heart. As much as I hate going to the ER, I would also hate to miss something critical. They did a chest CT to make sure there was no blood clots and blood work to make sure my heart looked ok. Nothing emergent was happening so they sent me home. The kids had a snow day that day, and I am very fortunate- One friend brought them lunch for me and another took me to the ER for the day. And also, it never hurts to be married to a plow truck driver who is willing to help you and your friends get out of their driveways!😁 I seem to be more high maintenance lately than I would like! Thursday I met with my palliative care Dr who gave me some pain meds to help with the liver pain. I asked for a low dose so I could still try to keep doing things with and for the kids. I am finding that it does help, especially if I take it with some ibuprofen. 
Tuesday, March 11 I had my CT scan to see how my cancer is responding to the research medication. It looks like it is responding by having a nice little party in my liver. My liver now has “innumerable” tumors (too many to count). It is also enlarged from 14 cm in January to 20 cm this week. This explains why it’s firm and tender to the touch. It’s also making eating and drinking challenging because I just don’t have the room. And deep breaths are painful. So now we move on. The research study will see me one final time, but with this progression, I will no longer be part of the study. Next week, I will be starting a different chemotherapy called Doxil. This comes with all the usual chemo side effects as well as the hand and foot syndrome I struggled with in 2021. Here’s hoping I get minimum side effects on this, and that it kicks these liver tumors out. My doctor also started me on steroids today to try to help with the liver inflammation. 
There are only a couple of chemo options left after this. And that will also depend on me being strong enough to try them. I could use lots of prayers for healing and for hope. This is getting really real here, scary. At the moment we’re still processing and figuring out what this new treatment will look like. I so appreciate everything everyone has done to help us out so far. We may have some needs to add on this site, especially to help with the kids transportation to sports and things. I will post them when I know more. Thank you all for your love and support!