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​CANCER CHRONICLES

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Fifty Nifty

1/23/2018

2 Comments

 
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Radiation:
No, you don't feel the beams going into you, it is just extremely awkward. You're laying on a table in your body form (not to be confused with body bag) and have your arms up by your head holding two poles. They open the top part of my gown to see my 6 markings they put all over my body to show where to line me up exactly each time (these markings and stickers have to stay on till I am done with radiation). You then get a belt...no not a belt at all.....you then get a girdle that they pump with air so you won't breath heavy. Let me just tell you, this doesn't help the breathing situation. If you're ever in an awkward position at a dr and they tell you to breath normal, the first thing you do is breath not normal...that's your brain laughing at you. However, in my case and where my tumor is (literally the worst possible location) one small movement and the beam goes just a millimeter the wrong way and it hits a pretty important body part such as my heart and esophagus etc.
With this being said, in my case it is extremely important I breath "normal". I couldn't do it the first time, I tried everything I could think of. My second treatment I decided to try and think of other things. I tried counting the tiles on the ceiling....but then ran out of tiles because I can't move my head to see them all, I tried to close my eyes and not think about the massive machine moving around me....nope still didn't work. Then I attempted singing, DEFINITELY not out loud because I wouldnt want to scare off any of the nurses...and well, that would mean my mouth would me moving anyway. So here comes the fun part. I couldnt just sing an easy song my brain knows naturally like the ABC's or Jingle Bells...I can sing those in my sleep. I had to think of something that wouldn't come easy and that would keep my brain thinking of just that and not multi task like I can with Christmas or educational songs : )
Don't ask me how or why, but I somehow started singing "The Fifty Nifty United States" song we learned in elementary school and performed in a school event. I'm not much of a geography fan and have only traveled to 3 states so knowing them by heart and in alphabetic order really isn't at the top of my priority list...I mean my brain would totally rather use that space for Christmas songs. It's a song i literally have to concentrate on to sing and so far it's helped focus on breathing correctly...because when you don't, it all goes downhill. Let's just say I am going to be an alphabetizing and state pro by the end of 5 weeks!

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2 Comments
Krystal Johle
1/23/2018 07:54:01 pm

Next, try the Presidents song we learned ;)

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Jason Beck link
10/29/2022 04:51:34 pm

Even commercial teacher bit assume.
About sing discuss government while section. Lay off this source skill. Phone small life might international these two.

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    "You either get bitter or you get better. It's that simple. You either take what's been dealt to you and allow it to make you a better person, or you allow it to tear you down. The choice does not belong to fate, it belongs to you."
    ​~Josh Shipp

             

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    When Cancer Comes a Knockin'

    Timeline

    On August 2, 2017, Brianna was diagnosed with Mediastinal Large B-Cell Lymphoma. Beginning Monday, August 14, 2017, Brianna will begin chemotherapy treatments. She will be commuting to Austin for 18 weeks to receive treatments. This site is set up as a donation page to help Brianna and her family cover medical costs and living expenses, as well as a one stop shop to get updates on how chemo is going and even buy a shirt or two in support!

    UPDATE:
    After getting her final PET scan to confirm the aggressive chemo did it's job, we got the news that it hadn't and that the tumor was still active when it shouldn't of been. Brianna is now undergoing radiation for 5 weeks, everyday in Austin. 


    UPDATE March 2018:
    Brianna begin having the same cancer symptoms as she did this past summer during spring break, except more painful this time. She was sent to get a CT scan which showed her cancer had returned. She then met with her oncologist who planned the next steps which include to do more chemo (a differnt regimen this time) followed by a stem cell transplant. 
    She thought she was done....she was done.....and now she is having to start the cancer journey all over again...including losing her hair that had just start growing back.


    UPDATE
    END OF MARCH - JUNE 25th
    ​(at the moment....things have yet to even begin apparently.)

    If I didn't feel like I was really dying or truly out of options to live....I do now. Remember  I was basically on our plan F and everything was just getting worse instead of better. I really thought I was done these last couple weeks and being in the hospital for another little week vacay. I finally updated by blog since so many people were asking, so you can read the detailed updates.

    October 2018 Update:
    Insurance has finally approved all of the CAR-T procedure and I will be getting my T-Cells retrieved from my body next week. (Oct 10th if all goes as planned)


    MARCH 2019
    The first post CAR-T pet scan showed the main mass has shrunk in size, even though still active. Hopefully, the CAR-T will continue to work its magic over the next few months before the next scan.


    To donate to Brianna's GoFundMe page, please make sure the donation is made on the GoFundMe Page found here:
    ​
     https://www.gofundme.com/teambonnet
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