YOU'RE DONE....nope, just kidding

1/19/2018

My PET scan was December 29th. You get a PET scan to make sure your tumor/Cancer was taken care of with the intense chemo...if not, the fluid they inject you with will light your body up anywhere there is movement or growth. I had mine done basically the last day in 2017 so I knew it would be a few days to get the results with the holidays etc. By January 4th I still hadn't heard from my doctor so I gave his nurse a call. Was no news good news?
The nurse called back about an hour later saying my Dr had just looked at the scan results this morning and he wanted me to come in the next day. To which I replied, "well I already have my appointment with him next week, can I not just wait and still come in then?"
Nurse: "No, he wants to see you first thing in the morning"
Lovely....that just sounds like great results are comin' my way!

The next morning I was at my oncologist. Long story short, the PET scan showed my tumor was still active, when it shouldn't of been with the crazy intense chemo regimen I did. Something about the SUVs (whatever those are) are supposed to be under 5....mine were 15. So I had 3 options, that weren't really options and all eventually led to radiation. So there I was with another caner treatment looming over me. I just THOUGHT I was done after chemo....ha, "just kidding" said life.

That very day I had to go directly across the street to meet with my new radiation oncologist, get fitted for my radiation form I had to lay in every time, and get the laser markings on my body that showed where to line me up each time and I had to keep these on the duration of radiation. Because if being bald isn't fun enough, lets just throw some permanent marker and stickers on you that have to stay there for 6 full weeks.

I unfortunately had to wait for a while to get insurance to approve radiation. The day it was finally approved, they literally got me in 2 hours later to do my first session. I have a total of 22 sessions, every day. If all goes as planned and the weather doesn't go crazy again, I should have my last session February 16th. I did however schedule all my sessions for after 4 so I can still get a job and work and just go after. Now more than ever I definitely need a job/income. Let the radiation fun begin and lets get this show on the road, I'm ready to REALLY be done this time.

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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

CANCER CHRONICLES