New Year, New Plan

When Juliana puts her mind to something, she figures out how to make it happen.

Soon after her diagnosis, Juliana connected with a doctor from the Fred Hutch Cancer Center in Seattle who specializes in her specific and rare type of cancer. However, her health insurance did not cover her care at that institution. So, she changed her insurance as she decided she preferred to be treated by this specific doctor.

On January 8, Juliana met with her new doctor, Dr. Banda, at Fred Hutch. The experience has already been better from scheduling, to communication, to the level of care. The first appointment with Dr. Banda included the review of her most recent scans and a discussion of what Juliana's goals were for her treatment, which had not been a specific topic of conversation previously.

Dr. Banda was pleased with the results of the latest scan, confirming that the growth has seemingly stabilized in most places.  He has suggested, and Juliana has agreed to, starting on a non-chemotherapy treatment called Avastin for the next three rounds, following the same schedule of one treatment every three weeks and then rescanning. Avastin is a targeted drug that works by blocking a tumor's blood vessels, ultimately starving the tumor of blood and oxygen that it needs to survive and grow. Juliana had one round of avastin during her chemo infusion at the end of November, but not since. As with any treatment, there is a long list of potential side effects that we will monitor for, especially due to Juliana's sensitivities and her body's propensity to react despite reaction being a low probability. 

Taking some time off of traditional chemotherapy will also give her body a much needed break, an opportunity to rest and have an increased quality of life. We hope she will have more days of feeling good and less days of feeling terrible during this next round. Dr. Banda approved of her starting this treatment at the end of January so that she could potentially take a few short trips before treatment started again. 

Whidbey Island, New Years with the framily

In the last few weeks, Juliana has had some much needed time alone in her home with only Koda overseeing her care. She has felt strong enough to walk him daily, spend the long New Years weekend with her besties on Whidbey Island and continue to attack her to-do list that is full of "adulting" tasks. 

Unfortunately, for the last few days she has been experiencing some significant back pain and discomfort. A scan at Urgent Care did not show any real change from previous scans, so the current thinking is that her one damaged kidney is pressing on the inferior vena cava vein that runs in front of her spine. While this has been on our radar from the beginning, she is working on determining a plan with the urologist to see what options are available to relieve some pain.

Please continue to send her love notes, messages, nourishing meals, thoughts and calls. I am sending all my energy to the universe, trying to manifest a relief of her pain. Please join me, I would love to believe in our collective energy to create this shift for her.