End of ‘22 Update

Wow! It’s the end of 2022! It’s been quite the year for me. ;) How about you?

If you are new to my site, here is my cancer history in detail.

In my last update I mentioned that I would be getting my lung drained again. I had it done a few weeks ago. It is an uncomfortable procedure. It makes me feel better in some ways, but also hurts in other ways. I will probably be getting it done again in January. I have a malignant pleural effusion, which is cancerous fluid surrounding the lung.

I also wrote that I would be starting Piqray, a medication that brings on diabetes. I went to a specialist to learn all about diabetes as I knew almost nothing. As I was gearing up for this change in medications, we found out that my blood mutation (Pik3Ca) changed, making Piqray a no-go for me. Honestly, I was a bit relieved. I am going to stay on my endocrine therapy for now (Ibrance and Letrozole). These medications have stopped the growth of most of my cancer, so I will continue with them for now. The areas they have stopped working on are my pleural effusion and my skin lesions.

Anyway, for now, I will continue with my endocrine therapy as well as getting my lung drained now and then. The side effects I experience change from hour to hour. I often get asked about how I feel and it’s hard to explain exactly. Sometimes I have grinding bone pain, other times lung, liver or neck pain. Sometimes I have extreme fatigue, sometimes only subtle fatigue. Sometimes I have nausea. Sometimes I get migraines. Sometimes a few of these things happen together. Once in while I don’t have any of these side effects. I asked my oncologist if this is normal and she said it is.

Thanks for checking in! I wrote an end of year post in my Shadows section as well. You can find it here: Yay?

Much love and many thanks to all of my friends and my family.

Julie

Marisa, Meg and Julie on Christmas Day 2022