I Rang the Bell!!!

It's been a long, hard journey, but I am DONE with chemo and surgery for pancreatic cancer and I am considered cancer-free at this point! There will be follow-up blood work and CT scans over the next few years, but all indications is that it is GONE. This give Independence Day a whole new meaning. I'm a Cancer Survivor! 💜

I started having pains in late August (around my birthday), did lots of blood work, CT scans, endoscopic procedures and then the diagnosis on October 7, 2022. I started chemo in November and rang that brass bell on July 3, 2023. 🔔

Dr. Erin Fleener and her staff at the Cancer Clinic in Bryan, Texas have been wonderful to work with and I highly recommend her. 

After 8 straight rounds of chemo (week on, week off), I had a break and then a Whipple surgery to remove part of my pancreas, the Gall Bladder, part of the Bile Duct, part of the beginning of the small intestines and a lymph node. Whatever was left was stitched back together to flow as "usual". Recovery and then 3 more rounds of chemo.

My surgeon in Houston was Dr. George Van Buren and he knows his stuff. The surgery was long and hard, but the scar could have been a lot worse. Recovery took quite a bit longer than I expected, but it was an extensive 6 1/2 hour surgery. It took WEEKS to get over it, but I'm getting back to normal and lifting restrictions have been lifted. 

Time to go camping and dancing and travelling! I feel like my life has been put on hold for the past several months and I have spent more time on my couch than I ever would have thought possible.

💜 MANY, MANY thanks to my family, friends and even strangers that have prayed for me and offered me encouragement through this ordeal. Without the Good Lord's will and everyone's prayers, I don't think I would have made it through on my own. Bless those who took time out of their schedules to give me rides to Bryan and Houston and local errands. Those who brought meals and helped with things around the house.  Y'all are angels here on earth!!! 👼🏻