Last Round of Chemo!

About two weeks ago I had my 6th and final round of chemo. Now I am just in the "wait and see" mode. I have one more week until I have my PET scan. I am very anxious to see the results. It's also scary at the same time. I guess it's the fear of the unknown, but things thus far have been looking positive for me, so I hope that it stays that way.

This 6th round of chemo has been alright. It seems that the more chemo you get the longer it takes to get out of your system. I did have to deal with some new challenges this time around. I did get mouth sores for the first time that lasted for days. Seriously, it made things so miserable. It sucks when it hurts to eat and even when I didn't eat, my mouth still hurt. Things are healing up now which is such a relief.

On Saturday the 20th the Bake Sale happened. When I walked into my parents house that morning I was astonished. There were baked goods every where. All the tables that we had set up were just filled with goodies. The bake sale was such a great success! There were so many people that showed up that were near and dear to me. There also were a few people that came that were complete strangers. They said they just followed the bake sale signs that were put up. I have been thinking a lot about this bake sale. I have been filled with so much gratitude. There were so many that helped make this happen. Especially my sister-in-law Crystal. I am truly humbled by how many people took the time out of their busy day to bake something to donate. I said to myself today. Kathryn, do you realize that these people that donated at the bake sale made your life so much easier? I just started to cry, because people have been so kind and generous to me. They have helped lift a huge burden off my shoulders. Words can't describe how humbling of an experience this was to me. I hope and pray that people who came and supported know how thankful I am for them and their generosity. 

My bother-in-law, niece and nephews at the bake sale!

 

 Well that's all I have for now. I will update you all in about a week and let you know how the PET scan goes. I love you all! Many thanks for the love and support!

  

Fall time craziness

October has been such a busy month for me. This past week I have been so overwhelmed with emotion. First it started out with my 5th round of chemo. Five days after I got my fifth round of chemo, I have felt awful for a lot longer than expected. This is the worst I have felt since my first round of chemo. This round has affected me in different ways than it has before. I had been feeling borderline nauseous for six days in a row. Wanting and needing to eat food has been soooo hard. I have literally been forcing myself to eat, which has not been easy. My strength also went downhill, which can be so frustrating along with the aches and pains. I have really struggled this last week, but these last two days I have been feeling a bit better. I am also preparing myself for my 6th round of chemo. I am nervous about how this last round is going to go since I have been feeling so crappy. So please keep up the prayers, because I need them now than ever before. Please pray that this will be my last round of chemo. I have faith that it will be, but your prayers give me that extra strength that I need.

For weeks now my family has been planning and putting together a bake sale for me this coming Saturday. I have been so overwhelmed with gratitude to people who have reached out and have been willing to help in any way possible. I am also so thankful that my family would take the time to do this fundraiser for max and I. For those of you who don't know about the bake sale coming up and would like to know more. Here is a link to the event: Bake sale for Kathryn Herrscher Cook



The Cook family that has given us so much support <3

The Herrscher family clan that has given us so much support <3



 

Last second this week my parents received a call from their good friends. They said that their son-in-law, Micheal Ethington would like to throw a benefit concert in my behalf. This was very unexpected, but I was truly humbled that someone, that I had never met, was willing to do that for me. The benefit concert was held on Friday the 12th. The concert was amazing! Micheal Ethington is an extremely talented pianist who shared his personal story about his own trials and health challenges. He is a truly inspiring individual. He had me crying for most of the concert.

The phrase I have heard this last couple of weeks is "it's easier to give than to receive."
How true that phrase is. All these things that have happened and are happening in my behalf haven't been easy to accept, but I know once this is done, that it will be my turn to give back to all of you.


This week, my one year wedding anniversary is coming up! My husband has been my biggest blessing. He has stuck by my side through this trial in my life. He has  been such a huge support! Even though I don't get to see him very often, I am extremely grateful for the time we get to spend together. One of the many blessings we have received through this trial, is that it has deepened and strengthened our relationship. I am so thankful for love and patients he has for me. I couldn't have gone through this without him.

I Love him!

 

 

I am also excited to say that next week my whole family will be together again! My brother Brian is getting home from being with the Air National Guard for the last 6 months. Even though he has been far away he has been a support to me as well. It will be so nice to finally welcome him home!

So yes! This month has been crazy for me, but so much to be thankful for! Hopefully within the next three weeks I can report that the PET scan went well and no cancer for me!

CT scan report.

    This week has been more of an eventful week for me. I got a CT scan done this past Tuesday. The reason for this was to see if I have made any progress with my cancer treatments. I saw my doctor the next day (Wednesday), along with getting my 5th round of chemo. The doctor had good news to report about the CT scan. I originally had three tumors in my abdomen.(Which I never really knew til yesterday.) One was in my spleen, the second one was in my liver, and the third was in two lymph nodes by my aorta. When I first heard aorta I thought, O MY GOSH! I had a tumor by my heart! Then I was reminded that your aorta is long. It extends down into your abdomen. So to clarify to you all the tumor in my lymph nodes by my aorta is in my abdomen not by my heart. The CT scan that was taken a couple days ago only showed tiny little spots of cancer/inflammation that is resolving itself in my spleen and liver. My spleen is still slightly enlarged, but nothing to worry about. The doctors told me that my spleen may never go back down to its complete normal size. As for my liver, it has gone back down to its normal size. Also the tumor that was in the two lymph nodes by my aorta, they have shrunk down and things there are looking really positive. The doctors did make a comment that they remember seeing my first CT scans from the beginning of all this and they said that they were quite impressed.(This was because of how enlarged my spleen and liver were.) Then they looked at me, smiled and said "and you don't want to impress us." So all in all I had really good news on Wednesday. I am just waiting to have my 6th round of chemo in 2 weeks and in 5 weeks get a PET scan to confirm that  I don't have to go through any more chemo! :)

I had a thought this last week about having a bald head, because someone asked me, isn't it so nice not to have to worry about doing your hair? To be honest it has been plus not having to worry about it. That question also reminded me when I was told that showering would become much faster as well, but for me that isn't the case. I loooovvvveee showers. They are still just as long as when I had hair. Then the thought popped into my head. Ya know when I had hair, there were so many days that I would complain about it. wither it was greasy, having to take the time to do it, or just simply when I thought I was having a bad hair day. Since you don't know what you got til it's gone, having a bald head has made me more thankful for those bad hair days. I hope and pray that when my hair grows back that I will remember to be thankful and not complain because there are people out there that don't have hair.


I love you all that have supported me through out this time. Thanks for taking the time out of your busy day. I know it isn't easy to do,  whether or not it has been big or small it has made a difference in my life!