Overdue Update
Sorry about the long time between updates. It's been kind of crazy in Casa Nials.
First, a quick statement on where we are at, and then I'll go into other things. Teresa is doing OK, but just OK. Currently the chemotherapy has caused the main tumor to appear to shrink a bit, but there is a significant tumor in her abdomen that has grown at the same time. There is now a (very) small lesion on her liver that is likely a new tumor. Unfortunately, these new tumors are both too small to biopsy right now, and are not operable. Also, there is a real question whether Teresa can handle another surgery.
Her oncologist has said we'll continue the chemo as long as we are seeing some results. Once that is no longer the case, we'll probably terminate chemotherapy again, this time permanently. This is to improve her quality of life. Chemo leaves her exhausted and physically ill. There are numerous issues that crop up with chemotherapy, and we have run the gamut of those problems. We've been steadily replacing her clothes as she has lost weight. She has lost all her hair now. And she suffers from a lot of memory and difficulties with focus. As Teresa says "Chemo brain is real, and is a real pain."
We will take a quick trip to M.D. Anderson Hospital in Houston for a CT scan there. That is probably 4 weeks out. The oncologist there want's a more fine-grained scan than we can get in Austin.
Her spirits remain good, and while her emotions sometimes get the better of her, her faith is unwavering.
I'm going to try to summarize the rest of the goings on to keep this from being too long. She's had two (non-critical) hospitalizations due to infections. The first was for a urinary tract infection (UTI) where we also discovered we had Covid. They kept her in isolation during this time, which was very stressful for both of us. The second hospitalization was due to cellulitis as well as another UTI. She was not isolated during this hospitalization, and either Ginny or I visited with her every day.
We set short-term goals for her survival. Our last goal was to get through most of the kids' birthdays. We are in sight of our next goal, which is Pascha. For our non-Orthodox Christian friends, this is our Easter. This Pascha will have deeper meaning for us as we face Teresa's mortality. It is important for us to be connected with the deepest meaning of Christ's death, burial and resurrection. He became man, so we could become like Him. And St. Paul tells us: For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. (Romans 6:5, ESV) We await with anticipation singing "Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down Death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life." This is His sure promise to us.
We also want to thank everyone who has helped us in the last few months. Many friends and our Church Family have been generous with money, food, yard-work and fellowship.
I will send out another update sometime after Pascha, once we have more to update you with.
As always, we are accepting donations for day to day expenses at https://gofund.me/7c8cea27. If you want to help in other ways, or want to send us anything directly, contact me at help-teresa@protonmail.com