So, on the day I was supposed to go for consult + chemo, I already had in mind to tell the doctor that I wouldn't want to go for chemo no matter what the scan showed. After drawing blood I had a two-hour wait before consultation and I received a call from a different department in NUH. Apparently they had put me on the wait list for a new trial treatment, immunotherapy. So what they do is, instead of attacking the cancer cells like chemo does, they boost my immune system and have my body counter the cells. It's a lot less toxic and instead of my 3 days of chemo + side effects, I only have to go for IV drip for an hour and take pills orally daily. Seems pretty sweet to me. This is an global trial and every hospital has limited slots. In NUH, only 3 other people have gone for the trial. One of them is a middle-aged man who has the same cancer as I do. And his tumours shrank by 30%. I was pretty stoked, and for the first time ever the parents and I are on the same page. On one hand, the father feels safer knowing I'm being treated in a hospital, and the mother has been praying for alternative treatments as well.
During the consultation, my scan showed that the damn tumours are still growing and my cancer marker has increased too. But I'm not too bummed out because the scan results is what allowed my doctor to let me off chemo and go for the trial.
I didn't want to tell many people about it yet because I was still on the wait list, but I'm going for a screening this Thursday to see if I'm able to go for the trial!! It is good news, and thank God. The day I decide to quit chemo is the day I get an alternative treatment.
As for these past few chemo-free days, I've been sweating it out and drinking disgusting concoctions that are supposed to be healthy. I also cut sugar as much as I can, cut out my red meats too ): Making full use of chemo-free days to boost the health, because I never ever ever want to take chemo-free days for granted nor do I want to go back to that chair again.
So last December, I began chemo and the face and skin and scalp was ruined. Like, really really ruined. And my only hope to God was to restore my skin by my 23rd birthday because it was causing me so much pain and people tend to react more dramatically when they see the physical manifestation of my illness. AND THIS DECEMBER my skin is gooooood. So please, God, by my 24th birthday may I be cancer-free.
Thank You, Amen.