Well, I planned on blogging every Friday to give you guys an update as to what is going on with Daniel & I. But yannow, sometimes life just hits you & knocks you down for a few minutes out of the day every once in a while. Ironically, this has seemed to happen every time I attempt to update you guys on what’s going on & I kind of feel like this…

Last week, Daniel went in to get a PET scan done. A pet scan is a scan of the body that shows where the cancer is & how much is there in the body. It’s a good way to measure everything as a starting point before Daniels chemo starts to see where & how big everything is, that way, we can monitor how effective the chemo is as Daniel gets his treatments. There was great & not so great news at our appointment last week with the oncologist as we got our results from the pet scan. The AMAZING NEWS is that the cancer hasn’t spread into Daniel’s lungs or anywhere else in his body besides where it has already been – his testicle, his lymph nodes & the mass near his kidneys. THANK YOU JESUS!!!!!!!!!!! I truly wanted to jump up & down and shout at the top of my lungs with joy and then, I wanted to just get on my knees and thank Jesus for his blessings. But, I held it inside and did a happy dance in my head. It was truly the best news we could have heard…well, kinda. Waiting for the results literally felt like torture. I don’t think I have ever been more nervous before a doctor’s appointment. It took me back to how I was feeling the day we found out that Daniel had cancer. That week, I bought a book with 100 favorite Bible verses randomly from HEB. I swear, that book was my best friend that entire week. Anytime I felt gut-wrenching fear, I would either start praying or read that book.

Okay, now time for the not-so-good news. With testicular cancer, there are 5 different kinds of that type of cancer that it could be. The kind that you don’t want it to be is teratoma. (Teratoma tends to not respond to chemo.) Before Daniel had the mass in his testicle removed, the doctor mentioned that they would be doing a biopsy on the mass after they removed it to find out more about what kind of testicular cancer it was. He told us that the mass consisted of two of the five types. 50% was seminoma & 50% teratoma. Dangit. We definitely didn’t want to hear that. With that being said, we aren’t sure what kind of cancer the mass by his kidneys is. We asked if they could do a biopsy of the mass near his kidneys, but the doctors responded by saying that at this point, it is too dangerous to do a biopsy with the fear that when they remove the needle out of the mass, the risk of the cancer spreading is high. We DEFINITELY don’t want that. So, we will have to wait for Daniel to start his chemo treatments to see if the mass near his kidneys & his lymph nodes will respond to the chemo. We are praying to God that his mass & lymph nodes are NOT teratoma cancer & that they will respond to the chemo with flying colors & they will completely disappear from his body! (If you could just say a really quick prayer for that, we would be so so thankful!!!)

If the mass does not respond to chemo, Daniel will have to undergo a pretty massive surgery to remove the mass & lymph nodes. Which this really scares me because – what the heck if it doesn’t respond? What if too much time passes between now & then & something spreads?  Sorry, I need to block those negative thoughts out of my mind. Anywho, we’re praying to God that none of that happens and chemo is all Daniel will have to do.

Daniel starts chemotherapy on August 10th. He will be going through 3 rounds of aggressive treatment that will last 9-12 weeks. Each round of chemo lasts 3 weeks. The first week of each round, Daniel will be receiving treatment 5 days a week for 3-4 hours a day. The 2nd & 3rd week of each round, we will only have to go to the cancer center a couple of days a week for him to get his treatment. We’ve decided that we’re going to start poker games at the cancer center during his treatment & see if any of the other patients want to join in! hehe (kidding…well, maybe :)) We’re going to bring board games, Daniels gung-ho on survival in the wild type of stuff and has been doing a TON of reading about that lately, so he’ll probably bring some of those books, and then…we might paint, knit, play thumb war & etc. Anything that floats our boat that day, yannow?

Since my initial post (that you can read here)  & most recent post about Daniel’s surgery (which you can read here) was posted, we’ve gotten an overwhelming response with people sending us prayers & well wishes! You guys, like words just cannot truly express how grateful we are for all of them. Each and EVERY one of them. We read them all. We cry over some of them, they all fill our hearts with so much joy, and all of them are messages that we will cherish forever. When I’m feeling down & out, I’ll go back and read every single message we’ve received. They really are a great light in our lives right now.

Also, there was a Go Fund Me account that was started for us yesterday afternoon. I see those ALL the time and never expected that one would ever be made for Daniel & I. I am truly FLOORED and we are so thankful for the outpouring of support. Of course during this time, Daniel is not able to work or bring home a paycheck through the duration of all of this, so for people to want to support us, oh my goodness, it is such a blessing – there are just no words for it all. If for some reason you feel it in your heart to donate, I have posted the link below. There is literally nothing too small. If you can’t donate, we just ask for your prayers. They are really getting us through you guys.

Click Here To Donate To Our GO FUND ME ACCOUNT

Lastly, after many requests to do so – I have added a “Subscribe” button on my website! (It’s on the left hand side sidebar of the screen labeled as “Stay-Up-To-Date”) Once you enter your email address, you must verify your email address by clicking the link that is sent to your inbox in order to activate your subscription. Once you do this, voila! You will receive the latest updates on Daniel & my journey without having to remember to check the blog for updates. 🙂

Well, I don’t really know how to end this post. Except to say that we are living & loving each other to the absolute maximum every single day. Life is a treasure that we should all cherish. Tell that person you’ve been meaning to tell that you LOVE THEM! Call up an old friend that you may have had a grudge against & tell them you’re sorry. Call your mom & make her dinner tonight. Take your brother fishing this weekend. Make it right & make it worth it! Tomorrow isn’t promised – so make the MOST out of today! 🙂

xoxox, Chandy