A Week Full of Life's Ups and Downs
/[wpvideo YSCv7B2l]Before writing this post, I asked Naya if she was okay giving everyone a peek into the last 7 days, as they haven't been easy. In her wisdom, she said it was the truth of cancer, that it has its good days and bad ones. I'd rather start with the upbeat part. Yesterday, Naya rode PaintJack and was back to cantering. She hasn't cantered since Jan 2013, so it was a big deal. She set the goal with her trainer, Katie, earlier this year. With Katie's help and Naya's inner drive, she looked great and had a lot of fun. Check out the video!
It's hard to imagine, but just days before cantering, we absorbed some tough news. On Thursday, we learned that Naya's tumor grew a little. This means her tumor isn't responding to the current treatment regimen. As a result, her doctors are looking for alternatives. There is a trial right now that we're hoping to get into for her tumor. It's a Phase I trial and is more advanced than just chemo. So, we're hoping that she gets a slot. If not, then we'll look at other therapy alternatives and hopefully another trial comes up. Naya's confident that something will come along that will keep her tumor at bay, so she took the news well and told me "don't worry, everything will be okay".
After coming home from that news, we jumped in the pool and Naya learned the backstroke with about 10 minutes of instruction. Then we celebrated Hank's bday. Talk about a surreal day!
On Friday, we went to NYC to see Blake Shelton. Naya wasn't feeling well in the afternoon, so we bailed on the concert and just stayed in. About 24 hours later, on Saturday evening, she developed a low grade fever so I took her to the CHOP ER. By the time we arrived at the ER, her fever was gone, but the blood tests revealed that her sodium levels were very low. Thank God for the fever which forced the trip to CHOP. They released us at 3 a.m. on Sunday after giving her some fluids and sodium. On Monday, her sodium levels were back in a normal range, and now she's literally Back in the Saddle.
Each day is a new day, and with it, we stay positive. The big activity in the house is raising money for cancer research. You know about the Parkway Run. Next up is a bigger idea that Naya and I are kicking around to really make a big difference. Stay tuned. In the meantime, we look forward to your support at the Run/Walk.
