The Next Mountain to Climb

It’s been about five weeks since my latest surgery, and honestly, I’ve lost track of how many surgeries it’s been—too many to count! Over the past few weeks, I’ve begun to heal, and my surgeons say everything inside my nose and sinus is looking good. Unfortunately, I did have a pretty strong sinus infection a couple of weeks ago that set me back a bit, but I seem to be past it. Now, I’m just dealing with persistent congestion, which is a common side effect of the surgery. It’s likely to stick around for a few more weeks, which isn’t great news—especially for a foodie like me! Luckily, my appetite is returning, and I’m slowly eating more. I’ve lost some weight, so one of my goals over the next few weeks is to get back to a minimum target weight. Along with the sinus surgery to remove the tumor, I’ll also be starting radiation treatments in the same area. The surgery removed about 70% of the tumor, and the radiation should take care of the rest. It’s comforting to know that at least this...

It's been just over two weeks since Kristi's surgery. She had follow-up appointments with two of her surgeons on Tuesday, and the ENT removed her nasal shunts. There's still some "packing" deep in her nasal cavity, but she doesn’t feel as congested anymore. She's still experiencing some headaches, but the surgeon believes those should improve as she continues to heal. We’re hopeful about that. Her vision has improved slightly and may continue to get better. She has upcoming appointments with her radiation doctor, along with additional scans, including another full body scan. We're hoping the CyberKnife radiation procedure can be scheduled soon. Since only 70% of the tumor was removed, the remaining 30% needs to be targeted. Although it hasn’t been finalized yet, the plan may involve five radiation sessions, one per day for five consecutive days. All of this will take place at Stanford in Palo Alto. Kristi is back on Votrient (chemo pills), and fatigue cont...