sorry for lack of updating..

well i guess you could say things haven't been the best. i haven't been to maryland in awhile since i didn't have to go there this month so i will be going again in june. last time i went i had my scans and there was not change in the tumors but they are slow growing so they dont know if the medicine is working. it will take like 8 months to know they said. but i still get my weekly physicals and labs. and my labs always look good. last week my oxygen went down a lot so they have me some to use at home. and i dont really notice a change but i dont pay that much attention i have lots of other things going on. this week my oxygen was higher so thats good. im still losing weight and i dont know what to do about that cuz i try and eat a lot. so im not really going to worry about it because im doing everything i can. the other bad thing was that my head has been hurting a lot lately. i keep getting head aches. tylenol usually does the job though. i've started drill practice again and its been really really hard for me to keep up. but im going to push through. i'm fine. dont worry about me. i'll let you know when you can worry. thanks for caring.
♥kate

Maryland & stuff

Well first of all, my coughing has seemed to be getting slightly worse, and it gets harder to breathe everyday. But my mom and I leave for Maryland this Monday, the 16th. I'm excited to see the east coast! But not so excited to be at the hospital so much. I just hope it helps! Tomorrow is my birthday! And I have some really fun plans for this weekend. So This next week should be really good! I just hope i'm not sick the whole time. Since I haven't been feeling very good lately. Hopefully I can update you guys from Maryland and I will let you know how everything is going. Again, Thanks for your support!

Love, Kate♥

Good News (:

We are going to Maryland!! Not sure of the exact dates, but it will probably in the next few weeks. I am getting some test done on Wednesday, like an MRI, CT scan, Bone scan, and probably blood tests and all that fun stuff (not). But it will be worth it. My oncologist seems to think this trial is promising and so i'm going for it 100%!! I'm really excited. The only downside of this is how much school I will have to miss, and with my big dance company concert, I don't think the idea's gonna fly with my coach. But I have to do this. There's no other option. Unless I was an idiot. But i'm not (: Yeah. I've never been to the East Coast before so i'm way excited to check it out. Hopefully this drug can make my cough go away i'm so sick of it! agh! Well leave comments! I love you all.

love,kate♥

Hopefully finding out tomorrow.

Well I have a doctors appointment tomorrow and they are either going to tell me tomorrow or tuesday if I can go to Maryland. I'm reallllly nervous. =/ ahh!!!!!!!! I will definitely tell you what happens and keep you posted on anything new. sorry so short....have a nice day!

love,kate♥

Not feeling to great.

well i'm not feeling very good today...my breath is short. i dont know if its just from the bad air or what but its not fun. i think i have a cold too. yeah. no fun. well only 22 days till my birthday (:
i want a snowboard. cuz im getting a lot better! i think i go to the doctor again on tuesday. maybe sooner if im not feeling any better. hopefully i do. cuz im going to school no matter what... well leave comments everyone thanks for your support.

love,kate♥

Waiting...waiting..

So as i said i have to wait three weeks before i find out if i am eligible for this trial, and let me tell ya, waiting to find out if you can do something that possibly might save your life is preeetttyy nerve-wrecking. its stressin me out to the max! i dont know what else i can do if not this! so im kinda freakin out. but, im still just livin my life. the only side effect i have from this is an awful cough and i guess kind of shortness of breath. well the cough's annoying but other than that im good (: well ive just been streesed this week since ive been rather busy with dentist, doctor, snowboarding, cheerleading, and homework. this weeks the end of term so i had to get my grades up! since our school spirit week is coming up we've been working on cheer a lot too. everyone is gettin stressed out over it! usually i let my stress breeeeze on by. (brush it off) but this is a lot...but its all good im doin my best lol well please leave comments so i know you guys are reading and message me on myspace or whatever! thanks for your concern (:

love,kate♥

The truck in my life.

well hey everyone this is obviously my first blog. i just wanted to start a blog and update everybody whose interested about my condition and stuff like that. yanno, cancer stuff. yeah. well first off i'm kaitlyn, im fourteen years old and im in 9th grade. i'm a cheerleader at my school. i love to dance, and hang out with my friends, and im trying to learn to snowboard! lol its not workin out so well atm.. but anyways.. i was diagnosed about 3 years ago (July 2005) with alveolar soft part sarcoma in my tongue. (check out www.alveolarspsarcoma.net for more info) so i was scheduled august 19th,2005 to have the tumor surgically removed. well in the meantime, we discovered more tumors on my lungs. but the surgery still went as planned and was successful, the tumor has not returned since. i've recovered better than expected. i can speak just fine and i just have some scars but they are my well-fought battle wounds (: well the tumors on my lungs are still growing unfortunately. And just this summer, while attempting to begin a clinical trial in san francisco, we discovered about 7 tumors on my brain. (which made it so i could not do the trial) i went under a special, direct-beam radiation about 2 months ago on a few of those tumors and the result isn't particularly clear but i guess those tumors became stable but the other ones continued to grow, according to my oncologist. well just this monday, we discussed some more options. two of which were kinese inhibitors. (something that will [supposedly] stop the enzyme which "tells" the cancer to keep growing). these were very expensive and unlikely to be approved by our insurance, or the company that makes the drug. but we are still going to apply! these drugs were suten, and nexavar (brand names i cant remember the correct names). there was also this trial possibly available in maryland. we have to wait 3 weeks before we hear back from the doctor on whether i am eligible. but this drug (which i forgot the name of get back to you on that later), was tested on 7 people with the same disorder and all 7 of them responded, as in the tumors either stopped growing or decreased in size. so this trial could be a really great thing for me! so hopefully i can do this and hopefilly it will work! i will keep you updated on everything! make sure to check back. (:


love,kate♥