Tag: pathology
The week inevitably came with a wide range of emotions leading up to my surgery anniversary, July 6, 2018…exactly 1 year since the day we officially said goodbye to Glanda. I’ve spent some time reflecting and parsing through the defining moments that got us… Continue Reading “Glanda’s 1 Year Goneda”
Category: ReflectionsTags: adenoid cystic carcinoma, atm, atm mutation, cancer, cancer blog, cancer free, cancer treatment, faith, family, fear, genetic testing, genetics, God, Healing, health, marriage, mental health, normal, parotid gland, parotidectomy, pathology, perspective, pleomorphic adenoma, reflection, salivary gland tumor, strata, strata trial, surgery, surgery recovery, tumor, uab, uab hospital, william carroll
Posted on November 15, 2017
by Valerie Powell
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If it wasn’t enough when they found it in my own body (and mom’s), it seems cancer is showing up closer and closer to my heart. More and more families are experiencing that dreaded feeling of the blood leaving your face as news is… Continue Reading “Week Nine – The Lull”
Category: By the Week, Treatment UpdatesTags: cancer, cancer blog, faith, family, fatigue, fear, Healing, parotid gland, pathology, radiation oncology, radiation therapy, radiation treatment, reflection, salivary gland tumor, side effects
Posted on November 3, 2017
by Valerie Powell
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WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES Post-op you may have read How It Healed that chronicled the progress of my incision and drain removal as it healed up, so I thought that it was only fair if I created one for my skin toxicity and it’s recovery from… Continue Reading “How It Healed (Radiation Edition)”
Category: Where are we now?Tags: birmingham, cancer, cancer blog, faith, fatigue, Healing, marriage, pathology, radiation oncology, radiation therapy, radiation treatment, side effects, skin toxicity, tongue ulcers, tumor
Posted on October 13, 2017
by Valerie Powell
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How is it already the end of week 5? How is there only 1 week to go? And why didn’t the first 3 weeks go by this quickly? Actually I’m not sure these weeks have gone by all that fast after all. I think… Continue Reading “Week Five”
Category: By the Week, Treatment UpdatesTags: cancer, cancer blog, clinical research, fear, Healing, pathology, radiation oncology, radiation therapy, radiation treatment, sharon spencer, side effects, uab, week 5
Posted on October 6, 2017
by Valerie Powell
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I’m not sure if it’s the fact that I stayed in bed for nearly the entire day on Saturday, that this week the number of treatments left started getting smaller than the number of treatments behind me, or that my cold and allergies finally… Continue Reading “Week Four”
Category: By the Week, Treatment UpdatesTags: birmingham, cancer, cancer blog, concert, fear, foy vance, fraction, Healing, mom, nashville, pathology, radiation oncology, radiation therapy, radiation treatment, sharon spencer, uab, week 4
Posted on September 29, 2017
by Valerie Powell
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Lots of new developments in week 3. End of last week brought absolute fatigue and thankfully we were able to rest all weekend so I could catch up a little. Monday I was up and ready to run 6 marathons and blew through the… Continue Reading “Week Three”
Category: By the Week, Treatment UpdatesTags: birmingham, cancer, cancer blog, clinical research, fear, Healing, pathology, radiation oncology, radiation therapy, radiation treatment, side effects, uab, week 3
Posted on September 25, 2017
by Valerie Powell
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This post has nothing to do with our wedding, but those pictures remind me of happier days and days where I felt beautiful, healthy, and 100% like myself. I struggled far more in the last 4 days than I care to admit, but I… Continue Reading “The Valleys”
Category: Reflections, Treatment UpdatesTags: birmingham, cancer, cancer blog, clinical research, clinical trials, fear, fraction, genetics, Healing, pathology, radiation oncology, radiation therapy, radiation treatment, side effects, uab
Posted on September 21, 2017
by Valerie Powell
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Week two is coming to a close, and I’m more than thankful to have 1/3 of these treatments behind me. This week has been much easier in so many ways, but I’m noticing that the end of the week is also the hardest. The… Continue Reading “Week Two”
Category: By the Week, Treatment UpdatesTags: birmingham, cancer, cancer blog, fear, fraction, pathology, radiation oncology, radiation therapy, radiation treatment, side effects, surgery, uab, week 2
Posted on September 16, 2017
by Valerie Powell
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Week one of radiation is officially behind us: 5 days of masks, mouth pieces, gowns, beams, and white sheets covering hard plastic tables. 5 days of walking down the hall in a hospital gown (neked from the waist up) with my co-workers staring a… Continue Reading “Week One”
Category: By the Week, Treatment UpdatesTags: cancer, cancer blog, cancer treatment, clinical research, fear, fraction, pathology, radiation oncology, radiation therapy, radiation treatment, uab, week 1
Posted on September 6, 2017
by Valerie Powell
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Things have been so up and down, that I don’t even know where to start. Just last week we went from getting perfectly clear results from my PET scan on Tuesday morning to getting Strata test results back on Thursday, finding out there’s a… Continue Reading “Teenage Mutated Ninja Valerie”
Category: ReflectionsTags: adenoid cystic carcinoma, atm, atm mutation, birmingham, cancer, cancer blog, clinical research, clinical trials, dna, eddy yang, fear, genetic testing, genetics, pathology, radiation oncology, radiation therapy, sharon spencer, strata, strata trial, uab hospital