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F#$% Cancer. Vahlia Hunter is a Unicorn

  • Good News

      18 June 2022
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    Hi everyone!

    Vahlia has completed 5 of her 8 initial chemotherapy treatments.

    She recently had a CT scan to gauge her progress as she reported to her oncologist that she can’t feel the lump in her neck anymore.

    Most importantly the CT scan did not show any new cancer growth 👏👏👏🥰🥰🥰🦄

    It also showed a regression of the cervical and retroperitonal and coeliac lymphadenopathy

    And a marginal regression of her gastric tumour.

    Overall they have called it a partial response to treatment.

    We would obviously love for it to have all been eradicated but we are taking this Great News for what it is and would appreciate some extra words of support to get V through the next half of her chemo.

    Thanks everyone for your help so far!

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  • A well overdue update 🥰🥰

      19 May 2022
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    Thanks everyone for your donations so far. They are making a huge difference to Vahlia our Unicorn

    Here’s a bit more of the story so far -

    Vahlia felt absolutely awful after her first round of chemo, she was vomiting for days and nauseous constantly, fatigued, brain fogged and generally miserable.

    We were able to meet with her oncologist to make a plan going forward.

    She decided to lower the chemo dose by 20% and adjust her anti nausea medicine.

    Vahlia found the change to dosage and medication helpful. She also had help with her diet and mental health. Learning to accept the limitations of her new depleted energy levels and manage her expectations about what she could achieve each day has been very hard.

    The good news is that for round 3, the staff onsite at both Chch and Timaru were able to get her line in first go! This has been an ongoing issue as Vahlia has been told, and had confirmed (a few times) that she has Tricky veins, very Tricky veins. With it sometimes taking an hour or more to get her line in for both her Trastusumab and Capox Chemo treatments.

    Vahli now has a date to get a port installed 👏👏 and it’s happening before her next treatment so this will no longer be something she has to worry about.

    In between her two chemo treatments this week Vahlia had a very hopeful oncologist appointment with a date being arranged for a CT scan, so we will have an idea of how things are looking in the next few weeks. She also let us know she was supportive of Vahlia coming for a visit to Australia! So I am beyond exciting to book her tickets and get her over here for some warmer weather.

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  • Goal Update

      23 March 2022

    We have received a quote from private chemo hospital

    And unfortunately treatment will be twice as much as first expected as they didn’t put the chemotherapy admin fees in there at the start. 😬😬

    Vahlia also has to travel all the way to chch to get the treatment and then have her other chemo in Timaru, hopefully on the way home 🤞

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  • 1st Chemo

      16 March 2022
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    Vahlia started Chemo today!

    Apparently her veins were a little nervous so they took a few attempts and then they called the big guns in.

    Afterwards she reported a Squeaky Voice, pins and needles in her fingers and sensitivity to the cold.

    🙌👏💪

    She’s Still smiling and I’m so bloody proud of her getting through the first one

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