Hey friends.
First off—I’m sorry for ghosting you for the past six weeks. I promise I wasn’t on vacation sipping mimosas poolside. Unless you count sipping electrolytes between vomiting and diarrhea spells a vacation. Spoiler alert: I don’t.
The truth is, the last few chemo cycles just about wrecked me. I wasn’t doing much beyond surviving each day—and even that felt questionable on occasion. Writing a blog post was the last thing I had the mental or physical energy for. Thank you for sticking with me through the radio silence. Your patience, encouragement, and continued reading mean the world to me.
Now that I’m starting to feel more like a human again (and less like a chemo-zombie), it’s time to catch y’all up. Let’s talk about cancer, money, and the personal goals I’ve been reworking with the finesse of a mom who just realized her toddler flushed her to-do list down the toilet. Let’s go!
Cancer Update: Chemo Tried It—but God Had the Final Say
Let me just be real: the last few rounds of chemo nearly took me out. Nausea and vomiting? Check. Tasteless food? Check. Diarrhea so bad I couldn’t leave the house without fearing for my safety (or the upholstery of my car)? Check.
Then, just when I thought things couldn’t get worse, my fingernail got infected. My fingertip swelled to twice its normal size. I ended up in the ER after a nurse practitioner at urgent care warned the infection might be in the bone and—wait for it—my fingertip might need to be amputated. Yeah, that was a fun moment.
Thankfully, she was wrong. It just needed to be drained, and I was sent home with antibiotics. The entire nail eventually fell off (RIP), and a few others are brown, dead, and preparing to jump ship soon, too. I’m singlehandedly redefining what it means to have a killer manicure.
Then came the vision problems. Everything got blurry. I had to get a new prescription and now wear glasses full-time. Also, the optometrist said the chemo was killing my tear ducts, and if they died completely, they wouldn’t regenerate. Cue panic.
BUT! Because I went in when I did, we discovered that my tear ducts were barely hanging on. So, I’m now on an intense eye therapy regimen—five different drops (three prescriptions, two OTC), each requiring 15-minute intervals. I’m basically a part-time eye drop technician now. I have to set alarms all day just to keep up, but hallelujah, it’s working! My watery, irritated eyes have improved, and I no longer carry a hanky around like someone’s great-aunt Mildred.
The best news? I didn’t even have to do my last chemo treatment! My doctor saw how much the tumor had shrunk and how hard the side effects were hitting me and said we could skip it. PRAISE. THE. LORD. I didn’t get to ring the chemo bell yet (still waiting until I’m done done with treatment), but finishing chemo was a massive milestone.
I had my pre-op scans done on June 18, and y’all… my tumor is GONE. The only thing visible was the little marker they placed before treatment started. There’s still a chance residual cancer could be hiding in the surrounding cells or lymph nodes, but because there’s no more tumor, there’s also now a possibility that when they go in for surgery, they’ll find no evidence of disease. I get chills just typing that.
God has been so good. There were many days I was too weak to pray for myself, but I had an army of people praying on my behalf. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Next up: surgery on July 29. It’s a big one. I’ll have several appointments and procedures before then, so July is about to be stacked. After surgery, I’ll have about three weeks where I can’t drive or lift more than ten pounds (shout out to my 35-pound toddler who does not care about that rule). Recovery will also include rehab and physical therapy to regain my full range of motion. So… fun times ahead!
Financial Update: $45K Medical Bills and the Battle of the Insurance Blunder
Now, let’s talk money (because what is life without a financial plot twist?).
Imagine my surprise when I found out that all of my chemo treatments were billed out-of-network. Yep. That means I now owe $45,000 in medical debt.
Had they been billed correctly as in-network? I’d owe next to nothing because I hit my in-network out-of-pocket max back in March. No one told me this would be an issue—until the bills showed up like an uninvited guest at my very fragile, post-chemo party.
I called my insurance company and found out that the cancer center became in-network on May 15, but I could file a continuity of care request to have earlier treatments reconsidered. I did that. Then I went to the cancer center’s social worker who talked to the benefits manager, and guess what? The facility was always in-network. Somewhere along the way, somebody messed up. Big time.
So, I followed up with my insurance company again to request a reprocessing of those claims based on incorrect billing. Still waiting on a response, but trust me—I will not let this go. I didn’t fight tooth and nail to pay off $27,000 in debt just to take on $45,000 more. Not today, Satan. Not today.
Please pray. I know God can move this mountain like He’s moved so many others before.
On a more positive note—let’s talk about goals. I had three big financial goals this year:
- Pay off $27,000 in debt ✅
- Build a $7,200 emergency fund ✅(kind of…keep reading)
- Build sinking funds ✅
I decided to shift gears a little. I lowered my emergency fund goal to $2,500 and added a $1,000 checking cushion so I can go hard on debt again. And as of last week—I hit my $2,500 goal! Now it’s time to build that cushion and then throw every extra penny at debt.
Also, I opened a high-yield savings account with Ally Bank for my sinking funds. Ally lets you create “buckets” so you can divide your money for different goals all in one account. Unlike my old cash envelopes (which required me to physically go to the bank like it’s 1993), I can just transfer money from a bucket to my Ally checking account and spend directly from there. It’s 2025 and I am officially fancy.
Personal Goals Update: When Life Changes, So Do the Goals
Remember those personal goals I made at the beginning of the year?
- Lose 50 pounds
- Run a half-marathon
- Read 50 books
Well… two out of three didn’t survive the cancer curveball.
When I got my diagnosis, I was determined to still lose weight and train for that half-marathon. Looking back, bless my sweet, delusional heart. I couldn’t even eat without throwing up or eat anything that didn’t taste like cardboard soaked in metal. And let’s not forget the steroids, which made losing any weight basically impossible. In fact, I gained ten pounds.
Also, running? Most days I couldn’t walk to the bathroom without getting winded. So, that half-marathon is officially postponed. Probably to 2026. But I’ll be back!
Reading, though? Reading has been my saving grace. Books helped me escape when I couldn’t get out of bed. I’ve already read 33 books and am ahead of schedule to hit (and maybe surpass) my 50-book goal. So we’re calling that a win.
Wrapping it Up: New Season, Same Mission
So, there you have it. A messy, miraculous, mildly humorous update from The Mission Mom. Cancer tried to knock me down. Debt tried to creep back in. My goals shifted like my vision (literally). But here I am. Still standing. Still smiling. Still showing up.
Now that I’m feeling better, you can expect more consistent blog posts. No promises, though—because if cancer has taught me anything, it’s that life is wildly unpredictable. But my mission remains the same: to build a future of prosperity, peace, and possibility.
Thanks for walking this journey with me. I couldn’t do it without you.
With love, gratitude, and a slightly blurry view,
Your chemo-fighting, debt-busting, eye-drop-slinging Mission Mom 💪💗
Fight the good fight of faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called.
– 1 Timothy 6:12