NEXT STOP: Interview on Ellen and Photoshoot with Oprah--Ain't No Thang, but a Chicken Wanggggg!

Yup, you read it correctly. I, Julie Mina, have an interview lined up on Ellen and a photoshoot with Oprah Winfrey written on my calendar. And by interview and photoshoot, I mean I'm going to continue to watch Ellen interviews on Youtube while eating chicken wings and cry to lifetime movies alone in the dark. Okay, so my life isn't that exciting, but I have to make these things up if I want people to even glance at my blog. Speaking of glance, this is actually pretty exciting (and I'm not pulling your leg here). I have close to 8,500 views on my blog. That's pretty cool, given that I've only posted 5 times so far. I've also been getting a lot of adds to circles on Google+. I am really flattered. I was not expecting people to actually like what I was writing about. 

I would like to start off this post with a video. A video that I believe serves as an inspiration to all of us. I bet if I started every day off like little Jessica in the video below, I would be a much better person.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0ifIQNwXBE 

Sing it, Jessica. You make the world a better place.

Anyway, I guess I haven't written in awhile and there are some things I should catch everyone up on. One, I have officially finished my second full week of treatment. My last day was Friday and, lemme tell ya, full weeks suck the life right out of you. WHERE MAH CANCER PATIENTS AT. YAFEELME? Luckily, I did not have any major nausea issues this time though. No head in the toilet and no unpleasant conversation about it afterwards at dinner. It's the small things in life. Oh also, an update about my cell counts: On Saturday I had a doctor's appointment in Philly to get a Growth Factor shot so that my WBC count doesn't continue to be so low. The side effects of the shot are muscle pains (sometimes horrific), but I haven't had any bad side effects yet, so that's all good! Second, I saw some of my friends from school on Saturday. Some of my teammates made the trek from Ithaca to Philadelphia to see the New Zealand Maori All Blacks play the USA Eagles and they bought me a ticket (Lili, I have a check for you, by the way). I had such a blast seeing my teammates and being around rugby again. We even found one of our teammates on a picture at the Ivy Rugby tent! Photo credit goes to Alanna Grossman

How cool is that? Work it, Olivia. THAT'S my TEAMMATE *clap clap clap clap clap*. 

And here is a picture of both teams before the game. I have a video of the All Blacks performing the Haka, but you can barely see it from my seat, so just look it up on youtube. It's pretty cool.

The game was awesome, it was just freezing. Unfortunately, I was still pretty nervous about my white blood cell count and didn't think it was the best idea to stay the whole time given the weather, so I left after the first half. It sucked because I'm young and, usually, being out in the cold for a rugby game shouldn't effect me, but whatever--at least I got to see my friends. And I had pretty shitty seats, BUT it was only $30, so HELLLL YEAHHHH. Thirdly, well...I think this news deserves its own paragraph.

Okay, THIRDLY, I have some exciting news. So my doctor has been keeping track of my cancer by following the levels of a protein called the alpha-fetoprotein. Before I had surgery to remove my ovary, and thus my tumor, my alpha-fetoprotein level was >11,000. So...if you didn't realize...that number is....well, it's pretty damn high. After my surgery, that number went down to about 1,730. The goal of my chemotherapy treatment is to get that level down to 0. This will determine if I have a 4th cycle or not. For those of you just tuning into the Adventures of Julie Mina and A Riveting Battle with Cancer (the alternative title for this blog), my protocol is basically this:

3 cycles of 21 days each, with treatment on days 1-5, 9, and 16

If my alpha-fetoprotein level is 0 at the end of my third cycle, then I don't have to do a 4th cycle, BUT if it's at 1, I will be facing another cycle that dips over into January. In other words, I will carry my chemo treatment throughout the Christmas holidays :(. For those of you who are a little more slow than the rest of us, this is BAD. Super, super bad. Obviously, I'll have to just suck it up if that's the case, but damn. If I only have to do 3 cycles, then I'll be done with chemo on December 16. THAT WOULD BE THE BEST CHRISTMAS PRESENT EVER. And that brings me to my exciting news...So after my surgery, my alpha-fetoprotein was about 1,730. It was tested again after my first cycle of adjuvant chemotherapy, and guess what it was...

700? No...

500? Nope, guess again!

250? NO, YOU SUCK AT THIS.

It was............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................a measly, little 14. Yes, 1-4. My alpha-fetoprotein level after one cycle of chemotherapy was 14. GO BACK AND RE-READ IT, I SWEAR YOU'RE NOT SEEING THINGS. Here's a table to help you visualize.

Treatment Stage	Alpha-fetoprotein Level
Pre-surgery	>11,000
Post-surgery	~1,730
Post-cycle 1	14

Here is a graph to further aid comprehension of the significance of these results (sorry, all I do at school is write lab reports, and I hate myself for this, but I kind of miss it--SCREW YOU IF YOU JUDGE ME. I HAVE CANCER, YOU HEARTLESS ASSHOLE).

As you can see, my alpha-fetoprotein level (blue line) is relatively 0. EXCITING SHIT!!! 

Okay, now for even better things. Pictures of my puppy and my henna tattoos. Thanks to my good friend Mady for taking precious time out of her day to draw things on my unbelievably pale, bald head.

Peanut is obviously over my photoshoots.

I don't wanna work, I just wanna bang on my drum all day.

The world, it's just so mesmerizing #beauty #sunsets #contemplative

Democracy: Friend or Foe?

AND NOW....for my BALDDDDDD ASSS, TATTOO-COVERED HEAD...

I swear this was not meant to look like a Yarmulke.

The beauty lies between the lines.

WELP, that's all for now. I hope to have more exciting news in my next post.