Five Weeks Nausea, No Taste, No Appetite

Thank you all so much for your continued support. I truly thought my health journey was behind me in 2024, but here I am in 2026 still working toward healing and recovery.

As I shared in my last update, the whole-brain radiation affected my taste buds significantly. I was dealing with fatigue, nausea, and a complete lack of appetite, which made eating very difficult. It has been one of the more challenging side effects I’ve faced throughout this journey.

About three weeks ago, I began experiencing symptoms that made me worry I might have blood clots in my right leg, so I went to the ER to get checked out. Thankfully, there were no blood clots, but I was diagnosed with pneumonia. A cautionary check for blood clots turned into a week in the hospital.

According to my oncologist, it’s possible the pneumonia was related to one of the medications I was taking, as it can sometimes cause interstitial lung disease. While she wasn’t certain, she decided to stop that medication as a precaution.

Since then, I have not resumed chemotherapy or immunotherapy while my medical team evaluates the situation and allows my body time to recover. At the same time, I was still dealing with the lingering effects of radiation.

During my hospital stay, doctors also discovered that many of my vitamin and mineral levels were very low. Looking back, that likely contributed to the extreme exhaustion I had been experiencing. At the time, it was hard to know whether the fatigue was coming from radiation, pneumonia, nutritional deficiencies, or a combination of everything. What I did know was that I was incredibly tired.

The good news is that I am finally starting to feel much better. My energy is improving, my appetite is slowly returning, and I feel like I’m moving in the right direction again. Recovery has certainly not been a straight line, but I remain hopeful and grateful for every step forward.