Lily Wong Cain

Happy Tuesday… just a quick note. I’m feeling much better.. it’s been a week since I’ve been home from hospital. Second cycle of chemo is done and tomorrow I start up more radiation for my left eye (please don’t let me go blind) and radiation for my left hip/pelvis (bone mets). Next week I will travel to Mayo Clinic for additional consult and hopefully they will have more treatment options for me. I’m also looking at some other facilities around the country who have specific Lung Cancer departments. I’m still in a very solitary and meditative kinda state… I’m definitely wanting to get back to a sense of more normalcy … but also a bit nervous about putting myself out there too much. I have a bit of a strange, fragile, in limbo cancer patient mindset and after 2 weeks of sepsis in ICU, perhaps a bit overly cautious. I’ll just let it all flow and happen as it does… Life has to go on! I really miss work and flying.. my last international trip I worked was Paris in July! Thank goodness I stocked up on all the French butter.. I’ve been losing weight rapidly so hopefully the beurre will help keep some weight on me. The more important part of this update here is this : If you have so kindly contributed a donation (even yall Anonymous people) will you PLEASE EMAIL ME your contact details- a mailing address, or just your email if you prefer. I would like to get in touch with you and say “thank you”. It might take me a minute.. but it would make my heart feel so full and happy. Don’t worry.. I keep personal info confidential … and if you prefer not to.. please know, that I am just so full of gratitude and love for yall and your generosity and selflessness. My email is [email redacted] (L I L Y. B O O K I N G 1 3 1 3 @ G M A I L ) spelled out in case GFM won’t let me post it here. I can’t wait to pay this all forward and continue to be of service in Life … have a beautiful day today! ❤️ I love you all Much love Lily

September 13,2026 5:30am musings from the ICU… “without a test there is no testimony” I’ve been in hospital for 13 days now. I think I might get to leave in the next day or so. I don’t think I’ve ever stayed in one place for so long. I was in and out of OETC (the dedicated ER they have for us Cancer patients)- I was experiencing various symptoms prior to the beginning of September … I knew something wasn’t quite right but everything was “checking out” ok at the ER. I had completed my SRS radiation for the lesion on the right side of my brain and I was praying the tumor was shrinking. I was due for chemo in 2 days anyways so I would just wait out all these symptoms… I told myself I could handle it. The night before treatment I couldn’t walk. I’d lost mobility. The next morning I was wheeled into the hospital for chemo, and immediately admitted for my stay. I had a fever, possible pneumonia and infection. I couldn’t breathe. I was having cardiac issues. My lung tumor was growing so rapidly it was pressing on my pulmonary artery and my trachea. They had to radiate the tumor but had to get any fever and infection down. It wasn’t happening fast enough so the doctors said eff it and started radiation anyways. Thank god they finally did something. There’s been a lot happening and the two weeks I have been here have been so up and down. I can’t quite formulate everything into thoughts and feelings just yet and that’s ok. I’m just sitting with it all. one moment I’m super optimistic and I believe I don’t have Cancer to this degree. other moments , reality sets in… Cancer doesn’t discriminate and who knows what the next day will bring. It’s a real life Choose-your-own-Adventure book from grade school days, just not as fun and thrilling! And this time with real life outcomes. The other day I had sudden swelling thru my face and ear on the left side and a lot of pain. I had a series of tests over that 24hr period. My oncologist reports that there’s a lesion in my meninges (the covering of the brain basically) that is pressing on the orbit of my left eye… hence the black eye I’m sporting. I had checked my previous brain MRI reports - “No acute findings in the orbits” “No other metastasis visible in the brain or calvarium” so this was suddenly new and brings brain lesions up to a count of 2 and hopefully no more. radiation for this lesion was planned for Monday but then more news- my MRI results were trickling in and were a bit more complex. This pea sized tumor on the left side is just pressing in the sweetest spot where I could lose my vision if they radiate. so plan B- possible proton therapy. But they don’t offer it here at this facility so will need planning at a sister location. In better news tho- I completed my lung radiation so the tumor has shrunk enough that I can now breathe. My chemo is a bit behind schedule but I’ll start up my second cycle on Wednesday.. then a few days off to rest and radiation for my left hip and pelvis. hopefully I can maintain walking mobility for the next weeks. It’s a lot of treatment in a short time, a lot of toxicity and of course it concerns me. is the treatment actually encouraging more cancer? there’s never a clear cut answer and it always feels like a race against time now. do it and hope for the best, don’t do it and hope for the best… I have a bit more energy in this moment .. so I’m writing this all out to share here. I’ve been sleeping the deepest sleep the past days.. and that’s what made me realize that there is always a chance of not waking up. I don’t want to think like that.. but it’s a fact. My dreams have been so vivid and all over the place. I don’t know if it’s my mind .. my Life .. giving me flashbacks, memories, future projections… maybe it’s just too many drugs and radiation coursing thru me… But this morning I woke up with this motivation that I need to do more. these past two weeks really knocked me back, but I’m gaining a bit more strength and i need to remember that healing and choices is not linear. everything can change to make it all fit better. maybe some roadtrips in my very near future… planes, trains and automobiles (I watched that today on my John Candy movie marathon.. always so good) I need to find more options for treatment with facilities with known and dedicated lung cancer programs and departments. I don’t have any remarkable genetic biomarkers that would make me eligible for targeted therapy or available clinicals … but in my heart I know there’s something more out there for me and what’s been presented to me to heal and overcome. anyways.. please continue to say a prayer for me.. if that’s not your vibe.. please envision me healthy and well and cancer free. I am going to do the same for myself and for all others. and I accept the test… because without a challenge there is no miracle and I do believe I have the strength to move so far past this and live happily ever after. I love you all ❤️ thank you for everything *shaved my head before all of my hair fell out.. and my view for the past 2 weeks ‍