I did my last chemo treatment (#12) on Monday, March 26 - and got the pump off on Wednesday, March 28. And then my family joined me to go out to eat at Village Inn on that night to celebrate! I was really glad to be done! Ran into my old friend Kathy that I haven't seen for ages that night too.
I had to do bloodwork on April 2 and April 9 - and both times the white blood cell count was up, the hemoglobin is hanging in there about the same - just about 10. I am still anemic, but the farther away from the chemo treatments we get, the better those counts will be too.
I will keep my port in for the three month check-ups so that they will be able to do the bloodwork from it. I can only do blood draws from my right arm (because of the breast cancer surgery) and I do not have good veins, and when they do get a needle in them, they have a tendency to roll. So I told Dr. H I would like to keep the port in as long as I can - he didn't see that as a problem. That means I will need to go in and get it flushed once a month - and I will have to see Dr. H every three months. I will also see Dr. B every three months - as well as Dr. S every three months!
Got to celebrate my great niece's third birthday with her in Columbus! That was the farthest I had been away from home since my reversal in October.
We celebrated Easter on the 15th - had an easy lunch and then the boys checked out their Easter baskets (with goodies, a bunny and a hoodie for each of them) and went for an Easter Egg Hunt outside! After that, they spent some time sitting in Papa's racecar and riding in the outside toys. We had a great day. After they had left - I went back in to my retreat on the couch to rest.
I'm so sorry that I haven't been able to update my blog sooner than this about my last treatment - there have been lots of things going on! When I logged in, I found that blogger.com has changed quite a few things - so I was doing a lot of navigating around the webpage to figure out how to do what I needed to do on here.
The gal that I have worked with at church for so long (she used to be my boss, and now I am her boss) called me on the 1st to tell me that she wouldn't be in to work that week. Her husband was just not doing very well and she didn't want to leave him alone. Things went from bad to worse and he ended up in the hospital on Tuesday, the 10th - and died on the 13th. The funeral was on the 16th. This went just as quickly as it sounds, so please keep Shirley and her family in your prayers as they all grieve their loss. As you can guess, things at work have been a little crazy - especially at this time of the year.
John and I went to the first night out for GOTRA at US30 Speedway on Thursday, April 26 - and actually I did lots better than I would have guessed. It was great to see everyone that was there - they even clapped for me at the pit meeting when said John how glad he was that I was able to be there! It had been a busy day - my volunteers put the newsletter together for me that morning - Nancy had purchased tickets to the Methodist Church luncheon, so we went there at 10:45 to have lunch (and it was GREAT as always). After I got the newsletter down to the post office, I went home and rested for the afternoon (I figured I wouldn't be able to handle the evening otherwise)! It started sprinkling about 9:30 or so (GOTRA had gotten in its heats and Trophy Dash, but hadn't gotten to their A Features yet) and about 10:00 or so the races were called. By that time it had stopped raining in Columbus, but the track was so dry slick that it looked like an ice skating rink. John already had his car loaded (as did most everyone else) and so we headed home. Unfortunately early Friday morning I was having diarrhea so I took some immodium and went back to bed. Got up and took my shower and then spent from 7:30 to 8:00 in the bathroom again, so took some more immodium. I called Nancy and told her what was going on and that I was going to stay home for awhile and see how things went. I went in to work about 10:30 or so. That made kind of a short, but busy day.
Got a shellac manicure today by my favorite nails lady - Shelly Jo - haven't had one since before I started chemo in September! Also talked about when I could do a perm - and thought we'd try it at the end of May. I would really like to do it a whole lot sooner - but patience is one of the things that I have been trying to fine tune during this whole process!
I am starting to see that my energy is beginning to come back slowly. Unfortunately, I am still having problems with my feet - I am hoping that it will go away, and I will be patient to find out.
Jay from church is only going to have to have four chemo treatments instead of six - so he was very happy about that - as was everyone else! Our friend Dan had to do two more chemo treatments, and should be all done with them by now. Our friend Carole was doing her maintenance treatments and we hope things are going well with that. Our friend Hollis had to have some tests done, but ended up getting some positive news, instead of the negative news he was expecting. Our friend Jim is now at home on hospice, but seems to be holding his own. Our friend Desi had to have surgery and got good news after she got out of surgery. Please keep all of these people in your prayers . . . as you have me for these last fourteen months!
It has been a long journey, but I never could have gotten through it with all the support of everyone letting me know that they were praying for me, pulling for me, and cheering me on! You have no idea what a great feeling that is. No one can get through anything like this alone - and knowing what a great support system you have is truly a blessing. I have to give a GIGANTIC thank you also to my family - John was there with me for every single chemo treatment - and the kids were so helpful in so many ways. Of course, seeing or hearing from the grandkids always made my day too!
Not sure how often I will update the blog now - probably will try to after Dr. appointments, etc. So if you don't hear anything from me here, give me a call - send me an email - or message me on Facebook!
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