First Lasts
I’m writing today from the chemo cafe. It’s Groundhog Day, and Punxsutawney Phil is predicting 6 more weeks of winter. That might be true for the weather…but not for me! I’ve only got 2 more weeks of chemo induced winter before my sun starts shining again!!! These chemo cycles have felt a lot like the Groundhog Day movie… my life is repeating itself in two week cycles instead of every day. I’m ready to break the cycle!
Yesterday I had my last pre-chemo lab blood draw and today is my last visit to the chemo cafe, and there is nothing bittersweet about it – in fact I’m filled with joy and excitement to be here, not something I ever expected to feel about getting chemo. This is a very sweet day indeed! I made it through round 7 – and I know I’ll make it through this last round ready to climb back out of it to begin strengthening my body for surgery.
Round 7 brought lots of nerve pain, but a bit less bone pain as I was able to discontinue bone marrow stimulating injections, so that helped reduce some of the pain. I have been experiencing some pretty intense and increasingly frequent headaches and vision difficulties, so in addition to a PET scan on 2/11, I’ll have an MRI next week just to make sure no cancer has broken off and decided to travel into my brain. I’m confident it hasn’t! The chemo and hormone changes can also bring those changes, but I have a great cancer care team that believes it is better to be safe than sorry. I couldn’t agree more.
Round 7 chemo took my eyebrows and eyelashes. Oh how I had hoped I was going to keep those! This too shall pass. In the meantime, it’s important for me to do what I can to feel more human, when I can. Sometimes, a makeover is in order. I though you might enjoy this makeover transformation, what a pick me up!
Thanks again for joining me on this journey of healing. More to come soon! 💕