Tomorrow is my last chemo... PTL!

Circled in hot pink on the calendar... Friday, March 20, 2009.  It's the day I have been looking forward to for 6 loooong months... the last of 24 chemo treatments.  WooHoo!  It really hasn't been as bad as I had anticipated.  Not that I ever want to do it again!  In fact, most of the time I felt just fine.  Occasionally my stomach did flip flops so I popped a Pepcid.  It did not stop me from wanting to eat... darn it.  I've been pretty tired the last couple of months, but it was a good excuse to get out of vacuuming and doing laundry.  Miraculously it didn't make me too tired to go out for lunch or shopping.  I finally lost enough hair that the glare off my scalp was blinding people, so I resorted to a black bucket on my head.  It's hot... and I don't mean the fashion statement.  I'm getting pretty adept at tying scarves behind my head as I fly out the door to work.  Fake hair was just too scary looking.  The dogs thought I was a stranger and wanted to rip my leg off.  My internal thermostat is on the fritz... hot-cold-hot-cold.  I think I could get a job as a quick change artist!  It's all stuff I can live with to have peace of mind.  My oncologist told me that aggressive cancer like mine usually responds the best to chemotherapy and is less likely to return.  Whew!  That was the best news ever!

I'm looking forward to getting my mojo back and moving on.  I will never forget this experience... one look in the mirror will always remind me.  More importantly, I want to remember how much it meant to me to hear from friends... to know I was in their thoughts and prayers.  I want to be that friend to others, listening more than talking, praying for them, offering a helping hand.  I want to remember the people I've met going through treatments of their own.  The doctors and nurses who work so hard are angels.  The hours my husband spent sitting through treatments with me were a gift.

Next?  Five years of Arimidex.  Eat my veggies, dig in the garden, work on the bucket list.  Reconstructive surgery if I ever work up the nerve.  Two boobs or not two boobs... that is the question.  I don't know what will happen in the future but I know I'll never take my health or my friends for granted again.