HAPPY LAST CHEMO!!!

I recently finished my chemo!! YAY ME!!!  As I've posted before, I did not suffer from lots of the same horrible side effects that some chemo patients do.  I did have side effects, but not severe.  I know that's because I had so many people praying for me and that God shone down on me during this.  I thank Him for that.
The place where I took my chemo makes it a celebration when you complete your treatments.  You ring a bell and everyone claps and cheers and tears are shed.  You get a ribbon corresponding to your cancer 'color' and you get to write something on it and put it on their celebration tree.  They give you a certificate and make a big fuss.  I think that's very neat because it is something to be celebrated!!
My family also surprised me with a party to celebrate my last chemo.  It was so nice to have the ones who have supported me through this there to celebrate the occasion with me.

Unfortunately, my hair has continued to come out quite a lot and it is getting harder and harder to make it look like there's enough there to work with.  A big question for folks is TO SHAVE OR NOT TO SHAVE!?!?  I haven't shaved my head.  I had said from the beginning that if I developed bald spots I would, but so far it is just VERY, VERY thin.  Some days I want to shave it because of all the hair that falls off all over the place, but hopefully it will thicken up now.

Me with my certificate of completion! Hair is soooo thin, but I'm trying to mask it!

Before chemo...see that head FULL of thick curls!!

So, chemo is over! NOW WHAT?  some may ask. I will continue to go for antibody treatments every 3 weeks for another 9 months.  And soon,  I will start radiation.  That will last 6 weeks.  It's a right good ways from my home too, so I'm dreading the back and forth everyday.  I did ask my doctor how would we know the chemo did it's job.  But, there is no magic test they can give to let you know it worked.  You will know it worked when you don't develop cancer again.
I went this week for one of my pre-radiation appointments and as I type this I sit with marker drawings all over my cancerous area and tape that is supposed to keep those marks from washing away.  Turns out, they make a mold of you to do the radiation so you can be sure to be in the same position each time.  They really do try to aim the radiation just where it needs to be, which is a good thing.  And of course, there are several things I can't do and others I have to do while going through it.  Things dealing with deodorants, soaps, lotions, swimming, being in the sun, shaving, and more.  That swimming and sun thing should be fun since we are entering summer soon!
All in all, I can't complain. And it honestly doesn't do any good anyway.  Before my diagnosis, cancer was a big, scary word that I feared hearing.  And there is good reason for that. Everyday you hear of people being diagnosed and often hear of people dying with it.  It is a word that I liken to other words that have defined eras of time, like AIDS.  There was a time when that word was so prevalent in our lives.  It was what was talked about, what we heard about, what we feared.  It was attacking people and there seemed to be no way to control it.
That word, AIDS, like other words in different eras of time, has diminished quite a lot.  Things are different now. There seems to be a decline in cases and deaths related to it. People who get it aren't doomed as they used to be and many go on to live long lives after diagnosis.  We never would have thought it back when it was in the forefront, though.
I hope cancer is the next word that gets phased out of our everyday speak.  I pray they are able to treat it so effectively that to get it doesn't seem a death sentence.  I am fighting it and it isn't as scary to me as it was at one time.  I've seen, in my case, that it was removed, I'm being treated to prevent it's recurrence, and my prognosis is very good.  It hasn't been a death sentence for me.
A pain in the butt, YES!!!  But, not a death sentence.