12 of 12

OMG.  I. am. done. with. chemo.  Final paper chain link shredded (literally--I ripped it, then Greg shredded it into confetti and threw it over my head ;))

It's still kind of sinking in.  And most of the day was just me smiling.  And people smiling at me.  Friends texting smiley faces.  Doctors and nurses coming by "to see your done-with-chemo-smile".  It was awesome.

Greg was with for my first chemo, and he was with for my last.

My labs were a little iffy, and the automatic counter was down, so we had to wait (and wait...) for the neutrophil count to be done by hand.  Turned out I was okay, though, and cleared for the last one.

Platelets: 91 thou/mcL 

WBC: 2.6 thou/mcL
Abs. neut: 1.8 thou/mcL
Hemoglobin 10.0 gm/dL 

My survivor friend Lisa brought a beautiful aloe vera plant to the Cancer Center and it was waiting for me when I arrived.  What an awesome surprise!  One of my favorite nurses, Sam, couldn't wait to tell me that someone had brought me a present.  Perfect timing as I'll be starting radiation soon.

This morning I met (for the third time) with the radiation oncologist to discuss the plan for radiation.  I have my pre-radiation simulation meeting set for two weeks from now (7/29).  That's when I get a CT scan to map out exactly where the radiation will go.  I'll also get my first-ever tattoos (nothing fun--just the dots to line up the machine) and have a mold made to hold me in the same, correct location each time I have radiation.  If I feel up to it, I'll start radiation the next Wednesday, which means I could theoretically be done with it all on 9/11/15.  Fingers crossed!

I actually lost about half a pound since last week, but read this depressing article today: 
breast-cancer-survivors-gain-more-weight-study-finds

It's not going to stop me from trying to take off the 32 lbs. total that I gained throughout chemotherapy.  I walked two miles on Sunday and again on Tuesday, which really isn't much, except that I hadn't been able to walk even a mile the last few weeks.  The neuropathy is annoying, and I can't start running (yet), but I'm going to do my best to get walking in.  I'm also hoping that my taste buds bounce back soon and I stop craving carbs so much. 

I'm tempted to start going hat-less.  My hair is coming in, though it's certainly very short and mostly blond (gray?).  The oncology nurses said that in about a month, it'll fill in very quickly.  I'm just so sick of scarves and hats and wigs and when my eyebrows and eyelashes left, I stopped caring much about my appearance.  Still considering...

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I finished the Noro sweater.  Here's a picture of it before blocking:

I've started another pair of socks, but the blurry eyes are cutting down on my knitting time.

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I want to finish by thanking all of you.  I know I'll say it again, but I cannot tell you how much all of your emails, "likes", FB messages, texts, cards, hugs, and warm thoughts (I feel them!) have meant to me.  I promise to pay it all forward as it has all made this journey for me feel like I'm not doing it alone.  Xoxoxo