Today was a big day. I had my LAST chemo treatment. Echo, echo, echo… Since February, I have had 5 surgeries (one of them 9 hours long), 25 radiation treatments, 12 chemo infusions, and 6 fluid infusions because of the bad nausea. But today I said goodbye to all that. I fully appreciated that it could have been worse, thanked God for all that he has blessed me with, and skipped out of there with a new happiness.
I also said goodbye to the women who have been my champions, my confidants, and quite literally my entertainment through this journey. They truly care about me and my health, and I came to love and adore them. Today we had a party, hugged, cried, and posed for pictures.
Message #1: Be kind to your nurses. I have a greater appreciation for them, and I feel blessed by almost every nurse I came into contact with. Sure, not all of them are wonderful, but you find that in every profession. However, when one—or more—comes along to help save your life? Treat them well and thank them for their compassion. I love you, Teri!! <3
Lots of inside jokes here, but the brownies involve jokes about putting marijuana in brownies before they realized my husband sitting next to me is a State Trooper. We laughed and laughed. FYI—medical marijuana is legal in Michigan, but I never used it. The (non-marijuana) brownies, however, were divine!
Message #2: Rely on your friends I’m a “small group of friends” person. I don’t need a lot of them, but I need them to be close. I need to be able to tell them everything and know that they’re telling me everything in return. These girls don’t judge me if a I get in a fight with my husband (as if!), or if I have $1.00 in my bank account. And if I lose my wedding ring more than once, they simply roll their eyes at me and call me a dumb@@. Most importantly, they will laugh with me during happiness and cry with me during pain. The best kinds of friends.
And finally, the message I hope can reach someone and prevent them from going through this misery. Message #3: GO to the doctor. Don’t put it off. I can’t determine how much this affected my situation. Had I gone sooner, could they have detected it? Probably. Would it have changed my diagnosis? I’ll bet. The “what if’s” of life will haunt me for years, and I don’t wish that on anyone. I also don’t wish cancer on anyone, and if you go to your doctor regularly, there are ways to prevent it.
And just so we don’t get too heavy in here…
Luckily, my office is specTACular, and I never have to wait. And I never will wait to go to the doctor again. Please feel free to use my situation as your motivation to make that call. I know our lives get busy, and it’s one of the last things we want to do…but it’s a heck of a lot better than the alternative if you don’t. Ok…off to spray paint something. Too much sick talk over here. 🙂
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Keep celebrating! I’m so happy for you!
CONGRATULATIONS on being finished. Wishing you nothing but good news from here on out. I feel like this might be a weird question, but you mean just go to the doctor for regular checkups? I go about once a year when my migraine meds run out but they never do that much to check me other than weight, blood pressure, and some questions. I don’t feel like they’d catch anything with just that.
I’m so happy that you are FINISHED! My mother in law has one more treatment left to go and all her numbers are looking good! I think it was wonderful you had such a support group and that you were able to care for the nurses as they cared for you. Blessings to you!
love your posts. I get so excited to see one pop up on Bloglovin….it meant that you were feeling good enough to do something. take care!
Congratulations on battling your way through this. And thank you for sharing your story.. Wishing you strength and continued health!
I don’t know you, you don’t know me. I’ve been “lurking” as a reader for a couple of years. Your good news just brings years of happiness to my eyes. May God bless you and your family immensely.
Yay! So glad to see this happy news, Chris!
Congratulations on your last big day! Wishing you an amazing journey to full recovery:)
Oh this is such sweet news! I’ve prayed for you, and I’ll continue! Thanks for mentioning nurses – I’m a proud mom of a nurse. I hope you feel the love from all your readers, b/c it is indeed real and meant from the heart. Hugs!
Congratulations on your last treatment. I remember my mom’s joy when her treatments were finished. Research has come a long way and I’m so glad you are doing well. You are a trouper. All the luck in the world to you and your family.
i am so happy for you, chris! you are one strong woman! 🙂
What WONDERFUL news! So very happy for you and your family. You’ve been through so much – so glad you have such a great support system in place to help you through it all. 🙂
I feel like we are friends, even though we have never met. I have been thinking of you since you blogged about your cancer diagnosis. I started losing my hair from chemo because of ovarian cancer 1 year ago this week. I wish someone would have given me some kind of timeline for when my hair would grow back. So let me tell you; it will start to grow back soon! Mine started about 1 1/2 months after my last chemo treatment. My last treatment was Oct. 29. So it’s been about 7 months since I’ve had hair growth and I’m here to tell you it will grow back! Be patient, have fun with the pixie look and keep smiling. You are beautiful even without hair. If you haven’t done a photo shoot without hair I highly recommend it. My sister in law kept hounding me to do it and I’m glad I did. I look at those pictures and am reminded of how strong I really am. I have been taking pictures of my hair every month to see how much it has grown and it really comes it quicker than you will think. I’m so happy for you. You have accomplished something so hard, which means you can do hard things!
I am so happy for you! I have been thinking and praying for you since February.
Congratulations, that is very good news.
I heart you, like a lot.
Happy tears all the way from Texas….and lots of hugs.
xxoo
Chris, you have been on my mind almost non-stop since Haven. Especially this week, since I’ve been drawing up a floor plan for an infusion chemo clinic for a hospital. Every step of the way I think of you. Kind of a WWCD? design process. As I sketch out this building and work with the nurses to design it I say silent prayers that the people who will be receiving treatment in my building will find comfort, safety and healing. As much as it’s possible, inside an infusion clinic.
Praise God for your final treatment. HOORAY for being released!! Sending all my love, hugs and strength to you, sweet girl.
PS– Please tell Dusty she can stop crying now.
This is good news, may it keep getting better
So glad for you that this part is all over and that you have continued good health.
I’m SO happy for you! I run oncology clinical trials, and can empathize with the long treatments and repeated surgeries. I’m so excited that you’ve come out on the other side well on your way to strength and wellness – what a blessing!
I am so happy for you!!!!! And I must shout out to the nurses. You are so correct on how wonderful they are. 10 years ago when I had cancer, the nurses got me through it all!!!! Their kindness, humor and care meant so much!! And I also urge everyone to be their own best advocate for their health. You know when something is not right and you sometimes have to push for those additional tests. I didn’t want anything to be wrong with me so I eagerly accepted negative test results and didn’t question my doctor more. Big mistake. Thank you for sharing your experience…so many people are reached through your blog!!!
SO happy to receive your blog post today and see you on the mend. It gives us all hope that this thing is beatable. Keep fighting and keep smiling
God Bless
OH HAPPY DAY!!! I am overjoyed for you that this part of the journey is complete!! So much I want to say but I will stick with I love you for now. So proud of your strength and grace through all of this.
I’m so happy for you and thank God for bringing you through this. Continued prayers for healing and happiness. Such an inspiration you are 🙂
Blessings to you-
Andrea
I had no idea that you had endured all of these treatments this year. I read your post earlier this year about cancer but didn’t realize how serious it was. I hope you are feeling stronger and stronger each day.
AWESOME! Way to kick butt!
I have been so inspired by the way you have handled all of this…..
Thankfully, the worse is behind you and you can carry on living your life….stay well and enjoy it all…God Bless.xx
Yay!!! So happy for you and I wish you the best moving forward ;). xo
That is SOOOO exciting!!!! I’m over the moon excited for you!
YAHOO!!! I am so very happy to see this post and so very happy for you!! Your post made me smile and laugh. I am so thrilled you have made it through all that–unbelievable the number of procedures you have endured. If you ever questioned your strength you won’t now! Love seeing the pics with the nurses and your friends. Still smiling….
Just wanted to add my good wishes for your health. Young women today never cease to amaze a old lady like myself how well you handle these challenges that you face. My daughter-in-law is also going through a similar experience to yourself & I am in awe of the courage & strength you both have found. I wish you continued good health and happiness.
Barbara (Canada)
So glad you’re back and doing well.
I’m so glad that you are finished! Wishes for good health