Chemo 8 -- the last one!!

Definitely time to celebrate, having finished this stage of my treatment. The oncology nurses awarded me a Certificate of Completion of Chemotherapy, "having suffered in silence, with good blood counts, courage and determination." I'd been thinking about how all my experience and learning makes me feel like I'm earning a degree!

My final "Chemo party" was a festive one, lots of food, including cake, and me well enough to eat it all (although still dealing with thrush, which I can't seem to shake). The support of my friends has been so heartening.

I'm can't exactly say I'm "ready" for surgery, but I haven't been feeling the anxiety I had before my email exchange with my doctors. It does seem strange to me that we don't actually know how effective the Chemo has been. I have a lot of pre-op appointments: a CT scan today, so we can make sure there hasn't been any further spreading of the cancer, and on Friday a meeting with Dr. Jones to go over my MRIs and my diagnosis and to have her fully explain everything about the surgery.

My Mom has her plane ticket to come out; it will be great to see her and have her around while I am recovering.

One thing that has happened as a result of Chemo, is the onset of full-swing menopause. Most noticeable are the frequent hot flashes, resulting in my yanking off my hat and scarf and whatever other clothing I can dispense with. The likelihood of my returning to my previous peri-menopausal state is very small. So it's a big and abrupt change of metabolism.