Whac-A-Mole

I can now say that I'm done with chemo (with the exception of the prednisone which I will take for 4 more days). On the way out of the cancer center, we ran into Aunt Terry who was receiving radiation. We were so excited to see her. We talked a lot and took some pictures that I will share in a moment. She said something funny but it was so perfect. She said that she felt like she was in the game "Whac-A-Mole. They beat you down with Chemo and just as you are starting to feel good again...Whack! Back down in the hole to start the process over again. We love you Aunt Terry! So glad that you are feeling better and so appreciative of the example that you set for us!

The chemo infusion went pretty well. I had an upset stomach before I went in today and I believed it to be nerves. As I've mentioned before, I have a love/hate relationship with these drugs. Part of me was so excited to go and get my last infusion, the other part of me was dreading the side effects. Michelle brought Rumbi for me to eat. I used to love the lunches that they would bring to me but I've found that the very thought of the sandwiches makes me ill. I know it is an association with the chemo because the lunch is very good. I just don't think I will ever be able to eat another one.

I slept for a large part of the chemo today. We had our favorite room that has a reclining chair for Michelle. Michelle was once again...AWESOME! I am so lucky to have such a wonderful supporter! Not to mention all of you that follow this blog. Every day, I still receive phone calls, emails, and have people come up to me and tell me that they are thinking/praying for me. They also tell me that I'm looking good. If you ever want to cheer up a cancer patient, or anyone for that matter, tell them that they look good.

After the chemo, I asked to have the nurses come back to my room so we could take some pictures. They are listed below:

Some of the nursing staff in the cancer center. Two of our favorites are Saima (to my left) and Maygan (in the orange). The nurse that is kneeling is Phyllis, she took care of me today and she is really funny and we shared stories about our kids. She had a daughter that graduated on Wednesday as well and her youngest daughter is Sydney's age.

You all know who this is...my hero! Michelle's Aunt Terry took this picture for us. Did I mention that it was so good to see her today! Speaking of her, the next two pictures are with Aunt Terry. I'm so glad that I got to share this experience with her. She was a real inspiration to me. She told me early on, when you are feeling sick and miserable, just remember that it is working.

"Bald is Beautiful"

"Striking a pose with the backs of our heads"

All in all, I have to say that today was a good day. I'm waiting for the nausea to kick in. The prednisone will bother me for several days but from this point on, no more chemo for me. I'm happy, appreciative, healthy, getting chubby again (gotta work on that one), and I have the most amazing family and friends.

One last request for those of you that dare to reply to this post. What one thing are you going to do for yourself this week? I am going to get rid of any fear that I've previously had of cancer. I'm going to thank my Heavenly Father for the wonderful blessings that I received during this challenge. I'm going to start putting my thoughts together for my book. I know that is more than one thing, but I'm going to play the cancer card and write three things. I would love to hear what you all are going to do. Hopefully you will all be whacking your own moles and making your life better!

I love you all and I intend to continue writing. I have to wait about a month and then we will have a PET Scan which is where they inject radioactive die into my veins and then take a scan to see if any hot spots pop up on the screen. I feel like it is going to be clean but we won't know for sure until we get there.