My sister reminded me recently that one of my favorite sayings used to be "Life is Good"... It really is today because my last radiation treatment was administered about thirty minutes ago. I couldn't be happier. I was driving home and reveling in the way the sun was shining and how wonderful that God planned this in such a way that it would be spring when it was all over. His timing is perfect (as always).
The doctors have done all they can to get rid of the cancer that had decided to invade my life. They cut it out, they attacked the blood cells with chemo and now they have radiated the entire breast. During the last 7 days of the radiation treatments they gave an intensified 'boost' (higher dosage of radiation) to the area that had the tumor.
The next phase will be the phase where they try to prevent any cancer cells from growing again by giving me 5 years of anti-hormone medication. They call it a 'tool' that they have to help me. I thought about not using the anti-hormone medication because of the side affects but if they believe that it will keep the cancer at bay then I may as well let them use their 'tool'. Since my kind of cancer grows when it is supplied with estrogen and progesterone, the idea is to starve them. I'm good with that. 8-)
The radiation treatments were really a breeze. I didn't have any bad side affects from them and the hardest part was just making myself drive all the way in to the Cancer Center every day. I had some minor sunburn type irritation from the treatments but I had a worse sunburn when I went to Puerto Rico when I was in my twenties. HA! After chemo, radiation really didn't seem like anything.
We are now three months after the end of chemo treatments and I actually have about a half an inch of hair. It is beginning to thicken up a bit also. I really thought it would grow in faster than this since 'Before Cancer' (BC) it grew about a half an inch every three weeks. I started taking some vitamins about 3 weeks ago and it seems to be helping with the growth rate. It was totally white when it started growing in but now has a nice salt and pepper look to it. I don't believe that I will be coloring it anymore. I'm pretty much done with the vanity thing. God planned how my hair would look at this age and I'm just gonna let Him have fun with the design. 8-)
I am looking for some good (easy) spicy recipes. If anyone has a good one, could you leave it for me in the comment section? I am having a lot of fun now that my taste buds are working again. YEAH!! I'm all into flavor now.
Well, I just wanted to give everyone an update on where I am with the treatments (DONE...WHOO WHOO!! Yeah, I'm a little excited...sue me.) since you have all been following the progress it has always seemed like we were in this together so it is only fair that you get in on the good news. 8-) (An interesting side note: It has been almost 9 months since the diagnosis for anyone that might wonder how long the whole process takes.)
By Grace Alone -
Teresa
