Keepin' It 100

We're gonna make it after all.

i. am. done. with. chemo.  

100% done.  All of my hard work spent counting things has paid off.  It's not 100% out of my body yet but it's 100% done pumping into it.  It's hard to believe that it's been four months and I thank all of you for hanging in there with me.  I know it will be a slow road to recovery (slower than I'd like at least) but I also know that I'm only going up from here!

March on Cancer

At this point, March will still be part of treatment recovery and transition.  This month we're hoping to move away from the C-word and into the much more pleasant and life-affirming R-word, remission.  I'll be springing forward this month with several follow-ups that will hopefully get me there, including a post-treatment PET scan on the 26th and a consultation with a cardiologist, because this treatment is hard on your heart and I have developed some fluid there that may or may not need treatment.  And then the pièce de résistance, my Hickman removal on March 29th!  Assuming the PET scan results come out as expected, I will have escaped the Borg Collective by Easter.  And then on April 2nd we have our follow-up appointment with our oncology doctor to review where we are, hopefully say the R-word out loud, and establish a game plan moving forward.  Also during this month I will start to transition back to work and am planning on working a couple of days/week for the latter half of the month.  Scott too will return to his work life, though he's going to be able to jump in with both feet starting on March 14th (I only have one foot to work with....maybe just a collection of toes...so my transition will be slower).

And What About The Backpack?

We left it at Kaiser.  We considered burning it ceremoniously but that seemed bad for children and other living things.  We asked if they could donate it to someone and it can't be reused.  So it's probably living out its days in a toxic yellow bin at Rock Creek.  I can still hear its faint little xerox-machine cadence.  It was no pleasure living with the never-got-named backpack but it sure beat Perv.

The Rest Of The Story

I'll keep posting regularly this month to give you updates and, of course, the final report.  Even though chemo is over, I'm not going to just leave you hanging; we've only hit the denouement.