Five Days Out From Final Chemo

It's five days out from the final chemo and I'm muddling through the side effects while looking forward to putting this all behind me.

The bone pain this time is located in the back of my head and neck, in the sides of my neck and in my shoulder blades. The Neulasta shot must be hard at work--- stimulating the bone marrow to produce the white cells.

My stomach is "off" this time. After chemo, I've had to take four days worth of steroids that supposedly combat nausea. The problem is, they make you feel super hungry and you eat like a horse! Now that those "steroid days" are over, my stomach is way overloaded and blah. I hope this passes today! The steroids also really messed with my ability to sleep well for the past several nights. Yawn!

I keep telling myself--- this is "it"... after these effects are overwith, I'll slowly and steadily begin to feel human again.... and not have to face chemo anymore.

I'm VERY anxious to pack up all of the information and paperwork I've been given and have collected about breast cancer, chemo, etc. I have tons of it in a corner in my room and it needs to GO. I'm so TIRED of this ordeal. Today, I'm going to ask my husband to pack it and put it somewhere else for now. I am not ready to sort through it.

As awful as this "season" of my life has been in ways, it's also been a learning experience in many, many ways. And, Stephen and I were looking back over the summer yesterday and realize that THIS SUMMER ("cancer summer") we have done lots of fun things as a family. We've probably done more this summer than any other summer. It was important to us to keep life as normal as possible for the kids. They've really had a good time:

Zoo
Chuck E. Cheese (more than once)
Beach
Trip to Grandma's (including sleepover---first one ever--- at aunt's)
Three hotel/swimming pool weekends
A visit from Auntie Margaret from Ghana
Vacation Bible School
Swim Lessons
Recreation Department Preschool Sports
Birthday Parties
Their Own Birthday Party (two of them!)
A Teddy Bear Picnic (Rec. Dept. Function)
Swimming Outing with Teacher
Playground Visits with Kaylee

There must be more! :-) And, this coming weekend, we plan to go to a Thomas the Train event and a hotel stay.

There's a lot to be thankful for ---- I'm hoping for a good, quick recovery from chemo, as I want to be able to help others a bit before facing surgery. On the top of the list is to deliver a meal to the women from the group home at church who have cleaned weekly for me lately. Those girls have been a HUGE blessing! Their help has been a BIG DEAL to us.

Well, ... this sleepy woman is going back to bed for a bit.

Prayer requests:

Speedy recovery from chemo
Surgery decisions that need to be made soon
The couple I've mentioned in my blog--- lots of prayer needed
My niece who is in treatment for breast cancer--- and her family