Goodbye Chemo!

It's done. Today was my last scheduled chemotherapy treatment. I'm trusting God that it's the last I'll ever have. The past five months have been such a concentrated effort of putting one foot in front of the other that it's hard to believe this phase is really over. I keep reminding myself that I did have a treatment today and this week will still be lousy, but I can also think of it as the last low point. Anemia is still an issue and I'll be getting another blood transfusion on Wednesday. Fill 'er up, please!

Now it's on to Phase Three - recovery. I see the doctor in one month and I'm to have CT body scans before I go. If all the scans are negative I can schedule day surgery to have my portal cath removed. YEA! She's written orders for physical therapy to help with my balance. I have nerve damage, hopefully temporarily, on the bottoms of my feet and the tips of my fingers. Because my feet feel weird I sometimes have a problem walking straight. No nasty comments, please! It can take up to a year for that side effect to resolve, so hopefully we can keep me from looking like a crab when I walk. Remember when Brazoswood used to play the Calhoun Sand Crabs and we'd all walk around side ways, making pinchers out of our hands, as we made fun of them? Maybe it was just a band thing, but it's pay back time!

Enough medical information. Everyone keeps asking when the party will be, but it's still down the road. I don't have the energy to do much and it's going to be nice to have small, individual celebrations with all of you who have loved us, prayed for us and encouraged us for so long. Don't quit yet!

David, Katie and I had a celebration lunch today, although I didn't think about it that way at the time. We picked her up at one o'clock after her class and went to this little hole-in-the wall called Taqueria LuLu. The best Mexican food I've had in a long time, maybe ever. She and I had spotted it one day when were cruising her new area and she and a friend went back to check it out. Thank goodness it's only open for breakfast and lunch or I'd be unhappy about her going there after dark. Maybe it's the burglar bars on the windows! The music was blaring in Spanish and we were the only non-Spanish speakers in the place. Katie and I were the only females. You sat at one long, high table on bar stools and ate great food. I guess it reminded me of neighborhood delis and hot dog places we ate at in New York. I'll give you the directions if you're interested in giving it a try.

That's it for now. I'm awake in the middle of the night thanks to today's steroids, but I'm going to try to go back to sleep. Small victory - I won't have to take them next week!

Rhonda