Go toward the light...

A few weeks ago, I said that I saw a light at the end of the tunnel. I was really hoping that that light wasn't a train or something like that.

To recap, I finished radiation the second week of May, and made it through alright. I developed some annoying burns the week after, but a well placed call (and being cranky) to the radiation nurses got me a prescription for some Silvadene creme which helped immensely. At this point, I have some peeling skin under my arm and some scabbed over blisters under my breast, none of which really bother me, so I'm guessing I'm calling the immediate physical side effects finished.

I've hit the peak of my fatigue from radiation, and sometime over the next few months it should start to improve. This explains why I'm so delayed in updating my blog. I can apparently string together 420 or fewer characters to update facebook, but much more than that has seemed overwhelming.

And for that I apologize.

I saw Dr. Mo, my onco, on Thursday, exactly 10 months to the day from being told that I most likely had fairly advanced breast cancer. That was the 20th of July, and the final testing results were told to me on the 25 of July. On May 20, the birthday of my 10 yr old son and the 16th birthday of my stillborn daughter, Dr. Mo pronounced me "cured."

Wow.

I guess that light was really the sun and not a train headlight.

While no one can be sure what is going on on the molecular or cellular level, as far as Dr. Mo is concerned, I am officially cancer free. I've been chemo'd (x2), radiated, sliced and diced, and, in theory at least, those rogue, rapidly multiplying cells are all gone.

I still have to do 8 more rounds of herceptin to make sure that my cells don't decide to rapidly multiply. But that's not that big of a deal compared to chemo. And I have at least one reconstruction surgery ahead at some point. And then there are all the long term side effects which may or may not be permanent: neuropathy, cardiac toxicity, reduced heart function, possible lung damage, damage to other physiological systems, psychological and neurological changes.....

But the cancer is cured and for that I'm quite relieved.