It's been a while since I updated. Frankly, things got a little ugly, and writing about it in situ was a bit more than I could manage. I'll go back to that in a later post, but for now, let's stick with today...
I finished chemotherapy in early April and took a month off of cancer treatments before diving into radiation treatment. Feeling like a normal, healthy person for a couple of weeks, once the side effects of the chemo dissipated, was absolutely necessary for my mental health, and my physicians agreed that it was fine for my physical health as well.
So today, I'm off to radiation treatment number 20 of 28 total treatments. A week from this Friday, I'll be "ringing the bell" they have at the office to celebrate the completion of my radiation therapy. It will be a pretty exciting day. We've been dealing with this in some form or another since Thanksgiving, and it's about time.
We'll celebrate with a fabulous trip to an all-inclusive family resort in the Caribbean with family and friends. We'll have parties and champagne toasts to good health.
And after that, it begins:
The Great Wait.
Every cancer patient can tell you about it--it's a one to five+ year period of...waiting; of hoping for nothing at all, marked by semi-annual appointments with a variety of physicians who draw blood, poke and prod, all while asking a series of questions. A period in which any ache or pain could be simple aches and pains, or the sign of something sinister. Is it a sinus headache? Or a brain tumor? A crick in your back? Or an osteosarcoma?
Don't get me wrong--we're all happy when treatment is over; however, there is a sense of power and strength in knowing that you're undergoing treatments. You are Fighting the Cancer. After the treatments...The Great Wait.
Granted, there are many things we can do to improve our chances of Fighting the Cancer: exercise, organic/clean eating, limiting sugars, incorporating antioxidants in our diet. But honestly, it's kind of comforting knowing that you're getting physical treatments from actual physicians designed to kill of malignant cells that may be laying in wait.
That said, I'll be glad when it's time for The Great Wait. It's easier to keep a positive, healthy attitude when your body isn't under assault from the very treatment designed to keep it alive.
