No news is good news!

I had someone tell me recently that they have missed my posts. I told them I was too busy living life and enjoying life without treatments! I was experiencing problems with my cable last night (about 1 hour before Lost came on) and I told a friend how frustrating it was. She asked me this - isn't it refreshing that my cable is one of my biggest problems right now? She gets a "Bravo" for that one!

Now that you've received good test results . . .

what are you going to do?? (We are gearing up for the Superbowl.) First, I have nothing substantial planned for today. We are headed out of town for the weekend, so I am planning on getting a good book to read. I probably will rest quite a bit today simply because my mind has been put at ease. I feel like I have been holding my breath for so long and now can finally let it out and relax. It is quite unusual for me to have a day with no appointments and to not be recovering from chemo. There has been talk of planning a family vacation soon, too. We haven't been on one (where I wasn't on chemo) for 2 years.

Within the last week or so, I really was at peace with whatever was going to come. I talked openly about my thoughts, whether the news was good or bad. I looked to these verses in Psalms daily to comfort me:
Psalm 139: 13-18, 23-24

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you. Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

I ran into our pastor on Wednesday and told him I was pretty calm and didn't know why. He put it simply - grace. I really felt prepared for whatever was going to happen. But, I am so happy it turned out great!

It's good!

So, we told the doc when he walked in the room - "You have us shakin' in our boots!" He said, "Oh, your scan is fine." That wasn't exactly how I envisioned the moment, but it certainly is the news we wanted. Everything is resolved and nothing new popped up. I will remain on the Herceptin every 3 weeks and will have another CT scan in 3 months. The scans will then be compared for any changes in the lymphnodes, etc. This is such wonderful news! I desperately needed a break from treatment and am looking forward to crazy things like energy and hair!

It's that time of year . . . for sickness!

Ah, yes - it has probably invaded your home too. All of the lovely sicknesses that come during the winter months. Some of the members of our house seem to be mucously challenged right now. I was scheduled to have my CT scan on Thursday and woke up Thursday morning barely able to move. Fortunately, Dave worked from home that day and took care of getting David to the bus stop. I took Dawson to school and stopped by the pharmacy on the way home for good meds. I came home and was so tired from my adventures! I knew the prep for the CT scan would push me over the edge and was able to reschedule for late Friday afternoon. I wasn't feeling fantastic Friday morning, but was able to get to the scan. This morning was a rerun of Thursday morning and I was the second patient at the medical center down the street. Now armed with Dayquil AND Nyquil and good antibiotics, I hope to be better soon and ready for the next hurdle.

A necessary evil

Grocery shopping. It is not the highlight of my week, but if we want to eat . . . Well, Dawson and I discovered a new way to shop. We went to Giant today because I saw they have a feature called Scan It. You get a scanner when you walk in and you scan all of the groceries as you place them in the bags in your cart. This sounded brilliant to me because grocery shopping really makes me tired from putting the groceries in the cart, taking them out to be scanned, putting them back in, taking them out and putting them in the van, etc. Dawson loved the scanner and did a pretty good job with it. Oh, and the Starbucks guy came around with samples of their peppermint hot chocolate (which Dawson drank more than me). This is my new favorite store!

It's over (for now)!!

I recall the day I went in for my last chemo in October of 2007. I felt like the Rocky theme song was playing in the background and I was ready to fight and win. Today, when I walked in for my last chemo, I didn't hear that music playing in my head. Instead, I feel like I have fought 17 rounds and am tired and just want it to be done. I came home to balloons and dinner from a friend and Robin took the boys to pick out balloons. I was told that Dawson really wanted the black, over the hill Happy Birthday balloon and David wanted me to have the Batman one, but they settled for "Congrats" and "I Love You." They were so excited to give them to me - it made my day!

In about 2 weeks, we will know if I am really done for now. I have a CT scan scheduled for next week to see the progress that has been made. When the scan comes back clear, then I feel like I can really celebrate.