I’ve been counting
down my weekly chemotherapy sessions since early October 2017. Last night the
clock ticked over to January 2018. I’ve
tried to focus only on the next one
coming and then tick it off (imagine me literally ticking off a list of
appointments). If I got ahead of myself and thought about 12 long weeks it was far too overwhelming. Like,
take-my-breath-away-and-hide-in-bed overwhelming.
And then the other day
I was driving in the car and it hit me. I’ve only got three to go. After the
next one I can say at the next one that the next one will be my last
chemotherapy (if you follow me). And I started dancing in my seat! I can hardly
believe it! It’s nearly here! The end of chemo! In the beginning I couldn’t
even imagine only having three to go! And I kind of wanted to high five myself.
I’m so darn proud of
myself. I did it! Well . . . I’ve almost done it! Six months of chemotherapy
where toxic medicine is pumped into my veins along with a host of other
medications. Six months of willingly showing up to the oncology department at
the hospital with a smile, almost excited at the prospect of ticking another
session off.
Chemotherapy has consumed my life, my family’s life for
the past six months. It’s basically been my job. I cannot believe that there
will be a time very soon when our lives won’t
revolve around chemo. What will we do with all this free time? Oh what a great
thought!
Of course the journey
is far from over with regards to my breast cancer treatment. This is just the
first step. But it’s been a looooong and tiring step. And at the very least,
I’ll be gaining an extra day in the week as Monday’s will no longer be “chemo
day”. I might make it “crafting day” or “fun day” instead.
And it will likely
take weeks or even months for the effects of the chemo to leave my body
completely. So even though I won’t have any more, I’ll still be feeling it and
will need to remind myself to take it easy as my body starts to build up and
repair the damage.
But the thought of
three to go . . . it’s just . . . wow! I can see the end and it can’t come soon
enough!