Done with Chemo and Radiation!

It's been a long time! I've been busy, and when I do have spare time, I've been trying to get back into the swing of things.

I finished my chemotherapy and my radiation about a month ago.  I got my chemo pump off on a Friday and I finished up my radiation on a Monday. Some days it felt like I was never going to finish. When my last radiation treatment was over, my therapists hit the lights, turned on the disco ball and the bubble machine, and played music to congratulate me. 
I felt like a super big dork accepting my "You Did It!" certificate, but it was very sweet.


My third round of chemo went much better than my second. I was still sick, yucky, nauseous, exhausted, dizzy, etc. but compared to round 2, I felt great. I'm still working on recovering from my radiation and all of its "fun" side effects, but at my one month checkup my radiologist said my skin looked great. The best part about finishing my cancer treatment was that the Wednesday after I finished I was able to have my girls home with me all day by myself. Since February, I've basically had to have someone either take the girls for the day, or come up and help me with them. In many cases, the girls would go to someone else's house for the day and someone would come up and stay with me. Since Dallas graduated and started working full time, it was even trickier to get everything worked out. I'm so thankful for our family and friends, for everyone who babysat, ran to the pharmacy, took me to my appointments, brought food, offered prayers, and on and on. Everyone is busy. Nobody wakes up in the morning and says, "I have absolutely nothing I need to or want to do today. I guess I'll go help Carissa." I know everyone who helped us sacrificed to do so, and I'm very thankful for them. 


As much as I appreciate all of the help, I was so excited the first day I was able to take care of the girls all day by myself. It was a wonderful accomplishment. To this day, I still spend a lot of time on the couch, and Dallas is still doing a lot of the laundry and other chores, but I am able to get everyone fed, bathed, dressed, down for naps, etc. I've even gone to the grocery store a couple of times and I've eased back in to making dinner. I didn't realize how much the simple, everyday things meant to me until I couldn't do them. I've discovered just how joyous it can me to take care of simple things for your family.

In two weeks I have my biopsy to make sure my cancer is gone. If that comes back clean, then my cancer is officially in remission! I'll have a biopsy every three months for the next three years, then every four months for a year, then every six months, and you get the idea. I'm a little nervous about my biopsy because if it isn't completely clear, that means major surgery, more chemotherapy, etc. Most likely, my biopsy WILL come back clean, so I really shouldn't think about about the "what ifs" but it still makes me nervous. One of my favorite scriptures has been a big comfort to me when I start worrying too much or stressing myself out. Isaiah 41:10 "Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness."


I have more I want to post, but my family blog has been seriously neglected the last few weeks, so once I get that updated hopefully I will have time to come back to this blog :)