Today marks AN end in this journey but it is far from THE end of the journey. As my oncologist reminded us yesterday, this is a marathon not a sprint or even a distance run. While I may have completed all of my in office/hospital treatments for this battle, I have YEARS worth of ongoing endocrine therapy and follow up visits ahead of me.

Let me back up a bit and expand for those of you who aren’t me and haven’t had today marked on your calendar for the last 6 weeks. Today was my final radiation treatment. I have officially completed all 25 of my daily (weekday) trips to the hospital. The picture on the left is the traditional bell ringing that patients who complete their course of cancer treatment participate in. I had no idea this was a thing until I started chemo and saw the bell on my way out each treatment, so don’t feel bad if you are clueless as to what I’m talking about.

Anyway, even though I am technically finished with the treatments, my body will continue to process the treatments for the next two to three weeks meaning that I could continue to see worsening skin and possibly radiation burn or peeling and increased fatigue even though those things haven’t been my reality yet. We are grateful that my skin has held up so well to this point and my radiologist said that though I will likely see it continue to degrade some, she does not expect the serious degradation that is not uncommon with this treatment course. After about two or three weeks, any issues I am having should start to get better. Please continue praying alongside us. We’d be thrilled to be able to report back with praises in a couple of weeks.

Things We are Praising God for . . .

• The way my skin has responded thus far.
• Friends and Family who have been able to help with the boys when I’ve wanted Andy to go with me to an appointment.
• Fantastic nurses who advocated for me when I wasn’t sure how to advocate for myself.
• People who understand more than I do.
• An opportunity to help make the decisions for the next steps without a “fight” with the doctor.
• Less trips to the hospital. Last week someone asked me what I was going to do with all my time when I quit my part-time job – aka radiation. Even though I think I knew it was taking nearly 15 hours out of every week, it was incredible to think of it in those terms.
• The team of people who have been and continue to pray for us.
• People who have reached out just to say we’re still praying and we’re here if we can do anything for you.
• Andy’s ability to work from home.
• Boys who are growing in independence but who still want their mama – both for school things and life.
• A leg that has pretty much healed from the burns from the pressure cooker [if you’re lost you can read about what happened here Update – Radiation, School Starting & More].
• Continued increase in my range of motion.
• A doctor who called when she realized she hadn’t mentioned something during my appointment that we may want to consider AND her willingness to send an article or two my way so I would have information as I try to decide what to do.

Things We’re Currently Lifting Up . . .

• Decisions regarding endocrine therapy.
• My skin and muscles as radiation continues to have an effect for the next few weeks.
• Sleep – Andy nor I are sleeping well or much at all.
• Homeschooling – now that I’m going to be home more, we’re hoping to hit a better stride.
• Adjustments back to “normal” life. This seems a little silly but we’ve not had more than a couple weeks here and there without a ton of appointments for nine full months now.
• The procedure to take out the port.
• No delayed side effects from the radiation.
• Minimal or no side effects from the endocrine therapy. All of the choices have a long list of side effect, some of which are very common and most of which are quite annoying or scary.