Last chemo

Thank you, Lord!!!

I am done with chemo.

DONE. WITH. CHEMO!!!!!!!!!

I can't wrap my head around that there are no more weekly blood tests or long hauls to Anchorage or sitting in that blessed recliner in the infusion room for hours while I am pumped full of cancer-killing poison. The feeling of freedom is extraordinary - it doesn't feel real yet, even nearly a week later.

At right is Kate holding the cake that we picked up on the way to the last treatment. I just couldn't resist getting something for the oncologist's staff. In turn, the nurses in the infusion room quietly gave me a card that they had all signed along with some quick hugs. Then they returned to their other patients - some who were just starting their own treatment for the first time and other regulars that I had seen before. I will return to my oncologist for a checkup in about three months.

We were also finally able to slap the last sticker on the chemo sticker chart a terrific friend made up for us at the beginning of all this, too. It is so marvelous, I just have to share it, too:

Done, done, done!

[Do you parents out there appreciate how each box is labeled to make sure each girl gets their turn?]

I am still feeling droopy, but I am eager to get active again. I want to get physically prepared for the upcoming bilateral mastectomy. It is scheduled for Sept. 7. It is also the seven-year anniversary of my dad's unexpected death at 61. I am curious what I will think of this date each year - a time of new beginnings, perhaps.

The girls both recently had their birthdays. One of them received a set of Legos that came with a figure that needed to be assembled. Kate did that, and then removed the hair:

A Lego survivor?

"Look, momma!" she exclaimed. "She's bald like you. She had breast cancer, too."

Rock on, little Lego. And welcome to the sisterhood!

Lots of people have been asking me what I will be doing this Friday instead of that drive and chemo treatment. This Friday morning I have been invited to visit someone's garden. That afternoon, John will be hiking with a new friend. The girls and I will surely doing something fun, too - maybe the SeaLife Center. But I tell you what we will NOT be doing:

Chemo!!!!

WOO HOO (times a kajillion). Thank you, Lord Jesus, for giving us the strength and surrounding us with the love of so many to get us through that part of the process.

"But He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore, most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong." 2 Cor 12: 9-10