Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Signing Off

Today I had the port removed from my chest which was a minor procedure that only took about 40 minutes with (hopefully) minimal complications. Since my last chemo session at the end of April, I've been feeling pretty good, just a little out of shape. Still, it will take 2-3 more months to get all of that toxicity out of my system and I am on a pretty ridiculous regimen of vitamin supplements right now. I never did lose all my hair or even come close, it just thinned out quite a bit. I think it's slowly starting to come back now but my mustache is definitely filling back in, as are my eyebrows.

I think this marks a good point to shut this blog down so I won't be posting on here anymore but I know at our wedding people were requesting more photos of our good times up here so I've started a new blog at http://monkeesinalaska.blogspot.com/. I'll try to keep this new one more about the photos than the words since nobody wants to listen to my rambling, much less read it.

Before I go, thanks to everyone for the words of support and encouragement and I'll leave you with a few choice photos:
Getting my last round of chemo

My highly organized and efficient system for keeping track of medical bills


Taking it "easy" during our Kauai getaway
My lil friend, no longer in my chest

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Completely Done...for the Most Part

Last week we got the results of my PET scan after the final planned chemo sessions and the verdict was...no evidence of any cancer!  So I'm officially done with chemo!

Contrary to what many believe, it's not quite as simple picking up where I left off though. I've been sitting around for the better part of 6 months, way below my normal activity level and I'm going to have all this toxic chemo in my system for awhile. Julie and I have been doing a pretty serious cleanse to help it along on it's way but it will probably still be a few weeks. Still, it felt really good NOT spending last Friday afternoon in the chemo chair. The doctor said I should get back to "90%" fairly quickly but it will take a few months to get back to peak condition. I feel like I'm at 90% already so I am going to push it for sure. Of course, I'm finding that the 90% doesn't last very long. My stamina is definitely lacking.

Aside from kicking the chemo out, I'm not officially cured (hence "for the most part") until I've been cancer free for 5 years. During that time, I will get a scan at 6 months and then once a year until we hit 5 years. Gotta keep Providence Imaging Center in business!

In other exciting news from last week, this happened:


We closed on a little "fishing" cabin just outside Talkeetna on Montana Creek. While I had all that down time during treatment, I did a bit of cabin hunting and went through the infinitely painful process of obtaining remote property financing.  It was worth it though. This weekend we went out there for the first time and just relaxed.  Friday we're heading to Kauai to celebrate being done with chemo and part of the honeymoon we still haven't quite had yet. All in all, a good couple of weeks.