6 months {in a fog}

I don't really know where to start.  I still have so much to post and haven't kept up like I should or wanted to.  I guess it's never too late to start, so I'll make another vow to TRY to post more!  :)

Tomorrow is my last chemo treatment!  WOOHOOOO!  I can't believe that it's been about 6 months since I started this journey!  It's been a definite roller coaster of events, emotions, and thoughts.  I'm not really sure where the time has gone.  I started on December 10th with my first chemo treatment.  Since then, Christmas happened, I've had a couple of scopes, a colonoscopy, another stay in the hospital (only 3 days this time), a pill cam, 11 rounds of chemo and pump, and a partridge in a pear tree.  I can't say that I really remember them.  It's amazing how I know that they all occured and they are on my calendar (and I'm definitely getting bills for them) but I hardly remember any of it.  I've really lived the last 6 months in a fog. 

I've slept through a lot of it!  Especially the first 6 treatments- when I was still on the Oxaliplatin- it made me tired and nauseous.  Since then, the nausea has subsided but the fatigue has increased.  I still need to nap most every day.  I like days that I don't take a nap, but I'm EX.HUSTED by 6pm.  So, those days are usually early bed times. 
But, even the time that I'm awake seems to be a fog.  Chemo brain maybe?  Just living through each uneventful day, maybe?  Not sure why it's such a foggy time.

I'm so happy that this week marks my 12th and last chemo.  Hopefully, forever, but I'm not counting on that.  I'll go tomorrow just like usual, get my bloodwork, see my Oncologist, get my treatment, and hook up to the pump.  The different thing tomorrow is that after I'm finished, instead of going straight home to rest, I'll be going upstairs in the hospital to see and check on my momma.  She has surgery tomorrow while I'm in chemo.  She's having surgery to remove a tumor on her esophagus and some polyps in her stomach.  We're hoping that she's only in the hospital for a few days.  Could be a week, but let's keep our fingers crossed.  So, this last chemo will be a little different because I'll be at the hospital some each day to visit her.  I'll have my chemo pump with me and will probably spend some time just sleeping in her room.  We'll see. 

What's next, you ask?  Well, I get to enjoy the summer.  I'm hoping that I won't be as fatigued all of the time.  But I think that I can rest on the beach as easily as I can rest at home!  :)  Hoping to get to a Braves game and to just enjoy the warm weather.  As for my medical stuff, I'll be referred back to my surgeon and will meet with him in the next couple of weeks.  He'll do an assessment and determine when I can have surgery to reconnect my guts!  WOOOOHOOOOOOO!  Ya'll won't be able to shut me up.  You'll probably know more about guts than you ever wanted to!  I can't WAIT!  According to my Oncologist, my surgeon usually waits about 8 weeks after the end of chemo before doing the reconnection.  That allows the chemo to run its course and get out of my system.  Any surgery with chemo in my system increases the risk of additional complications and infection.  Looking to have surgery sometime about the first of August-ish.  Then, as long as there's not any complications, I'll have an 8 week wound/surgery recovery.  That's it.  {as if it's been so easy!}

So,  here's to my last round of cocktails, mom's safe and successful surgery and recovery.  I hope all of you had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend.  Please remember those who are serving, have served, and their families who sacrifice every single day so that we might enjoy our freedoms!

Be Strong!
Claire

**Matching toes for our big week!**