I realize it’s been almost a month since I posted. Life has just been chugging along. We got Jeff’s truck fixed and back home. We miss our Nola like crazy. We’ve been taking Benny on a lot of walks and giving him lots of loves. Ava and Payton and I went to the State Fair rodeo.

On Friday I had my last chemo infusion. Jeff came with me to my doctor’s appointment and Brielle and Ava came with me for the infusion. It was the first infusion Brielle had been to. She was super excited to be there. Haha. I don’t know why because it’s just sitting and waiting 3 1/2 – 4 hours for the pre-meds and Taxol to go into my veins. She made sure I had an icy drink to sip on and snacks. I snoozed off and on then the girls and I played some trivia. My favorite was when Brielle said, “I thought New Zealand was a city in Australia.” This generation is so geographically neglected. It’s a dang shame. When my pump started beeping indicating the infusion was done we celebrated. I was given this certificate of completion which is kind of funny, but also a nice gesture. My girls hugged me and told me how proud they were of me. They’re the best.

I’ve got like 10 eyebrow hairs left but am pretty good at drawing them in. My lashes are thinner but hanging on. I’ve heard from other people who have gone through Taxol that the eyelashes fall out after completing chemo. Guess we’ll see.

This next week promises to be a big week. Ava is leaving for Bordeaux, France on Tuesday. She will be there for 3 months teaching English to a family she will be living with. She has saved and planned for this and I’m so proud she has enough courage to pursue her dreams. She took French all four years of high school and has been wanting to go to Paris since she was a tiny girl. I’m going to miss her but I’m also so happy for her.

I have a PET scan and a breast MRI this week as well as an appointment with the surgeon to see what we do next. My oncologist said if things have shrunk enough she suggests a lumpectomy. Initially the surgeon wanted to do a double mastectomy, but that was before I had chemo. I see the benefit of both. On one hand it would be nice not to have such an extensive surgery and recovery time, but on the other hand then I might worry about the cancer growing in my other breast at some point. The genetic mutation I have ups my chances of that happening. I haven’t talked percentages with the oncologist but I will at the appointment.

I’m very happy to be done with chemo. Much like nursing school, I didn’t know how hard it would be. But I’m grateful I did it. I wanted a chance to say I have done everything in my power to stick around for many years to come. I’m grateful to everyone that has checked up on me, and encouraged me when I was feeling discouraged. I hate that I have cancer, but it sure has shown me how loved I am.