And DONE

Last week was a bit of a whirlwind – managing my last few radiation appointments, sprinkled with other doctor visits, made the week seem to fly by and all of a sudden it was Thursday afternoon. My 27th radiation treatment happened at 3pm on Thursday and my 28th, and final, treatment was scheduled for Friday at 9am. This small 18 hour gap between treatments made the end seem that much more in reach.

Friday’s final treatment felt great. I threw my hospital housecoat and gown into the laundry service, never to wear it again. I headed into work feeling full of energy. It was such an amazing day – like your birthday, only filled with a huge sense of relief!

People sent me well-wishes, called, sent flowers – it was fabulous! My work had a surprise celebration for me as well which was totally unexpected and really moved me.

After work I headed for dinner with Dad, Devin, Cayley and my Aunt who was in town. I was feeling great and thought that maybe we’d go out a bit later to celebrate. But as has happened to me continuously since this whole thing started, I got tired…fast. One minute I was thinking of places to go and meet people, the next I was thinking of nothing but my bed.

While the official celebrations didn’t last long, all in all, it was a great weekend filled with a lot of smiles. There were some tears too – maybe some of relief, maybe some of uncertainty, maybe some of stress – I really don’t know where they came from, but they didn’t last long – the feeling of being done was just too much joy!

So what’s next? Well the Doc told me that I should expect to feel the side-effects building for another 10-14 days, at which point they peak and then subside. I don’t need to see the radiation Doc for a check-up until mid-April.

I’ve started working a bit more, and in a fabulous bit of news, work is sending me to San Francisco with two other colleagues to work a tradeshow next week! Part of me is a bit nervous about heading out for such a long period of time, especially without Cayley. But part of me is so excited – excited to go to SF, excited to see some of my friends there, and excited to get back to some sort of ‘normal’ and productive life.

I know I will have to be careful – I still get really tired, really quickly – but my coworkers know that and are prepared for me taking a lot of breaks if needed. So bring on SF! Definitely excited for next week and to see what it holds.