Today, Wednesday, was my very last radiation treatment. Everyone at the office congratulated me and we all hugged. A milestone indeed! I trust that this will be the last treatment for kicking the cancer.

Well, it isn’t exactly the last treatment. I am still on medication which I will be on for the next five years to suppress estrogen in my body. It is still a challenge with the side effects of that medication, but I am hoping that I will get used to it, or my medical oncologist will help me find just the right medication that I can tolerate. So this cancer treatment is a long haul for years, but one day, there will be a treatment that may be better than having to go through all this.

This last weekend I was busy with taking care of cute little Tink and I also picked up a one new day care client, an Aussie puppy (17 months) on Sunday. It was a challenge having the two of them only because the big Aussie puppy, Samantha (Sam), wanted to play vigorously, and tiny Tink (not sure what she is), was not happy with the big dog. She screamed every time Sam lunged at her to play. It was too bad. I couldn’t go to church that morning, but Sue and Steve were still visiting anyway, so we all took care of the dogs. Sam was happy to play in the yard and equipped with several toys, entertained herself with gusto. She was a delight to watch playing. So much personality and very fun. She threw the toys and retrieved them for herself. I loved it. A happy dog. Tink stayed inside and is more of a hanging around the people sort of dog.

This morning I had my port flushed at the cancer center and also got some things straightened out that were confusing. My medical oncologist and my oncology radiologist both ordered diagnostic tests that I was thinking were not quite right with my surgery. I called my plastic surgeon to clarify what tests were appropriate for a mastectomy with a temporary expander in place. The medical oncologist wanted a diagnostic mammogram for my right breast, which I thought was not useful, and might even damage the expander, and my radiologist physician wanted an MRI which was also not appropriate with my expander. There is metal in the expander that would have played havoc in the MRI imaging! So the whole morning I was playing my own advocate in setting things out correctly. What do people do when they don’t have a medical background like myself? When you have a team of doctors taking care of you, they try to be on the same page, but they still all have their own agendas and expertise. It can be confusing and a person can get several different opinions that don’t mix quite right.

Today, when I came home there was a gift next to the front gate next to the garage for me. It was a beautiful Christmas decorative candle with a scripture:
I Timothy 4:7; “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith”. It was a congratulations gift for my last treatment. What a wonderful blessing!