6 months post-chemo

…and there are galanthus, hellibore and crocus. Need I say more? Oh, and it’s light after 5 pm. And dear friends gave me an old guitar (my first). And, and, and…

recovery time

They say that the time that it takes to recover from chemo and rads is equal to the time that you were in treatment.  So, I was in treatment for May, June, July, Aug; recovering in September; and in treatment for October and November, so that’s 7 months.  So that would put me back at [...]

This is how we live

This is the email that I sent to friends and family when I was starting chemo, and it’s a good one. Just wanted to save it here for posterity.
Remember how I said this whole breast cancer adventure might be a long haul?

Three months post-chemo & all’s right in the world

Just got back from my 3-month medical oncology checkup. My onc. was surprisingly accepting of the fact that I decided to take a short tamoxifen break while I’m finishing up rads. I was afraid he’d be mad, but he wasn’t at all. Whew. Not only that, he offered to do the [...]

Financial aid for breast cancer & a collective thank you

At a recent breast cancer retreat, one of the “house moms” asked those of us at the dinner table, “What helped you the most?” One woman described how prayer in the morning helped her get through each day, and so on. By the time it was my turn to answer I was feeling incredibly shallow. [...]

Chemo costs - the final # is in

Here’s another post for the personal finance and cancer bloggers out there. Now that chemo is done and all the bills are in, I have the final numbers. For 8 rounds of chemo (4 of adriamycin/cytoxan and 4 of taxol), the grand total was…drumroll…: $90,709.
That’s what the oncology office charged. The break down:

Post-chemo ticker

In some ways, life after chemo has the feeling of reborn. It is, most certainly, a second chance. Sometimes a day feels as long as a week and sometimes it feels like an hour. The ticker in the side bar is to help me keep track.

Time markers

Time these days is marked P.C. - post chemo. This is week 8 P.C.
But now there’s a new time marker - it’s day 2 of radiation. 26 more treatments to go (weekdays only), wrapping up right before Thanksgiving. As a dear friend pointed out, boy will I have a lot to be thankful [...]

Feeling better

Have I mentioned that I feel better than I did in the TWO YEARS previous to my cancer diagnosis?

Port out!

So happy to get my port-a-cath out.