Final chemo

A week ago I had my final session of chemotherapy. Hurrah! Almost 6 months after my first session I am finally done with what is largely accepted to be the worst part of this experience. Although I still have lots of treatment to come, this feels like a hugely significant milestone, and I am understandably very happy to see the back of it!

Hooked up for the final time!

Of course I'm not really fully finished with chemo until it's out of my system and I'm through the side effects, but I'm feeling a little better each day already, and psychologically it feels brilliant to know that I won't be knocked down again in a couple of weeks, just as I'm starting to feel well again. I'm starting to look forward to having some more energy, to getting fit again after 6 months of relative inactivity, and to venture out into the social world once more.

The side effects haven't been too bad this time, perhaps it's a case of positive mind over matter, and I've been working from home over the last week. Each day I've tried to venture out at least once, for a little walk, to keep as active as possible, and I'm trying to sleep as well as I can. I've been eating nutritious, healthy food and taking Epsom salt baths most days to ease the bone pain.

My favourite bakery, Konditor and Cook, ran a competition this week on their instagram account, where they asked 'who do you think deserves a cake and why?'. I commented that my amazing husband Tanai deserved a cake for looking after me during chemo, and that it would be a great way to celebrate having the final round this week. Well, to my surprise, they agreed! So this weekend we picked up a delicious hazelnut and chocolate cake from their Waterloo bakery.

A lovely way to celebrate the end of 6 challenging months.

I'm preparing a long, candid and hopefully funny post about my chemo experiences, which I'll publish later this week. Next up for me is an appointment this Friday with my surgeon, when hopefully I'll get a date for my surgery and a plan for what will happen. They are going to remove what's left of the tumour and also take out a 'sentinel' lymph node from my armpit to check that the cancer hasn't made it into my lymph nodes (this is how the cancer spreads to other parts of the body). Hopefully it shouldn't be too invasive an operation, and I will recover in a couple of weeks. After that I will have a course of radiotherapy, and then some more tests to check that all the cancer has gone. I'm also going back to the chemo ward every three weeks to have a Herceptin injection in my leg, for the next year. In the meantime I'm taking tentative steps into the world of 'having a life' again, by starting a painting class this evening. I used to love painting when I was at school, but haven't really done any since then, so I'm going to see where my inspiration leads me and learn a new skill. Looking forward to it!