I crossed the finish line!

Yes...I have officially crossed the finish line and got to ring the bell today! I told Greg after round #5 that I couldn't do it anymore. But with the support of all of you- friends and family- I made it! Thank you for all of the prayers- I couldn't have made it without God being on my side.

I met with Dr. Go today, and we talked for about an hour or so. I had many questions and he is so very thorough. We talked about what's next...7 weeks of radiation/ 5 days a week. (after 2-3 weeks of recovery from the chemo) The radiation should not be so bad- side effects like tiredness and a "sunburn" effect on the radiated sites. Dr. Wilcox will oversee the radiation, but Dr. Go still sees me throughout. We talked about tumor markers- which I really didn't know much about. That is done through a blood test and it measures a protein on the surface of cancer and non-cancer cells. He has been testing this all along, but I wasn't aware of it. All of my tumor markers are in the normal range as of now. If he sees them increasing steadily, then he will immediately scan me again. He is going to scan me again, but it will be after radiation some time. I will also be starting the medication Tamoxifen soon, which is a hormone receptor blocker. A big kudos goes out to my chemo nurse, Cassie! She was awesome- and got the IV in the first time today! I will miss seeing her every few weeks, but certainly will not miss the chemo room! I also have to thank my dear friend Julie for holding my hand through all of this! Take a look at the pictures below- she made me a finish line and was there to cheer me on when I rang the bell. So as I close this chapter in Lori"s breast cancer journey, I never want to talk about getting chemo again. I seriously start feeling "queasy" when I think about getting chemo or seeing things that remind me of it. It's so weird how our minds can cause a physical reaction to a thought- such as a popsicle! I hope to never again lay eyes on those triangular popsicles. When you take the chemo drug called Adriamyacin, you have to freeze your mouth to construct the blood vessels. So in order to not get these terrible mouth sores, I had to chomp away at a nasty popsicle! Anyways, it's over and I vow to never have to return to chemotherapy again! Thanks for the huge support...and please pray for Greg as he does the Mr. Mom thing this week and a prayer for a "not-so-bad" week for me. XOXOXO Lori